We are in a cost of living crisis, and the only thing the state legislature has done about it is passed a law that lets landlords charge tenants 9.7% more for rent every year, while simultaneously encouraging the demolition of affordable housing and the construction of luxury apartments that are completely inaccessible to most people.

Rent has outpaced wage growth almost every single month for the past 15 years. 49% of renter households are now officially cost-burdened. Renters are losing the ability to pay for basic necessities every year, and our legislature is only making the problem worse. Jamie will fight to limit the purchasing power of private equity firms that are suffocating the market and driving prices sky-high, and take effective action to keep people from being priced out of their homes: he will pass statewide rent caps.

Childcare is the most underappreciated service Washington should provide to its people, and it is the key to creating a more equitable democracy. So many working people have to sacrifice their income to make sure their children are being taken care of, and that's not a sacrifice they should have to make. Free, safe, effective childcare should be provided to all families until their children are in elementary school, at which point the state should provide extensive funding for after-school programs that end at the end of a standard work day.

The lack of extensive state-provided childcare disproportionately affects single parents (72% of which are women in Washington State), and when a multi-parent household has to make the decision to sacrifice one parent's career, it's usually a woman. Jamie may not be able to fully rectify the unhealthy patriarchal societal structure we live in, but he can certainly take a big step towards that goal: by providing free and effective childcare.

For too long, Washington has been under the thumb of massive health insurance companies. Jamie's opponent, Lisa Parshley, received literally 22% of her funding from the corporate medical industry, and she claims to be a progressive! Lisa Parshley sits on the Committee for Healthcare and Wellness (CHW), the committee which has killed ALL of the Single-payer healthcare bills that have been proposed in Washington state. Every CHW member is bankrolled by insurance companies and other medical giants, and it's usually by members of the CHW that work with their corporate masters to 1) author a flawed bill, and 2) ensure that the bill never reaches the house floor. Washington has the power to provide single-payer healthcare and ensure that hospitals, doctors, and nurses get paid fairly for the life-saving work they do. Jamie will cut corporations out of Washington politics, fight to get impartial legislators onto that committee, and work with the true progressives to save lives and save wallets: with free and effective healthcare.

Gas is a huge financial stressor for Washingtonians. Jamie is committed to long-term investment in expanded public transit infrastructure (including trains), but that's the long-term. People are struggling right now with the cost of gas.

As with so many exacerbated costs in the modern day, gas prices can be traced back to huge corporations extracting record-breaking (windfall) profits every chance they get: COVID-19, conflicts in the middle-east, and Trump's deregulation have all given exploitative oil companies opportunities to cheat the consumer. Although the state can't control the global price of oil, that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do, even if the establishment wants to make you think we're helpless. We:

• Can modify antitrust enforcement to address tacit collusion between the refineries

• Can implement a tax on price-gouging windfall profits, putting that money right back into the pockets of the people.

Jamie wholly rejects corporate PACs and lobbying money, and will fight for the people every chance he gets. He will save Washington state money, and he will save you money. Jamie will make sure there is NO MORE price-gouging for gas or utilities!