What’s different about running as an incumbent versus a first time candidate?

As a first-time candidate, you have a general sense of what folks are going through as a constituent yourself, but until you really dig into deep conversations with people and get to meet the thousands of folks you are going to be representing, you really don’t have a full sense of what those community needs are and what those opinions are and what folks are looking for.

It’s difficult as a first-time legislator to get your hands on good policy and become a chief author of something strong and important. It can be hard to navigate through systems that have been in place for a long time, understanding what the rules are, what the timelines are, who the key people are that you need to make relationships with and form trust with.

Coming back as an incumbent makes that trajectory a little bit different.

The first time I was running it was focused on winning that election, getting into the capital, learning the process, standing up for the community, standing up for our rights, and learning how to do the process while doing the work.

This time around, I know what to expect. While still campaigning, I’m also working on policy. I know what the process ahead of me looks like. I have a general sense of who the leaders are going to be, who will make some key decisions coming up, and I have developed those relationships already. Knowing how to get a bill drafted and move it through the process is so beneficial as an incumbent.

You served as vice chair of the first official queer legislative caucus in Minnesota. For those who may be unfamiliar, who and what is the queer Legislative Caucus and what did you accomplish during the past session?

It’s important to mention that before there was an official queer caucus formed in 2022, there had been queer members of the legislature in years past and for a long time. Many of those queer members of legislature were battling fights alone or with a few allies. It’s notable that we were able to have a large enough group ahead of the 2022 election to officially form a caucus and strategy and relationships.

In 2022, I think 11 queer members were running for office, and every one of us got elected. The caucus now stands at 15 members. The formation of the queer caucus turned out to be a power boost in reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. Becoming a trans refuge state, we enacted laws and policies for our schools to make sure queer and trans students are safe and protected. We operated as a support system for each other, because this work is really hard. Some folks try to block us out of society, or deny our existence or rights. Those words are real and they’re harsh, and they happen right to our face. That takes a personal toll on us. It is important to have a really solid support system around us as we move through that work together.

At the same time, we were able to strategize together. We ensured that we were spread across as many committees as possible, so that we made sure queer folks had a seat at as many tables as possible. We worked with our allies to make sure that we’re not marginalizing folks —indicating that queer people are the ones who carry queer law or policy. We had great colleagues who stood out as strong allies and carried some of that work alongside us. It’s interesting to look at the last two years to see the list of accomplishments. It’s extensive.

When I reflect on the things that we passed, and the number of bills that affect our community so greatly, it’s not only an honor and a privilege — it’s remarkable what happens when people who care so deeply come together and are honest and passionate about the work.

How would you describe trans and queer political power in Minnesota?

There are queer people everywhere, in every state, every country, across the world. What hasn’t existed since the beginning of time is the support system and the representation. What we’re seeing now is the voice for folks who haven’t been represented in a long time. It’s easy to ignore people and issues when you don’t have somebody with that experience or from that group in the room to say a few words about it — what it means to them as a person.

Being a queer representative, you’re not only a representative for your district area, but you are also a representative for all queer people in Minnesota. We are role models for queer folks who are looking to get into politics, or maybe feel like there’s not enough strength to be able to move forward and get things done.

We did have enough power within the queer caucus to stop any major bill that would have come our way had we needed to use that power. Thankfully, most of the time, we had enough allies in the legislature that we didn’t have to use that card. It’s not necessarily just a numbers game, but the establishment of being able to say, “Hey, we are here. We have priorities. We have real needs in our community. And we’re going to make sure that these things get done.”

Those of us in the Minnesota House have two years at a time, and that was a strong driver of getting all the bills passed that we did, knowing that we were limited to just those two years. The future is unknown, and we can’t count on tomorrow to pass something that we need today.

How does your experience as a former sheriff’s deputy, reserve officer, and reserve sergeant inform your approach to public safety. What are your district’s public safety priorities?

Having that background in law enforcement, criminal justice, and public safety — especially as somebody who is on the liberal side — it gives me a unique perspective. There are so many folks with shared values that might have different opinions on how public safety should be delivered to the community. I understand those statutes really well, to be able to explain those statutes to peers from that progressive perspective.

My approach is that public safety is community service, and it’s paid for by the community, and as such, it should be served the way the community would like to receive it. I think we can do more to listen to community members about how those public safety services can be delivered.

I think we’ve done a great job in Minnesota so far. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Clearly, there’s broken trust between public safety and the general public. We thankfully don’t have much of that issue in my district. The White Bear Lake Police Department is highly responsive to specific community needs and works hard to develop personal relationships with people in the community. They understand that criminal actions aren’t indicative of who someone is as a person — that often those actions are rooted in something that somebody needs assistance with. That’s really a key for moving forward.

As we work on policy, moving forward, it’s important for law enforcement agencies to continue to grow relationships with people and organizations in the community who are doing similar work — like knowing where to go for mental health resources. Does a family have housing insecurity? Does a family have food insecurity? Police officers are often the first people who might have contact with somebody with great needs like that.

It’s important that we continue to develop those relationships and operate from a place of wanting families to be safe — and recognizing that safety comes along with being provided the right resources.

What can the legislature do to increase access to a full spectrum of reproductive care, especially for gender-expansive community members?

We’re hearing from organizations across the state that they’re overburdened and understaffed. How do we bring a larger workforce in those areas to Minnesota? How do we develop Minnesotans into those areas of work? Minnesota can come through on its promise of trans refuge by putting funding behind it. I’m really not somebody who loves money in politics or money in government, but the reality is that resources cost money — we show our priorities by where we spend our money. I think we need to do a better job of putting resources into gender-affirming care and into our mental health systems.

You’ve described Minnesota as approaching a true crisis when it comes to the recent closures and struggles of disability service providers. What policies can provide better support to?

Like many other issues, this is going to take a lot of work from different angles. In disability services, there are a few key aspects to lifting those services up and making sure people are getting what they need and deserve, delivered in a way that people are asking for and that works for them.

One approach is to address workforce issues. Some of the things we did in Minnesota to help is the North Star Promise, making sure that folks can get a college education when they’re not able to afford it. It will help specifically in the field of disabilities, making sure we are paying folks a living wage for the great work they do.

Having worked in the nonprofit disability field for 20 years, it definitely feels to folks that when the money’s not there, the disability services aren’t prioritized, and then it starts to feel like people with disabilities aren’t prioritized, and it starts to go downhill with that line of thought.

There are barriers for folks who need to access services. What does that look like for people? Sometimes it looks like cities wanting to evict group home residents because they don’t like the way the house looks, or because there are too many ambulance calls or public safety calls to the home. That isn’t fair. If you have a disability, and you live in a group home, sometimes that means you’re visited by other community resources more often than your neighbors — that’s no reason to be kicked out of your home. Some of us are lucky enough to live without assistance, or live independently.

Other access issues — do you know how often people are required to fill out paperwork to not lose their benefits? Somebody with a lifelong disability, it doesn’t make sense for that person to have to fill out the same paperwork every few months. It is stressful. Why have those barriers in place for people?

People from all walks of life can work in disability services. You can walk into that job with no experience and you can learn how to be an excellent caregiver, an excellent direct service provider, with training on the job. It’s not necessary that we require certain degrees from people anymore for different jobs. How do we make those application pools bigger for providers of those resources?

So, there are a lot of different angles to tackle. It is about always being open to listening to what those different angles are. It’s about trusting and paying attention and listening to what the issues are, and then writing those into policy and doing something about it.

How do you see the connections between disability rights, mental health, bodily autonomy and reproductive justice?

It comes down to respecting people for who they are as a human being. It can be a really simple philosophy: people are dynamic. We have a variety of different needs, whether those are physical or mental or emotional, and they’re all tied together. Human behavior is a complex thing. Our bodies are complex things. But the way we look at how people have access to the resources for their mental, physical, behavioral, and emotional health, that doesn’t have to be so complex.

The bottom line is that in order for people to be healthy and safe, we need to let people have a variety of choices to care for themselves. Sometimes that means having other people help. Sometimes that means access to medication. Sometimes that means access to surgery. Other times, that means listening to someone and giving people choices and autonomy over who they are as a person.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your leadership, campaign, or policy priorities, and what you believe is most important for voters to know about you?

When I first ran, I was focused on disability services, human rights, and public safety. That hasn’t changed. I’ve been able to dabble in some other areas of government, and I’m looking forward to sort of expanding my legislative portfolio. In my community, environmental issues are of great concern. We’ve got a big lake in my district, and unfortunately, a lot of water issues in the east metro.

It’s important for people to know that I’ve consistently been serving our community. The family I come from has served our community. That’s how I was raised. It’s the only way I know how to live. I will always do my best to continue serving the community the way that the community wants to be served.

What some folks might lose in politics is that it’s not about what your individual opinions are, or what you want your career path to be. I don’t have a political career path ahead of me. This opportunity came. It sounded exciting and interesting, and it turns out I love it, and I would love to do it for a good eight to ten years to give the community some stability.

There are certainly times when my personal thoughts and beliefs differ from what the greater community believes. I take my community’s opinions to the capital, and that’s what we’re supposed to do.