Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives - Illinois 9th Congressional District in 2026 Illinois Primary Election.
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Get StartedWomen’s reproductive rights are not a state issue. There is no acceptable legal, economic or moral construct—equality, efficiency, fairness, safety, you name it—that can justify turning our backs on women and their families. Here, too, a woman’s right to her own body cannot be different in different states. Not only is that nonsensical, it produces dangerous outcomes for women and their doctors. Learn more
Of course the legal and political battle to restore Roe v. Wade is crucial. But since community-based healthcare is likely to be bankrupted in many places from cuts to Medicaid, getting to comprehensive sex education, maternal healthcare, and safe reproductive options must also remain vital policy objectives. Learn more
Closer to home, if Trump’s cuts to the NSF and the EPA are allowed to continue, then the health of 21 percent of the entire planet’s surface freshwater will be jeopardized. Lake Michigan itself, literally touching the 9th District from Irving Park though Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Evanston and into Wilmette, will absolutely be affected as will be drinking water throughout the watershed. Elevating that reality is very very important. Learn more
I grew up in a house where foreign policy and nuclear proliferation conversations were almost as frequent a topic as the Bears and Bulls (Chicago sports, not market forces). And having been born in India and then living there and in Japan as a kid, I was heavily influenced very early on to learn that America has no monopoly on talent—actually unsurprising when you think of America as a nation of immigrants. What I worry about currently is the de-emphasis on expertise and on diplomacy. It is ludicrous, as has been demonstrated in Trump’s dealings with North Korea, in the Middle East, and in Ukraine, to think that the Art of the Deal is what will strengthen our national security. Let’s return to professionalism to our foreign policy, where we put in place advisors with serious, hard-earned policy credentials. Learn more
In this arena Illinois has been a leader; eight other states agree and have implemented a statewide ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. And as the 1994 bipartisan Assault Weapons Ban recognized, firearms cannot really be well-regulated across state lines, so it’s actually exactly the role for federal government. Mental health crisis—certainly. But at the very least, and I mean at the very least, we need that law back. Learn more
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