What actions would you take as a state legislator to protect and strengthen Washington’s food security safety net, including both public nutrition programs and the food banks and food pantries serving communities across the state?

Food banks are carrying a load they were never built to carry. Food Lifeline moved 73 million pounds of food last year and still could not replace what SNAP, school meals, and senior nutrition programs do every day. When Congress cuts those programs, the line at the food bank gets longer and the shelves get thinner. Here is what I would do in Olympia. Protect the public programs first. I have said throughout this campaign that I will defend SNAP and Medicaid from federal cuts. That means fighting any state rule that adds paperwork or work reporting that knocks eligible people off SNAP, and it means the state picks up outreach and enrollment so the families who qualify actually get the benefit. The same goes for WIC and senior nutrition. Keep every kid fed. I back Universal School Meals and will defend it against any effort to scale it back. Every kid eats. No paperwork. No stigma. I also want nutrition services written into the state definition of Basic Education, with a real inflation adjustment on the meal reimbursement so school kitchens can keep staff. Fund the food banks like the infrastructure they are. The state’s Emergency Food Assistance Program and Farm to Food Pantry are proven. I would push to grow both and to fund mobile markets that reach rural counties and neighborhoods that have lost their grocery store. Pay for it honestly. A family making $40,000 in Washington pays a bigger share of its income in state and local taxes than a family making $400,000. I support the wealth tax on financial intangibles and will vote to defend the 2026 Millionaires Tax. Feeding people is not a budget line we cut when times get tight. It is the reason we fix the tax code.

What have you done to understand food insecurity in the communities you seek to represent—including engaging with people experiencing hunger or local hunger-relief organizations—and what policies would you prioritize to address the root causes of hunger and ensure Washington residents can afford and access the food they need?

I run an early learning center. I helped build the Parkview Early Learning Center in Spokane in 2014. It serves more than 100 children and employs more than 30 people. We also co-founded Glow Early Learning Center inside Lumen High School, which serves 125 children of teen parents. I know the families we serve by name. I know what the last week of the month looks like for a lot of them. I serve on the board of Family Promise of Spokane, which works with families facing homelessness. Most are led by single mothers. Hunger and housing show up together in every one of those families. I co-founded Northeast Youth and Family Services to reach kids falling through the cracks in northeast Spokane. My parents are retired and aging in place in Spokane. Every few months we sit at their kitchen table and do the same math on what Medicare covers and what it does not. Seniors across this district are choosing between groceries and prescriptions. That is not a talking point for me. It is my family. For four years I have served as the Governor’s Eastern Washington Representative, covering ten counties from Ferry to Asotin. In rural towns, the nearest grocery store can be an hour away. I have sat in those community meetings. Hunger is what is left over after rent, childcare, and the pharmacy. So the policies I would prioritize go after those costs. Wages: a $20 minimum wage by 2028, and organizing rights for workers still shut out, including farm workers and childcare providers. Housing: defend HB 1217, keep the Housing Trust Fund whole, and push Spokane to build the missing-middle housing HB 1110 allows. Childcare: finish what the Fair Start for Kids Act started, so a parent’s paycheck does not disappear before the grocery run. Cash in people’s pockets: expand the Working Families Tax Credit and fund the enrollment help so the households who qualify actually claim it. Make the state’s utility bill assistance program permanent and available no matter who your utility is.

What policies or investments would you support to strengthen Washington’s food system, increase access to locally produced food, support Washington farmers and producers, and reduce food waste?

I cover ten farm counties for the Governor. The growers I sit with are not the enemy of good food policy. They are some of its best partners. The problem is a system where a family farm struggles to stay open while a family across town cannot afford what it grows. Connect the two. Farm to Food Pantry works. It pays Washington farmers for food that goes straight to local food banks. I would grow it, and I would build the same kind of direct purchasing into school meals so that Spokane kids eat Washington apples and Palouse lentils. Fund SNAP incentive programs at farmers markets so a SNAP dollar stretches further on fresh produce. Keep farmers farming. Make sure the Climate Commitment Act fuel exemption the law already promised reaches farmers at the pump, not just on paper. Steer CCA dollars back to rural Eastern Washington for drought planning and irrigation efficiency. Provide seed money and predevelopment grants for farmer cooperatives, including BIPOC-led ones, so smaller producers can get product to market together. Treat farm workers like the people who feed us. Farm workers harvest the apples, cherries, hops, and potatoes on every table in this state. I support full organizing rights for them and stronger protections for immigrant farm workers. Keep the grocery store open. Tighten antitrust review of grocery mergers. The Kroger and Albertsons fight showed what happens when the biggest chains try to combine. Fund community-owned grocery cooperatives that can run when the chains walk away. No neighborhood should be one closure away from a food desert. Waste less. Washington set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030. We are not on pace. I would fund the cold storage, trucks, and staff that let food banks accept more fresh donations, and make the donation rules simple enough that a grocer or a grower says yes instead of sending good food to the landfill.