MY STORY

My story is one of perseverance. This is my third run for a state office. I compare it to my experience of learning to ride a bicycle. I would not have learned to ride a bike had I given up after I had fallen off the second time. I am asking voters to make this third time a charm, not three strikes I’m out.

My story is also one of focus. One day while riding my bike down Main Street, something caught my eye and I turned to look at it. I kept on biking while turning my head back towards what had gotten my attention. Then, BAM, I was on the ground. I had run in to the rear of a parked vehicle. I remounted my bike and kept my eye on the road ahead. I am not looking behind me now, but I am focused on the path ahead. I am asking voters to ride with me and make me first across the finish line on November 7, 2023.

WHY I’M RUNNING

I’m running for state senate because I want government out of our bedrooms and out of our doctors offices. I’m running because I want true representation. I want a representative who asks what I think is best for me, not a representative who tells me what is best for me. A true representative of Senate District 9 listens to her constituents – the voters and non-voters alike who live in the district. This is a partial list of the concerns I’ve heard from constituents. Are your concerns listed?

1. Education – people want full funding for their preK-12 public schools, increased teacher pay, and expanded career trades training in high school.
2. Jobs – people want to work locally, receive a fair wage and paid leave, and have access to a paid apprenticeship program.
3. Healthcare – people want, and have a right to, affordable healthcare that they, not their government, chooses, local medical and dental providers, and reduced costs.
4. Homes – the lack of affordable small homes/cottages for low- and middle-income families is at a crisis level.
5. Prison Reform – people want to stop for-profit private prisons and reduce or eliminate high court fees and not tie non-payment of fees to re-incarceration.
6. Money Out of Politics – people don’t want their representatives beholden to donor corporations, such as Dominion Energy.
7. Clean Environment – people want, and have a right to, clean drinking water and their private wells protected from landfill toxins and oil pipeline leaks.
8. Gun Safety – people want to stop the gun violence that is killing children in schools and people in churches/synagogues and in stores, at clubs, concerts/festivals, parades, other public events, and in their own yards.

MY BACKGROUND

I was born and raised in Michigan. In high school, I was inducted into the Honor Society and received the John & Elizabeth Whitely Business Award for Outstanding Student. I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after high school graduation, received an Administrative Specialist Course Honor Graduate certificate, worked as a Legal Services Specialist, and received an honorable discharge. I moved to Virginia in 1990 and to Lunenburg County in 1998.

My work experience includes the military, civil service, private sector, retail, and substitute teacher. I’ve always felt a calling to serve, so while my children were growing up, I volunteered with the church, PTA, homeowners’ association, Cub Scouts, Brownie Girl Scouts, and Little League.

Since moving to Lunenburg, I graduated magna cum laude from Longwood University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology and a concentration in Criminal Justice. At the graduate level, I received a Certificate in Social Policy Administration, also from Longwood University. As a student there, I volunteered with the Longwood University Commuter Student Association, was placed on the National Dean’s List twice, was inducted into Pinnacle, Alpha Kappa Delta, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Lambda Alpha Epsilon. I also received two Citizen Leader Awards: St. Joan of Arc Visionary and Most Contributions to Commuter Life. Outside of college, I volunteered with the Friends of the Victoria Public Library and Lunenburg County Chamber of Commerce.

Use of military rank, titles, or photographs in uniform do not imply endorsement by the Department of the U.S. Air Force or the Department of Defense.

Next Election Cycle