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About this candidate response
DutyStation contacts candidates to ask whether and how they support service members, military families and veterans, and invites them to share their thoughts and priorities. We share their replies here in the candidate’s or campaign’s own words, with minor formatting for readability and correction of obvious spelling mistakes.
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Responses to the four-question follow-up, received October 1, 2026.
Government shutdown and cooperation
- I oppose a government shutdown. Service members, military families, veterans, and federal employees should not be used as leverage in a political dispute.
- If Democrats control one or both chambers of Congress, I will work with members of both parties and the administration to pass responsible appropriations bills on time. I will support transparent negotiations, reject last-minute political brinkmanship, and pursue safeguards that reduce the risk that a funding disagreement becomes a shutdown.
- If a shutdown occurs, I will support legislation needed to protect military pay and allowances and to preserve veterans’ benefits, healthcare, mental-health services, survivor support, and other essential services. Because shutdown effects depend on the funding and legal authority governing each agency and program, Congress should act before a lapse rather than leave military and veteran families to wonder whether their pay, care, or benefits will be interrupted.
Quality of life
- My priorities are competitive military pay, dependable healthcare and mental-health care, affordable and accessible childcare, stronger military-spouse employment support, and policies that reduce the financial and family disruption caused by permanent-change-of-station moves.
- I would support pay and allowances that reflect the real cost of living; investments in military childcare capacity and qualified providers; effective implementation of professional-license portability; expanded employment pathways for military spouses; and better coordination of housing, transportation, schools, healthcare, and family services around military installations. I would also press for reliable relocation reimbursements and transition assistance so families are not forced to absorb avoidable costs when orders require them to move.
- This priority is informed by my service as Hillsborough County’s liaison to MacDill Air Force Base, where I worked with military leaders and community stakeholders on housing, transportation, workforce, healthcare access, commissary access, public-school access, and other issues affecting active-duty personnel, veterans, and military families. That experience reinforced a basic truth: family readiness is military readiness.
Veterans’ care
- My first priorities are timely access to VA care, stronger mental-health and suicide-prevention services, accurate and efficient disability decisions, protection of earned benefits, and a smoother transition to civilian life.
- I would support adequate staffing and modernized systems for VA healthcare and disability claims, while holding the department accountable for timeliness, quality, accuracy, and veteran experience. I would strengthen access to primary, specialty, rural, and behavioral healthcare; protect community-based counseling through Vet Centers; and expand transition support that connects separating service members with benefits, education, credentials, apprenticeships, employment, and stable housing.
- I also support the Major Richard Star Act so combat-injured veterans can receive the retirement pay and VA disability compensation they earned without forcing veterans to compete against one another for benefits.
- My perspective comes from both public service and professional experience. As a financial planner, I worked with military families, survivors, retirees, caregivers, and veterans navigating benefits and long-term financial security. I was also selected by the Department of Defense to provide survivor financial counseling to families of active-duty and retired service members who had lost a loved one.
Family housing
- Military families deserve housing that is safe, affordable, well maintained, and subject to meaningful oversight. I would prioritize uniform inspection standards, trained and independent oversight personnel, enforceable maintenance timelines, clear reporting of health and safety hazards, accessible tenant advocates, a fair dispute-resolution process, and real consequences for housing providers that fail military families.
- Affordability must also be addressed. The Department of Defense should identify areas where housing supply and costs create the greatest hardship, evaluate whether allowances reflect local conditions, and coordinate with surrounding communities to expand appropriate housing options near installations.
- Government Accountability Office reviews have documented continuing weaknesses in military-housing oversight, inspection standards, resident assistance, supply, and affordability. My county-level work on workforce housing, veterans’ housing stability, transportation, and MacDill-related community issues showed me how directly housing conditions affect family stability, retention, and readiness.
Changes to pursue first
- My immediate priorities would be: preventing shutdown-related disruptions to military pay and veterans’ services; improving access to mental-health care and reducing delays in VA care and disability decisions; expanding childcare and spouse-employment support; and establishing stronger, enforceable oversight of military housing. These are practical steps that protect readiness, honor earned benefits, and improve daily life for the people who serve and the families who serve alongside them.
Additional candidate-profile statement received October 1, 2026. The campaign supplied this separately from the four-question follow-up.
Experience informing her priorities
- My priorities are shaped by decades of work with military families, veterans, caregivers, and survivors, as well as my service as Hillsborough County's liaison to MacDill Air Force Base. In that role, I worked with military leaders and community stakeholders on housing, transportation, workforce development, healthcare access, and other issues affecting active-duty personnel, veterans, and military families.
Veterans’ care — additional statement
- My first priorities are improving timely access to VA care, strengthening mental-health and suicide-prevention services, protecting earned benefits, improving disability-claim processing, and helping veterans transition successfully into civilian life.
- Veterans should not have to navigate excessive delays to receive healthcare or benefits they earned through service. I support adequate staffing and modernization of VA systems, stronger accountability for quality and timeliness, expanded access to behavioral-health services, and continued investment in transition programs that connect veterans with education, workforce credentials, apprenticeships, employment opportunities, and stable housing.
- I also support the Major Richard Star Act so combat-injured veterans can receive both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation without being forced to choose between benefits they have earned.
Family housing — additional statement
- Military families deserve housing that is safe, affordable, well maintained, and subject to strong oversight.
- I support stronger accountability for privatized military-housing providers, consistent inspection standards, transparent reporting of maintenance and safety issues, accessible tenant advocates, and meaningful enforcement when providers fail military families.
- Affordability is also a growing challenge for both military and civilian families. Congress, the Department of Defense, local governments, and community partners should work together to expand housing opportunities near military installations and ensure military families can find affordable housing without sacrificing quality or safety.
Quality of life — additional statement
- Military readiness depends on family readiness.
- My priorities include competitive military pay, affordable and accessible childcare, dependable healthcare and mental-health care, stronger support for military-spouse employment, and policies that reduce the financial and personal disruption caused by frequent relocations.
- I support efforts to improve professional-license portability for military spouses, expand career opportunities for military families, improve childcare access, and ensure that housing, transportation, healthcare, and community services support military readiness.
Immediate priorities — additional statement
- My immediate priorities would be:
- Improving access to mental-health care and reducing delays in VA care and disability decisions.
- Strengthening military-family quality-of-life programs, including childcare and spouse-employment support.
- Improving accountability and safety standards in military housing.
- Protecting earned veterans' benefits and ensuring veterans receive the services they were promised.
- These priorities are informed by my public service, my work as a financial planner serving military families and survivors, and my experience working directly with military communities throughout the Tampa Bay region.