As a working mom of twin toddlers, I don't have to imagine what rising costs are doing to Oregon's families—I live it. Groceries, utilities, childcare, transportation, healthcare, and housing are consuming more and more of our budgets, while paychecks simply aren't keeping up.

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Making Oregon affordable again requires us to attack the problem from both directions: lowering the cost of the things families need and making sure working people bring home enough to afford them. I will fight corporate practices that unnecessarily drive up prices, invest in services that lower household expenses, and stand with workers organizing for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. That means:

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• Making childcare affordable and accessible: Childcare isn't a luxury—it's essential economic infrastructure. I will fight for sustainable, dedicated childcare funding that reduces what families pay while ensuring providers can earn a living wage and stay in the profession. Oregon should develop a solution that works for Oregon families and makes quality childcare something working parents can actually afford, and I want to be part of that effort in Salem. 

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• Increasing workers' bargaining power: Lowering costs matters, but so does increasing what working people bring home. I will protect collective bargaining rights, make it easier for workers to organize, defend prevailing wage and strong labor standards, and oppose efforts to undermine unions. When workers can bargain together for better wages, healthcare, retirement, and working conditions, families have more power to keep up with the cost of living.

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• Taking on price gouging and excessive pricing: Oregon currently prohibits excessive price increases for essential goods and services during declared market disruptions, but families can face exploitative pricing outside emergencies too. I support exploring stronger protections against price gouging and other abusive pricing practices in markets for essential goods and services where consumers have little practical ability to shop around.

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• Protecting Oregonians from hidden fees and predatory practices: The price you see should be the price you actually pay. Oregon has taken steps toward requiring upfront disclosure of mandatory fees in online transactions, and I will support building on those protections and strengthening enforcement against deceptive fees, misleading pricing, predatory contracts, and other practices designed to squeeze additional dollars out of working people.

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• Holding corporations accountable when markets aren't working: When a handful of companies dominate a market, families can end up paying more while small businesses, workers, farmers, and consumers have fewer choices. I will support stronger enforcement of Oregon's consumer protection and competition laws and greater scrutiny of corporate practices that reduce competition or unfairly shift costs onto working people.

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• Lowering the cost of everyday necessities: I will look across state government for practical opportunities to reduce the expenses families can't avoid—from housing, healthcare, prescription drugs, and childcare to transportation, utilities, groceries, and education. Affordability should be a test we apply to every major policy decision: will this make it easier or harder for working Oregonians to make ends meet?

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For too long, we've treated affordability as though families just need to budget their way out of a structural problem. You can't budget your way out of rent, childcare, healthcare, and groceries rising faster than your paycheck.

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I'll fight to lower the costs families face, protect Oregonians from predatory practices, and strengthen the power of working people to negotiate for a fair share of the wealth they create. Because a strong economy isn't one where corporations are doing well on paper—it's one where working people can afford a home, raise a family, save for the future, and have something left over at the end of the month.