US Congressional District 7

A: I strongly oppose using workers as leverage in partisan standoffs. I would support reforms that make government shutdowns harder, such as automatic continuing resolutions that keep government open at current funding levels amid congressional negotiations. I also support proposals to withhold pay for members of Congress and cancel all recesses if they fail to pass budgets. I will also advocate for my colleagues in the Senate to eliminate the filibuster.

A: I support a roadmap to citizenship for undocumented residents, stronger labor protections so employers cannot exploit immigrant workers, reform for temporary work visas, and a humane asylum and refugee system. I also believe that ICE has lost the trust of the people by serving as a paramilitary for a lawless president. I would vote to see the institution abolished. We must reverse the Bush-era reforms that combined criminal investigations, civil immigration enforcement and detention management under ICE. That structure has blurred missions, distorted incentives, and tied civil immigration compliance to a detention-first model.

Abolishing ICE as a unified agency does not mean eliminating border enforcement, immigration courts, or criminal prosecution. It means reorganizing these functions so that criminal investigations are appropriately housed within the DOJ, civil immigration cases are managed as civil compliance matters, and detention authority is structurally separated and placed under clear congressional oversight. If we made these changes, violent criminals would no longer be inflated with asylum seekers, temporary workers, and immigrants who may have minor civil offenses like visa overstays. Bipartisan support starts by focusing on areas of common interest, like worker protections, but I expect a Democratic majority is necessary for true immigration reform.

A: No, members should not be allowed to trade stocks. I support banning members, their spouses and their dependent children from buying stocks while in office. I would restore the Trust in Congress Act. But we must go further and require blind trusts, divestment, and real penalties rather than the symbolic penalties Congress has grown accustomed to. If we’re going to confront the blatant corruption we see in the White House, then everyone in public office has to be held to a higher standard, including members of Congress.

A: My time on the City Council has been defined by standing up to a culture of deference in City Hall, where too many people are expected to fall in line instead of ask hard questions. I defended the integrity of the Baltimore Children and Youth Fund, which was meant for small and mid-sized nonprofits, when the mayor redirected it to fund his own initiatives at their expense.

I stood up to the mayor when his administration used its power to resist the inspector general’s investigation, even after she found fraud in the Sidestep program. And despite the fact that some of the most powerful politicians in Baltimore, including Mayor Scott and Senate President Ferguson, have opposed reforms that would allow the inspector general to fully do her job, I have fought to defend that office and its ability to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse. I was also the first elected official in the city to reject donations from our utility, and I’ve advocated for a transition away from profit-driven, investor-owned utilities to public power, both positions that have put me at odds with the powerful energy lobby and the politicians aligned with it in both Annapolis and City Hall.

A: What is in short supply in Congress right now is the willingness to challenge power, even within your own party. Too many politicians are comfortable with a system that rewards loyalty to leadership and donors over accountability to the public. I believe people are looking for a new generation of leadership in the Democratic Party that is more independent, more willing to fight, and more focused on delivering real results for working people.

But new leadership alone isn’t enough. The progressive movement has to be honest about where it falls short. Too often, it speaks to Black voters and voters of color rather than being rooted with them. It can default to national narratives that don’t always reflect the realities people are living on the ground. What I’ve learned doing this work locally is that outcomes matter more than alignment with any one framework. We can’t afford to be disconnected from the communities we’re trying to serve. Our politics have to be rooted in lived experience, and our success has to be measured by whether the people we intend to serve are actually safer, healthier, and more economically secure.

A: The current budgeting process is broken, and it is federal workers and the people who depend on government services who pay the price. That is why I co-sponsored the True Shutdown Fairness Act, which would ensure that federal employees and contractors continue to receive their full pay during a government shutdown.

No worker should be forced to go without a paycheck because of political dysfunction in Washington. Even when Congress fails, the people who keep this government running should not be punished for it. But let me also be clear. I do not want a government shutdown. At the same time, I will not support additional funding to ICE and CBP while they are abusing their authority, terrorizing communities, and blocking lawful congressional oversight. Congress has a responsibility to use its power of the purse to demand accountability. Beyond that, we need structural reform. And there must be consequences for those who use the appropriations process as a political weapon, including members of Congress who refuse to do their jobs while collecting a paycheck. The American people deserve a government that functions.

A: Yes. Our immigration system is outdated, under-resourced, and too often driven by politics instead of policy.

I have co-sponsored the American Dream and Promise Act to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and TPS holders, a change that is long overdue. I have also fought to ensure that enforcement is carried out humanely and within the law, supporting the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in ICE and CBP Custody Act, the Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act, and the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act. Congress must also increase immigration court capacity to reduce the backlog, expand lawful pathways for workers, restore a fair and lawful asylum process, and end the use of private detention facilities.

A: The appearance of a conflict of interest undermines public trust. When lawmakers sit on committees with direct oversight jurisdiction over industries in which they are personally invested, that corrodes the integrity of this institution.

I have co-sponsored the TRUST in Congress Act, which would require members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children to either divest from individual stock holdings or place them into a qualified blind trust, ending the ability to actively trade stocks while in office. The American people deserve to know that the people they send to Washington are working for them, not their own financial interests.

A: Oversight is a responsibility, and recently that meant voting to hold a sitting attorney general accountable.

When Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice refused to comply with a lawful congressional subpoena to release the full Epstein files, I voted with my colleagues on the House Oversight Committee to subpoena her directly. In a rare bipartisan rebuke, that subpoena passed. When she subsequently failed to appear, Democrats on the committee made clear that contempt proceedings would follow. No attorney general is above the law. No subpoena is optional. The American people passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act to get the truth, and when the DOJ chose to defy that law and defy Congress, we used every tool available to demand accountability. That is consistent with how I have approached this work my entire career. I do not hesitate to confront authority when it crosses the line, because the integrity of our institutions and the truth the American people deserve are worth fighting for.

A: I bring experience, institutional knowledge, and a clear understanding of what this body is supposed to do. My record is clear; I’ve been working non-stop to marshal millions of dollars in federal investments back to the 7th District.

That also includes the ability to build coalitions and find common ground without sacrificing principle. That kind of work is becoming more and more rare in this institution. Too often, people are talking past each other instead of working with each other. I have spent my career bringing people together to move real solutions forward, and that is what I intend to keep doing. I also represent and understand communities that have long been on the front lines of disinvestment and economic inequality, and that lived experience informs every decision I make here so that I can deliver for my constituents and the American people.