Issues & Ideas for Independent Voters

A young female nurse or caregiver gently comforting an elderly woman with white hair, both with closed eyes and smiling, in a healthcare setting.

Medicaid and Medicare are pro-life issues.

Cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Florida KidCare) go against the lives of the elderly, the needy, and children. 

Fees at assisted-living facilities (ALF) will increase due to cuts to Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB).

Over 260 assisted-living facilities (ALF) in Hillsborough County and nearly 100 ALFs in Pasco and Polk Counties.

“An older couple on Medicare living on an annual income of only $21,000 could face an additional $8,340 in health care costs each year.” - CAP

Close the door, but open your hearts.

Two women harvesting strawberries in a farm, wearing wide-brimmed hats, long-sleeved shirts, and jeans, with baskets full of strawberries.

Let us finish the wall if that makes people feel safer in Wesley Chapel or Thonotosassa.

But undocumented families without criminal records deserve integration pathways to support agriculture, hospitality, and more.

Migrant farmworkers and H-2A visa holders support our local $1.1 billion strawberry industry. Farm labor shortage is a problem. In the USA, the estimation is that 42% of agricultural workers are undocumented.

There are about 3,000 restaurants in Hillsborough County, and 1 out of 4 restaurant workers could be undocumented.

Our three major religions care about the foreigner, widower, and poor. 

College students walking on a university campus sidewalk surrounded by green trees.

Race-based affirmative action has become toxic. It has run its course.

The Supreme Court has made this traditional practice of helping historically underserved communities illegal. But how about income/class-based affirmative action?

Not all minorities are low income, and many white communities need economic help (think Crystal Springs in Pasco or part of Thonotosassa in Hillsborough).

Class-based affirmative action will benefit any low-income White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian across the board.

It will be a fair helping hand to every bright student regardless of race.

Class-based affirmative action.

President Barack Obama signing a document at the White House with a young boy standing beside him, surrounded by several seated and standing adults in formal attire.

Obamacare is an entrepreneurial lifeline.

As a serial entrepreneur, I have created five startups since 2007. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) made my entrepreneurial journey possible. 

Any reduction to the ACA kills freelancers. Kill our entrepreneurial spirit. 

There are 144 thousand freelancers—1 out of 3 people from Lakeland to Carrollwood and from Brandon to Zephyrhills—who would suffer without reliable Omaha Care. 

We should support improving what is working with the Affordable Care Act and deleting what is not. Obamacare 2.0 is urgently needed. Call it TrumpCare if you like; it's the same to me.

Person in business attire holding a cardboard box with office supplies.

AI is coming for white-collar jobs. Nearly 48,000 workers in our communities will feel its impact.

Last year, 28,000 students graduated in our region, many now facing a tough entry-level job market shaped by AI automation.

From bank tellers to junior financial analysts and from paralegals to health technicians, a lot of professionals will be impacted by this AI revolution. Even Uber drivers will be substituted by driverless cars in 3 to 6 years.

AI is the biggest social and economic challenge of our time, yet both parties—Republicans and Democrats—are failing to prepare for it.

We must act now. Keeping AI under human control should be one of America’s top legislative priorities.

Artificial intelligence with human control.

A stone sign with gold lettering reading Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, located at 801 West 10th Street, sponsored by the State of Alaska and Merrill Lynch, with a building and greenery in the background.

Universal Basic Income (UBI)

UBI provided basic income to eligible citizens.

Alaska has had a form of UBI since 1982 to distribute oil wealth among eligible residents.

With AI layoffs, UBI must be considered because the emergence of artificial intelligence was possible thanks to universities and technologies developed with US taxpayers' money. 

The wealth generated by the AI revolution must be channeled to displaced white-collar workers.

People protesting outdoors holding signs about climate change and US aid, with some signs reading 'Ending global', 'USAID saves lives', and 'The faces of...'

Global soft power is a win-win.

U.S. foreign aid builds friendships and brings hope to people around the world.

Many Americans overestimate U.S. international aid, thinking it is 25% of the national budget, when it is actually about 1%. These funds support humanitarian efforts and U.S. foreign policy objectives.

The Port of Tampa thrives on international trade—at one point, India accounted for 38% of its total product exports.

And here at home, one in four voters has close family members living abroad. There are more than 30 thousand Indian immigrants, and over 16% of the district were born in Latin America. Plus, a lot of active military personnel live in our district.

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