Issues

Taxation is a system that we put up with because, well, we have to. That being said, there are ways to do it that are more equitable than others. Minnesota currently ranks 7th in the nation in terms of overall tax burden. This has become infuriating for us who live here and feel the hit year over year in the tax refunds which no longer give us money back, but it has secondary effects which are even more troubling. 

In a country where people and businesses have fifty different states to set up shop, this makes our state a less and less attractive option as time goes on. Every taxpayer who gets fed up and moves away takes money with them that supports our local economy. Every business that relocates takes Minnesotans livelihoods with them. Every young couple who decides to settle down and have a family elsewhere takes Minnesota's future doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, and businessmen and sets them up for success in other states.

So what is going on? We are seeing the DFL create programs and mandates which they are unable to fund at the state level, then sneakily shifting the funding of these projects back onto municipal and local governments. They say these programs will be funded by the 1%, but right now the Middle Class is eating the bulk of the cost. The estimated increase in cost for this recent laundry list of new programs was 10 billion dollars, but the true costs associated are likely higher, as even after an 18 billion dollars budget surplus, the DFL's leadership continues to see Minnesota's budget deficit rise year over year. In Ramsey County, our property taxes, which are already the most burdensome in the state, are set to increase by 17% over the next two years. Do we really think our roads, schools, and communities are about to become 17% better? The DFL continues to defend these tax increases, with resident's property taxes in some areas set to increase by 30%.

I first and foremost believe that The State of Minnesota must work to eliminate wasteful spending, cease creating unfunded programs and mandates, and combat its rampant fraud and corruption before it even thinks to take more money out of your pocket.

I will work with Republican legislators to pass a one time property tax relief rebate for Minnesota families, putting money taken from you directly back into your pocket and shows good will from the GOP for our new era of governance. Following this, I will work with the legislature to conduct a full review and audit of all recent new programs associated with these tax hikes and ensure that any unnecessary programs and/or wasteful and fraudulent spending ceases immediately. Finally, I will help pass legislation which allows municipalities and localities to opt-out of new programs and mandates to ensure that, when passed, they will be properly funded at the state level.

Additionally, in Minnesota we employ county assessors who are responsible for evaluating your home's price and therefore the amount of money you pay the local government for property taxes. This is an irresponsible process which sees an obvious conflict of interest and is inherently prone to corruption. I support the proposals from fellow Gen Z candidate Sebastian Stoss (R-36A) to create independent non-government assessments to determine your home's tax evaluation and to see first-in-the-nation legislation which has you pay property taxes at the lowest 10-year prior assessment of your home's value, providing relief for Ramsey County families and helping you continue to pay only for what you budgeted for when you signed your home's mortgage or your apartment's lease.

The Preamble to the US Constitution lays out six goals and purposes for the government. The second of these points, behind unity, is to Establish Justice. It is fundamental to the legitimacy of the social contract that crime is punished and that criminals face justice for their crimes. Under the DFL's leadership in Minnesota, crime has become rampant and out of control. Police departments and prosecutors have been castrated in the name of so-called "social justice", but where is the justice for those whose lives are taken or ruined by the actions of violent criminals?

I intend, in my first day in office, to propose a brand-new One-Strike Policy. Any person convicted of murder, rape, embezzlement of public funds, the exploitation of children, high volume drug trafficking, criminal conspiracies surrounding high ticket theft, and other serious anti-social crimes would all be facing a MANDATORY minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Under this proposal, activists and incompetent judges would no longer have the leeway to give the objectively evil a "second chance" which most often results in only more destruction. Studies show that up to 85% of all crime is committed by repeat offenders, and it is important that we take these people off the street in order to bring back a properly functioning society.

However, even though I am a believer in Law and Order, I believe too in mercy and rehabilitation. I oppose prosecuting most misdemeanor crimes, such as petty drug possession and "survival crimes", with prison sentences beyond just a few days. People trapped in difficult situations need guidance, assistance, and opportunity. Ripping from their families and support systems is ineffective, immoral, and only creates new career criminals in jail. To combine these two policies into one would create a generational shift in how we treat crime here in Minnesota, and we could see ourselves become a beacon of success looked up to by the leaders around the country instead of a source of mockery.

Finally, the Twin Cities is currently experiencing some of the worst homeless crime in the entire country. Tent cities are popping up around every corner, and you now can not walk down the sidewalk in many places without being harassed and seeing mountains of used needles and litter dotting our once great neighborhoods. People deserve solutions that don't just posture nice sentiments, but are actually proven to work. While in office, I will draft legislation to that forcibly commits unhoused individuals experiencing low-functioning alcoholism, drug addiction, and/or severe mental illness into state-funded treatment facilities. While neither a pretty nor perfect solution to these crises, whose roots deserve to be addressed independently via other legislation, it benefits neither those unfortunate enough to be living through the struggles of addiction or mental illness to be on the street, nor our residents whose day to day lives are degraded and made unsafe by their presence. 

These will free up community resources allowing us to work to prosecute violent crime and lets us escape from the cycles of petty solutions for these issues including anti-homeless architecture, which only makes our cities uglier to look at and more infuriating to deal with.

In 2026, Minnesota received national attention from the expose of a ring of fraudulent operations where groups, primarily consisting of foreign nationals, falsely billed state programs for services that were never provided. In total, low estimates put the amount of money stolen around ten billion dollars, a cost of over $4000 a person, while higher estimates place true costs in the tens of billions of dollars.

This is obviously a gross injustice, and something which rightfully infuriates ALL Minnesotans regardless of political party. Your money, taken under the guise of aiding the poor, was stolen by criminals who only used it to enrich themselves.. The ugliest part of this case, though, which did not get enough attention in all of the headlines, is that the existence of these fraud rings and their operations have been a known fact since 2015, and DFL trifecta which led Minnesota took little to no action to stop it. This leaves us them in a Catch-22 situation: If they received tips from whistleblowers and investigators but did not get around to stopping them, then this is gross incompetence and we must see that they lose their mandate to govern. If they were aware of these fraud rings, and then continued to allow them to steal taxpayer funds, then this is criminal behavior and we must see them lose not just their mandate, but face a full fledged investigation into the scope of this behavior and the motivations behind them.

As the MNGOP fights to uncover more information in St. Paul, only time will tell which of these two scenarios is the closest to reality.

The only way that we can now in the present prevent gross perversions of justice like this from happening again is to create action. I will work with the legislature to create boards of oversight, impromptu mandatory case inspections for organizations receiving federal funds, mandatory geo-fencing for in-home visits and itemization of all costs billed, and fight for criminal charges to be brought against any and all individuals connected to these fraud rings.

I am proud to be a Republican. Despite this though, I am also proud to have the sense to see politics beyond the lens of Right and Left, but also Right and Wrong. I am happy to cross partisan lines when it helps my voters to do so, and I have been very supportive of the efforts of Democrats like Fmr. FTC Chair Lina Khan and others to create new pro-consumer regulations for a new, digital age. I believe efforts like this should be supported and pushed through by all people-minded legislators, Republican and Democrat, and I would be honored to help advance them here in Minnesota.

This issue for me is one that is extremely personal. In my personal life I work in the telecom industry. Most of us don't think about our phone bill too often, but when you sign up, your carrier will tell you "Your bill is going to be $xyz/mo, plus taxes and fees." Those taxes and fees, depending on your carrier, will be anywhere from five to ten dollars per phone line. The ugly truth though? It's a little bit of taxes, and a whole lot of fees. Around $1.25 of that will be actual, real taxes which the company has to charge, but the other $4-$9? At best, it is a cost of service which the company should have disclosed and included in the price of the bill they quoted you upfront. At worst, it is just another way for big corporations to nickel and dime us for hundreds of dollars each year. This kind of racket has become worryingly common, from your movie theater tickets to your concert tickets and beyond.

When elected, I will introduce legislation here in Minnesota that forces businesses to adopt a "one price rule" which gives customers a full picture upfront for the price they'll pay upfront for goods and services. Any regular fees charged by a company would need to listed out to the MN Secretary of State and justified with a written explanation of what costs are offset by their existence, or their use will then be declared illegal and their charges illegitimate.

Education is one of the pillars of what has made America into the most powerful nation in the world today. Thomas Jefferson, despite his strong anti-government leanings, supported public education and is noted to have stated "A nation can not be both free and ignorant."

Minnesota has, over the past 15 years, seen considerable backsliding in regards to its quality of education. We went from having top five in the nation PreK-12 proficiency to now being placed about halfway down the list. The problems are especially apparent in poorer communities, which see some of the worst inequality in the country. Educational failure, despite what activists may want you to believe, is not a spending problem but a quality problem. In 2024, the city of Baltimore, Maryland spent $21,606 per high school student and had 23 separate high schools in which zero students were neither proficient in reading nor math. In contrast, the high school I went to only spent $9,629 per student in the same year and consistently receives attention as one of the top 50 public high schools in the nation. I am the son of an educator, so this topic is both very important to me and one in which I am intimately knowledgeable of.

I intend to draft legislation inspired by the Mississippi Miracle, seeing that phonics-based literacy is mandated and vibes-based reading is finally thrown away. We will treat education as more important than a child's social life and start holding children back when they can not achieve grade standards. We will also pay teachers higher salaries, but only in exchange for giving higher-quality instruction, and I will fight teachers unions for the right of school administrators to discipline and fire poor performing teachers as they should be allowed to do so.

I believe that all Minnesotans have a right to re-reimbursed school choice programs, including homeschooling, although I will make it my priority to see that parents first and foremost have access to effective, high-quality, and trusted public education in which they can enroll their children.

Ever since I was young, I have always been a lover of the Great Outdoors. My first conscious memory is being at the Grand Canyon with my parents, looking up at the sky, seeing the stars, and being taken aback in awe. I am a proud Eagle Scout and a semi-active member of the Order of the Arrow.

Protecting our clean air, clean water, and state parks is something that is near and dear to my heart. I don't believe that anyone can rightfully call themselves a Conservative if they do not support conserving the natural beauty that makes our nation great.

I fully support the efforts to overturn Minnesota's 30 year moratorium on nuclear power and to allow construction of new plants immediately. Nuclear power is safe, efficient, and one of the least environmentally damaging forms of energy on the market today. It will also bring back jobs to the Iron Range, which has been economically struggling ever since they had their jobs regulated out of existence and shipped overseas years ago. I will not support bans or caps on fossil fuel production, but I will also not support any subsidies to their use either. I am against energy subsidies in general, whether they are for renewables like solar and wind, or fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. Subsidies are just a fancy re-tooled way of saying corporate welfare, which I am 100% against in all cases. The way to create sustainable climate solutions while maintaining energy production and keeping the jobs it creates here in Minnesota is to open the market, increase competition, and eliminate laws that gives preference to any one industry over another. 

Finally, I do not support the CURRENT proposals to allow sulfide-ore copper mining efforts in the Boundary Waters area. Firstly, I recognize that the proposed methods of copper mining create more pollution and are less sustainable than the iron mining the area is accustomed to. Secondly, the Boundary Waters are an indispensable area of tourism for the state of Minnesota and a source of fresh water for much of up north that is not worth sacrificing for short term profits. Thirdly, the company which is currently favored for bidding is foreign-owned and has not demonstrated that these efforts will create jobs for Minnesotans as opposed to multinational corporations or foreign and out-of-state labor. While this bill has already passed through the National Senate, I will use my voice in the State House to make sure no mining occurs that is not in the interest of our state, our environment, and our citizens.

I proudly identify myself as a fiscal Conservative. Fundamentally, I don't want the government to be involved in any system in which the people or free market can handle better or more efficiently. Public healthcare is a fundamentally flawed idea. It is extremely expensive, it will increase taxes that drive away residents and businesses, and it is uniquely prone to theft and corruption.  

That being said, I will not vote for cuts to state insurance programs, such as MNCare, until we see national legislation passed that brings a solution to America's healthcare crises. 

I think of my Mother, a Type-1 Diabetic, who would have her insulin covered under MNCare at little or no out of pocket cost. Her cost if she didn't have insurance? Around $700 a dose. Even with insurance, in states without insulin price caps, it would run her up to $200 a dose. When we traveled abroad as a family, those same doses ran her just $15, even without public or private insurance. Simply put, our healthcare system in America is completely broken. There is not enough free market competition to make it cheap and efficient, nor enough socialist nationalization to create low out of pocket costs and coverage for all. I intend to use my voice in the state house to encourage Minnesota's national delegation to make healthcare solutions a priority and create a workable system for all of us.

My goal as a representative will always be to fight for what is right and what is best. 99% of the times, this means getting the government out of your life and out of your wallet, and I would normally feel the same about this program, but in good conscious, I will not cut funding for a program that affords ordinary people the ability to keep up with their bills while still getting treatment that they need to survive.

Immigration has been the hot topic for the last five years. It probably was the single most pressing issue during the 2024 Presidential Election campaign, and with the widely publicized ICE raids in the Twin Cities from January and the ensuing tragic deaths of two protestors, Minnesotans deserve to have reasonable voices representing them on this matter.

As a Hispanic person myself and somebody who works in a primarily Latino Spanish-speaking environment, I know firsthand how destructive and unproductive these raids were. Racial profiling, mandatory quotas, and door to door searches are not just ineffective tools of law enforcement, but immoral and against the core values which the United States should represent. I was, and still am, against the Trump administration's shock and awe enforcement tactics and gung-ho style use of ICE.

With all that being said, I can confidently point this out without contradicting my firm belief that America has a right to sovereignty and to enforce her immigration laws.

Whether people like to hear it or not, large scale mass migration destroys the struggling real economy we have here in America. Our already dwindling living wages, worker protections, and worker benefits are put in further jeopardy when bargaining capacity is undermined by an underclass of 40 million people willing to work without them. Additionally, we have seen a huge strain on Minnesota's public resources in housing, education, and healthcare from this massive influx of people into Ramsey and adjacent counties in just a few short years. This situation is not sustainable, and it is necessary we see solutions from our politicians, not just more talking points and pandering.

During my time in office, I will be working with lawmakers and agencies to reduce illegal migration by targeting the economic and political structures that sustain it, not by indiscriminately persecuting random individuals. This includes supporting mandatory e-verify for all Minnesota businesses, legislation that taxes remittances to offset the costs we've experienced and makes our state a less attractive migration hub, and fighting for our state justice system to be weaponized against each and every company that uses illegal labor to undercut the high quality livelihoods and opportunities Minnesotans deserve.

Elections should be about the people deciding who is best to represent them, not which candidate has the biggest bankroll or can fundraise most effectively from the wealthiest donors. I believe that Citizens vs FEC United is quite possibly the worst court decision in the history of our country. It undermines the very foundational principles of Democracy that have allowed our nation to prosper for its 250 year history. It is effectively legalized bribery and a direct cause behind much of the corruption which we see and feel in our day-to-day lives. My campaign only takes money from individual, small-dollar donations or PACs whose purposes I am in fundamental support of, and I have consistently refused the money and support of any organization which I disagree with.

If elected, I will pressure Minnesota's national delegation, Republican and Democrat, to introduce a Constitutional Amendment that overrides the Citizens decision and permanently pegs limits for non-individual contributors to those faced by individual contributors in our election campaigns.

I am intrigued by and would be willing to explore legislation here in Minnesota which publicly funds elections, although at this point in time I have my reservations and am not committed to expand these programs beyond what has already been implemented.

As the first Gen Z candidate for House from SD40, I have nothing but distaste for the forever wars that have become the norm for America ever since the end of the Cold War. Growing up during the War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan, I have never known a time when America was not at war. These were conflicts that were quite literally started before I turned a year old, and we were unable to exit them fully until I was in college. Trillions of dollars were spent, thousands of American lives and millions of civilian lives were lost, and our strategic goals were either not achieved or only served to destabilize the respective regions further.

As far back as 2015, I have supported the promises made by President Trump to end all foreign conflicts and put America First. Despite the "No New Wars" messaging from his 2024 campaign, we have seen a string of worrying escalations from the administration in regards to Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and others. Regardless of where Trump stands now, I will continue to be against all foreign interventions abroad unless there is a clear and present danger to the United States mainland and all diplomatic options are exhausted.

When elected to state house, I will work with like-minded legislators, Republican and Democrat, to introduce legislation which prevents the deployment of MN National Guardsmen to any conflict not directly authorized by a Congressional Declaration of War.