I am extremely excited to announce my candidacy for RI State Senate District 17. I am running to represent my hometown of Lincoln as well as North Smithfield and North Providence. This has been in the works for the last few weeks and months, and I am ready to enjoy the warm weather by hitting the pavement and talking to voters.

Since the beginning of 2022, I have spent my time diving into the local policy process at the Town Council and communicating with current local elected officials. I will continue to build on these experiences to develop solutions in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders.
Today is also when my friend Bonnie Taylor announces her campaign for Lincoln Town Council District 2. We are going to work together to bring about important changes and build a durable movement of activists.

What can you do to Help?
There is actually a lot you can do right now to help out the campaign! The #1 option is to make a small recurring donation, only if you are able to. It might not seem all that important, but it guarantees that there will be resources to use later in the campaign season. As an added bonus, you get a free campaign shirt for contributing $40 or more (whether it is one-time or across multiple small recurring donations added together)!

If you live in the district, you can also request a free yard sign! Just send a message and I will drop one off for you. Sometime in the near future, I will be setting up a calendar for volunteers to sign up to knock doors or make phone calls. You can send a message about volunteering as well if that interests you.

What am I Doing for my Community Right Now? 
Besides preparing for today’s announcements, I have spent these past few weeks active in local government business just like any other month:

• Attended and briefly spoke at the Lincoln Town Council in support of efforts to develop an ordinance regulating short-term rentals. While they can fill a niche in the market, short-term rentals like Airbnb cause a lot of harms, for owners, consumers, and neighbors alike. You can watch the May meeting and my comments here.
  
• Attended the second public forum for updates to Lincoln’s Comprehensive Plan and spoke with the town’s hired consultants on important historical housing data and reports that Lincoln refused to act on decades ago.

Plans for the Future
Today marks the first day of a long campaign season. There are going to be many long and tiring days, but I am ready to embrace the challenge ahead. I will continue to attend local board and commission meetings and work closely with our other elected officials. I will also work to get more residents involved in local politics and elections to improve civic engagement and awareness. I hope you will join me and help bring about change in RI. Thank you for your support!

I hope your week has started off well. The start of May this year means a lot to me. Despite basically every other day being rainy, I am very much enjoying the warmth of spring. May is also the last full month of school, signaling time for the bittersweet goodbyes to the wonderful (and energetic) 6th grade class I have been lucky to work with.

May is also when political campaigns start kicking into high gear. I have been working closely with members of my community for the last months who also want to bring about change. Government can only succeed when all levels are working together to achieve common goals, and we plan to do just that.
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Our Big Announcement is Coming Thursday, May 23!
I am very excited, not just for myself, but for all of the people I have been working with these last few weeks and months. Besides my own work I am planning to share, I am also Chair of the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee. I want to build a community of like-minded advocates that can help candidates win for years to come. The key to success in 2024 is collaboration and outreach, and we have been quite successful at that for the last few months.

What am I Doing for my Community Right Now?
Compared to what is coming up for May, April was a somewhat slower month. Some work was public, and some was behind the scenes, but it was an overall productive month:

• Attended and spoke at the Lincoln Town Council Ordinance Sub-Committee addressing an ordinance that has been in the works for a few months. Back in February, I previously suggested to the Ordinance Sub-Committee (linked here) a few different municipalities to use as a model for developing an ordinance in Lincoln. During the April meeting, the Sub-Committee chose a model I suggested to them a few months prior. You can watch the April meeting and my comments here.
• Working with the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee, we published a Letter to the Editor in our local paper, The Valley Breeze. We addressed an inappropriate comment from a Town Councilor that demonized non-English speaking residents in our community. You can find a copy of that letter here.
• Also working with the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee, we donated $150 worth of gift certificates from small local businesses in Lincoln to the ‘Lincoln Memorial Day Parade Bingo Fundraiser’ to raise money for our local parade.

Plans for the Future
May is a much busier month than April was. There are two big town meetings happening this month. The first is the Financial Town Meeting is scheduled for May 13th at the Lincoln High School at 7pm. Citizens get in one big meeting room and discuss and vote on the town budget, so it is super important all Lincoln voters attend! The second is the Comprehensive Plan public meeting will be hosted on May 16th at the Lincoln High School at 6:30pm. This will give updates on our Comprehensive Plan that will last at least a decade. If you care about the long-term goals of the town, this is the meeting to attend!

I will be spending the next week, with other members of the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee, getting out the vote to the Financial Town Meeting, and telling them why it is so important residents attend the FTM and the Comprehensive Plan meeting. I always enjoy meeting and learning from people in the community, and that will only continue for the next weeks and months ahead.

Thank you so much for sticking with me, and I cannot wait to share more with you on May 23!