About this response & our editorial approach
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.
No endorsement in either direction. Publishing a reply does not mean DutyStation endorses the candidate. Replying does not mean the candidate or campaign endorses DutyStation.
DutyStation’s website summaries and policy assessments are labeled separately.
Organized by topic. Email greetings and sign-offs are omitted; campaign contact details appear alongside.
Government shutdown and cooperation
- I oppose a government shutdown in 2027. Congress has a responsibility to resolve its disagreements without placing service members, military families, veterans, and other Americans in financial uncertainty.
- Regardless of which party controls Congress, I would work with Democrats, Republicans, other independents, and the administration to pass funding legislation before deadlines. If a full agreement could not be reached in time, I would support a temporary funding measure to keep government operating while negotiations continue. Cooperation does not require abandoning principles. It requires listening, identifying common ground, and doing the work.
- If a shutdown occurred, I would pursue immediate legislation providing uninterrupted military pay, including for the Coast Guard, and protecting essential family services. I would also support maintaining the advance funding that protects much of VA healthcare and benefits, while addressing gaps affecting services such as transition assistance and counseling.
- My office would help constituents identify which services remain available and resolve individual problems. Service members should not have to wonder whether they can pay their rent while carrying out their duties.
Quality of life
- My priorities would be reliable pay, accessible healthcare, affordable childcare, and greater stability for military families.
- I would support pay and housing allowances that reflect actual living costs, with particular attention to junior enlisted personnel. I would pursue shorter waits for medical appointments, adequate provider networks, continuity of prescriptions and treatment, and timely mental health care for service members and their families.
- Childcare must accommodate the realities of military schedules. I would support additional childcare capacity, adequate staffing, and options for families working irregular hours.
- For military spouses, I would support portable professional licenses, employment assistance, and access to training that remains useful after a move. Frequent relocations should not repeatedly erase a spouse’s career progress.
- I would also seek clearer relocation assistance, timely reimbursements, smoother transfers of medical and school records, and fewer unnecessary disruptions when military readiness allows.
Veterans’ care
- Veterans should receive timely care and understandable access to the benefits they earned.
- I would support adequate VA staffing, clear accountability for appointment delays, and coordinated community care when the VA cannot provide timely or appropriate treatment. Outside referrals should include reliable transfer of medical records and follow-up, rather than leaving veterans to coordinate everything themselves.
- Mental health services should include prompt access to counseling, suicide prevention, substance-use treatment, and support for families and caregivers. I would support coordination among VA clinicians, Vet Centers, community providers, and spiritual care professionals when veterans want that support.
- For disability benefits, I would pursue simpler instructions, help obtaining records, timely decisions, and explanations that veterans can understand. Accuracy matters as much as speed.
- The transition to civilian life should begin before discharge, with assistance connecting veterans to healthcare, benefits, housing, education, and employment. Veterans experiencing homelessness need coordinated help and sustained follow-through.
Family housing
- Military families deserve safe, well-maintained housing at a cost they can afford.
- I would support investment in housing where shortages are documented and review whether housing allowances reflect local rental costs. Increasing availability must go together with maintaining existing homes.
- For military-owned and privatized housing, I would pursue enforceable repair deadlines, independent inspections, transparent reporting of unresolved problems, and meaningful consequences for contractors that repeatedly fail families.
- Families reporting mold, unsafe water, electrical hazards, or other serious conditions should have a clear complaint process and protection from retaliation. When a home is unsafe, families need prompt access to safe temporary housing without being left to absorb the costs.
What I would pursue first, and why
- My first priorities would be preventing interruptions in pay and essential services, improving access to mental health care, and addressing unsafe housing. I would begin by listening to service members, families, veterans, healthcare professionals, and housing staff, then use documented delays, staffing shortages, repair histories, and constituent experiences to identify where legislation and oversight could make the greatest difference.
- My perspective comes from nearly ten years as a hospital chaplain, supporting patients and families through illness, uncertainty, and loss, as well as my work with military veterans and people experiencing homelessness. That experience is not a substitute for military service. It has taught me to listen, ask questions, and follow through when someone needs help.
- Respect must be demonstrated through dependable care and practical action.
Campaign funding
- I am not asking for any donations.
ELECTION REFLECTIONS · IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Looking ahead to Election Day
Brief answers to DutyStation’s questions about hope, America’s future, unity, the next generation and a closing message. The earlier policy answers and their received date remain above.
Hope heading into the election
- As a hospital chaplain, I see people put their differences aside and care for one another during life’s hardest moments—that gives me hope.
Vision for America
- Compassion. Opportunity. Unity.
Bringing Americans together
- Our shared responsibility to care for one another and honor our commitments to those who serve and their families.
The next generation
- A country where opportunity is within reach, service is respected, and listening to one another still matters.
Closing message to voters
- For ten years, I have served families in hospital hallways; I’m asking for your vote to bring that same commitment to Congress—my obligation is to you.