Beyond the Whiteboard

For every $1 we invest in child care, it yields $4 in return.

Earlier this week I attended a Congressional Hearing about our country’s investment (or lack thereof, really) in early childhood education. As a single parent, I was extremely frustrated with some of my colleagues' continued inability to take the issue of child care seriously.

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The never ending greed of tax prep companies

It’s tax season, a time that fills millions of Americans with dread as they pay out hundreds of dollars to tax prep companies like TurboTax, and spend hours filing their taxes. It doesn’t have to be this way. Filing taxes should be free and easy, which is why I pushed the IRS to create a new Direct File program.

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TikTok & Congress

While we didn’t get the result we hoped for in this month’s California Senate primary race, I’m still in Congress serving out my term as the Congresswoman for California’s 47th district. I plan to continue using this Substack account to write about politics and policy, through posts like the one you’ll see below. I hope you’ll stick around!

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A look behind the curtain

Today’s Substack offers a glimpse into the world of campaigning and what all goes down in a competitive U.S. Senate race like ours. First, TV ads. If you’re in California, hopefully you’ve seen them! We’ve run multiple ads this cycle, with different ads running in different media markets.

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Honest update on our race

Today’s Beyond the Whiteboard is going to attempt to cut through the noise and explain where things stand in our race for the U.S. Senate. First off, the polls: Polling in this race has really fluctuated, But this week two NEW polls dropped. The first, showed us in third place, behind Republican Steve Garvey by six points. The second, conducted later whe…

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Planet for Our Future

Floods, fires, and droughts—California is on the frontlines of climate change. Yet, for decades, career politicians have exacerbated the crisis. They’ve given sweetheart deals to Big Oil and failed to safeguard us from natural disasters, all while ignoring our crumbling electric grid.

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Why am I so hard on CEOs?

Why am I so hard on CEOs? I’ve been asked this a few times before, and I firmly believe that we should hold CEOs accountable because their decisions affect all of us.

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Housing for All

I just released my Housing for All plan—to urgently build more homes, bring down and stabilize rental costs, and increase homeownership opportunities for Californians. Housing is the top issue for Californians, but career politicians in Washington have been too slow to provide solutions. I saw this firsthand as a consumer protection attorney on the front…

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The mental health crisis among young people

As a mom of two teenagers and one tween, I’m acutely aware of the mental health crisis affecting kids, teens, and young people all across the country. Recent studies show that about one in five teens between age twelve and eighteen suffer from at least one diagnosable mental health disorder.

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Beyond the 60 second debate answer: Earmarks

Today I want to once again go beyond my 60 second debate answer and talk about an issue that is animating this race: earmarks. I’m the only person in this race who opposes “earmarks.” In last week’s debate, I explained why: Earmarks are specific buckets of money set aside in much larger pieces of legislation to fund certain, very specific projects. Earmar…

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