Roots

I was born and raised in Eau Claire and graduated from Memorial High School in 2012 as a student-athlete. Growing up here shaped who I am — and two key moments in my youth lit a fire in me:

• Coming to terms with my own LGBTQ+ identity at the same time that Wisconsin banned same-sex marriage, which showed me the impact of political rhetoric on young people.
• Joining classmates to protest Scott Walker’s attacks on public education in 2011 Act 10, standing up for educators and public schools as a member of a family full of educators.

I understand how much democracy matters — and I’ve seen for decades how often it’s ignored by those in power.

Education & Work

After earning my bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, I returned to Wisconsin to work as a special education paraprofessional in public schools, where I was an MTI/WEAC/NEA union member and worked second and third jobs to scrape together a living wage. I later earned a master’s in journalism from Cardiff University, then came home to Eau Claire in the spring of 2020.

I’ve written about LGBTQ+ rights, indigenous sovereignty, public education, and more, and I served as communications director for Wisconsin Public Education Network for nearly five years before taking office — a role that allowed me to help advocates across Wisconsin support their local public schools, students, and educators in a nonpartisan way.

I serve on the steering committee of Support Eau Claire Public Schools and on the board of trustees for the Eau Claire Public Schools Foundation.

Running for Office

Throughout my life — in classrooms, newsrooms, nonprofits, on the frontlines of referendum campaigns and more — my belief in the public has grown. The Chippewa Valley deserves pro-public leadership. That means not just protecting our public schools, our public health, our public lands, and our public ability to participate in democracy — but boldly strengthening them.

A sense of duty to do just that is what compelled me to run for the Assembly in 2024.

In the Legislature

Since taking office in January 2025, I’ve worked hard to turn our shared values into action, introducing dozens of bills, including as the lead author on some essential proposals:

• The Frozen Federal Funds Emergency Act, which would require the State of Wisconsin to fill key funding gaps if the President tries to freeze congressionally-approved dollars for programs like Medicaid and Meals on Wheels.
• The Private Voucher Spending Safeguard Act, which would protect Wisconsin taxpayers from unlimited public spending on unaccountable private voucher schools.
• The Veterans and Farmland Preservation Tax Fairness Act, which would expand the Veterans and Surviving Spouses property tax credit and the Farmland Preservation tax credit so that veterans and farmers can access the full scope of their earned benefits.
• The Communities, Not Cages Act and the Keep Families Together bill package, which would require that state and local resources be used to support Wisconsinites, not to assist Trump’s authoritarian crackdowns and masked deportation regime.
• The Public Participation Protection Act, which would ban frivolous lawsuits intended to bankrupt those expressing their First Amendment rights or to stifle free speech or free press.
• The No Paying, No Prying Act and the Freedom from Fear bill package, which would prohibit any law enforcement agency from paying to access individuals’ personal data without a valid warrant and protect Wisconsinites from intimidation in policing.
• The Conditions of Confinement bill package, which would require humane conditions in Wisconsin’s increasingly crowded, archaic, inhumane, and expensive carceral system, such as requiring climate control, recreational time, and other basic diginities.
• The Keep Your Promise Act, which would simply compel the Legislature to reimburse public schools’ special education costs at the amount promised in its state budget. This was a reaction to the news that the Legislature had budgeted an inadequate amount of funds to special education in public schools, despite keeping its promises to taxpayer-funded voucher programs.
• The Kids, Care, and Career Act, with colleagues as part of a child care affordability package, which would fund child care support for parents who work in child care or similar fields–allowing the workforce and kids to thrive.
• The Grow Our Future Act, which would legalize the possession of medical and recreational cannabis in Wisconsin.
• The Community Control of Housing Act, allowing municipalities to regulate landlords’ practices in considering housing eligibility, upfront payments, and more, opening up new avenues to ensure housing is affordable and available.
• The Keep Coverage Affordable Act, which would allow Wisconsin to fill the gaps in healthcare premium tax credits for health insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace, if the federal government allows the credits to expire.
• The BadgerCare Public Option, which would open up our excellent BadgerCare health coverage program to more Wisconsinites, including small business owners.
• The Property Tax Buy-Down Act, which would use the funds leftover from inadequate Republican budgets to cover public school costs and reduce property taxes.

I serve on the Assembly Committees on Education and Public Benefit Reform, and I’m an active member of the Assembly Democratic Caucus, the Legislative Socialist Caucus, and the Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus, where I serve as Vice-Chair.

Home

Whenever I’ve left, I always end up coming back to the Chippewa Valley. This is my community, and it’s where I want to make the biggest difference. We deserve leaders who work to ensure that everyone in the Chippewa Valley has the freedom to thrive and who represent our shared commitment to inherent human rights — not corporate greed.

I live in Eau Claire’s West Ridge/Delong neighborhood with my partner, Thomas, a public high school teacher. In my free time, I love running, playing tennis, and supporting the small businesses that make our community so vibrant.