Democracy is America’s most precious asset, and we cannot sit idly by as it is threatened. My father was a high school civics teacher who inspired me to spend my career defending our democracy and our election systems. We must continue to expand access to the ballot box, strengthen the safety and security of our elections, and fortify our campaign finance laws.

I serve on the Congressional Task Force on Strengthening Democracy and proudly cosponsored the Freedom to Vote Act, which would protect voting rights, bring more transparency to campaign contributions, and protect our democratic institutions. You can watch my remarks on this landmark bill here. 

While in the State Assembly, I authored California’s first-in-the-nation DISCLOSE Act, which requires political advertising to disclose its funders. Now in Congress, I am a proudly original cosponsor of the DISCLOSE Act at the federal level. I have also cosponsored several other important pieces of legislation that would expand and protect the right to vote, including the Vote at Home Act, which would create nationwide universal vote-by-mail and automatic voter registration, the Youth Voting Rights Act, which would expand access to voting at public colleges and universities while allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. I cosponsored the Unhoused Voter Opportunity Through Elections (VOTE) Act, which would expand voting access for unhoused individuals, including by recognizing shelters as proof of residency. I am an original cosponsor of the Democracy Restoration Act, which would restore the federal voting rights of individuals released from prison. I also cosponsored H.J.Res.13, a proposed constitutional amendment that would overturn Citizens United v. FEC.

Protecting Election Workers
We must always protect the citizens who help administer our elections. I led a letter with ten other lawmakers supporting the Election Threats Task Force as part of the FY2025 Congressional Appropriations process. The Task Force was established in 2021 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to receive reports and coordinate investigations of threats of violence made to election workers. The request calls for a DOJ report on how Congress might better support the Task Force’s efforts.