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 security is a basic safety-net responsibility. When a family loses a job, a senior is living on a fixed income, or parents simply cannot make the grocery budget work, Washington should make sure people do not go hungry. As a legislator, I would protect core nutrition programs such as Basic Food/SNAP, WIC, school and summer meals, and senior nutrition programs, while making enrollment and renewal straightforward and reducing unnecessary administrative barriers. I would also protect our food banks and pantries. They aren’t peripheral to the safety net — they are an essential part of it, and they need reliable support for food purchasing, transportation, refrigeration, storage, and distribution. But food security should mean more than providing enough calories. As a nutritionist, I care deeply about the quality of the food we provide. Public nutrition programs and state-supported hunger relief should emphasize fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and other nutritious whole and minimally processed foods. I strongly support Washington seeking a federal SNAP waiver to exclude clearly defined junk foods such as soda and candy. At the same time, we should make healthy choices more affordable. Washington’s SNAP Produce Rewards already helps people purchase fruits and vegetables; I would build on programs like that. Food waste is another priority for me. Washington generates more than one million tons of food waste annually, and roughly 35% of it is edible. Throwing away edible food while families are going hungry makes no sense. I would strengthen food-rescue partnerships with farms, grocers, restaurants, and manufacturers and improve the transportation, refrigeration, storage, and other infrastructure needed to get that food safely to people who need it. Washington already has a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030; I want measurable progress toward it. Finally, accountability matters. We should measure how many people we’re reaching, the nutritional quality of the food provided, where gaps remain, how much edible food we’re rescuing, and what we’re accomplishing for the dollars invested. Food banks should be a strong emergency backstop, not a permanent substitute for affordability. We need to protect the safety net, provide healthier food, waste far less of it — and address the housing, healthcare, childcare, energy, and grocery costs that are forcing working families to seek emergency food assistance in the first place.

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?

My understanding of food insecurity begins with my professional background. I have a master’s degree in nutrition and am a Washington-licensed nutritionist, and I have worked professionally in nutrition, wellness, and sustainability. That background has taught me that food security isn’t simply about calories — it is about consistent access to nutritious food and the economic circumstances that make that possible. I also believe policymakers need to listen directly to the people experiencing hunger and the organizations serving them. I have not worked inside Washington’s hunger-relief system, so I won’t pretend otherwise. I would make regular engagement with food banks, pantries, organizations such as Food Lifeline, and the people they serve part of how I develop and evaluate policy. More than 1.1 million Washingtonians are food insecure. To me, that is not just a hunger statistic; it is an affordability warning. When housing, healthcare, childcare, utilities, transportation, and groceries consume too much of a family’s income, food is often one of the few expenses they can reduce. That is why my long-term priority is reducing the cost pressures that drive people to food banks in the first place, while maintaining a strong safety net for people who need it. I would focus on increasing housing supply and affordability, lowering healthcare costs, reducing unnecessary taxes and regulatory costs that raise household expenses, and making childcare and energy more affordable. My nutrition background also shapes how I define success. Food security should mean access to healthy food, not merely enough calories. I want public nutrition programs to make whole, nutritious foods easier to afford, strengthen connections with Washington farmers, and rescue far more of the enormous amount of edible food we currently throw away. Ultimately, I don’t think success is measured by how many people we can serve at food banks. Food banks are essential, and we should support them. But the real measure of success is how many Washington families no longer need emergency food assistance because they can afford good food themselves.

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? Washington produces extraordinary food. We should be doing a much better job of getting that food onto the plates of Washington families rather than letting farmers struggle to reach local markets while nutritious food remains unaffordable and enormous amounts of edible food are wasted. I would strengthen the connection between Washington farmers and Washington consumers. That means expanding Farm to School purchasing, helping food banks and public institutions purchase directly from local producers where practical and cost-effective, and supporting programs such as SNAP Market Match that make locally grown fruits and vegetables more affordable. Washington’s existing programs give us a foundation to build on. As a nutritionist, I also care deeply about what we’re making more accessible. Food security shouldn’t simply mean enough calories. When public dollars purchase food for schools, nutrition programs, food banks, and other state-supported institutions, we should prioritize nutritious whole and minimally processed foods and, wherever practical, the Washington farmers who produce them. For smaller farmers and producers, access to markets is often limited by infrastructure. I would support targeted investments in regional processing, refrigeration, aggregation, transportation, and food hubs where they solve demonstrated bottlenecks. That can help smaller producers reach schools, institutions, food banks, and consumers without creating another layer of bureaucracy. Food waste is a particular priority for me. Washington generates more than one million tons of food waste annually, roughly 35% of which is edible. Throwing away edible food while more than a million Washingtonians experience food insecurity is unacceptable. Washington has already committed to cutting food waste in half by 2030; I want measurable progress toward that goal. We should prevent waste first, then aggressively rescue safe surplus food from farms, grocers, restaurants, and manufacturers. That also means making sure hunger-relief organizations have the refrigeration, transportation, and storage capacity to use it. Food that truly cannot be eaten should be diverted to productive uses rather than landfills. My goal is straightforward: more Washington-grown food feeding Washington families, stronger markets for our farmers, greater access to nutritious whole foods, and dramatically less waste.