Kristiana de Leon

Criminal Justice / Public Safety

And when we do need first responders to show up, let’s continue to prioritize tools and methods that are evidence-based and that focus on keeping tense situations as calm as possible. Nobody’s life - not an officer’s, not a victim’s, and not a perpetrator’s - is worth a stolen 2001 Mazda. Let’s not lean into the fear-based narratives and instead keep our focus on what we know actually works. Learn more

I believe in crime prevention. Crime prevention doesn’t always look like crime prevention on the surface, but all the different ways we create a better community also means a safer community. In other words, keeping people housed and fed, and not on the brink of shoplifting or stealing car parts to pay the bills, is actually crime prevention. Providing more mental health treatment helps encourage people to not turn to addictive substances as coping mechanisms. Giving more people more access to job training and education is crime prevention. Making sure cities have sidewalks and well-lit streets is crime prevention. Funding parks and recreation programs, so that more youth can participate in safe activities that aren’t pay-to-play, is crime prevention. Learn more

Education

The influence of for-profit curriculum monopolies as gatekeepers in schools must be diminished, prioritizing the needs of students over profit margins. Meaningful dialogue with youth about their fears regarding gun violence is essential, and decisive action must follow. Learn more

We stand in solidarity with educators who champion basic needs for kindness and empathy, often becoming casualties in unending culture wars. It's time to shift the narrative, recognizing that a comprehensive and sustainable approach to education demands a multifaceted strategy that goes beyond monetary considerations. Learn more

The unsustainable burden placed on schools as a panacea for every societal woe must cease. Relying on levies and bonds to fund essential services is an inadequate and flawed approach. It's time to address systemic issues head-on. Learn more

Youth mental health cannot be an afterthought. Both in and outside of schools, robust programs must be fully funded, culturally relevant, and destigmatized. Training and rigorous standards shouldn't be heaped solely on teachers; educational leaders must share the responsibility. Learn more

We must tackle school lunch debt and ensure every child has access to nourishing meals. Urgent action is needed to reduce class sizes at all levels and embrace alternative learning methods, acknowledging that a one-size-fits-none 19th Century Education model no longer serves our diverse communities. Learn more

Environment / Energy

Whether it’s on housing, climate change, or transportation: let’s face it, when we think of cities in Washington, we often think of the biggest ones. So often, we see policies created for cities like Seattle in mind, but that don’t fit the realities of places like my town of Black Diamond. We can see Seattle from our highest hill, but in a lot of ways we are a world apart. Learn more

Healthcare

So many people become bankrupt and even lose their homes because they can’t afford to pay medical bills. The fact that this is the story for people who sleep in tents, in the shadows of some of the most prestigious medical institutions and biggest businesses in the world, is a moral failing on our part. I remember one medical bill just for one exam that was the amount of an entire month’s paycheck, but it was for a condition that would have made it nearly impossible for me to work due to chronic pain. This story is far from alone. If we want people to work to pay the bills, then we need to make them able to work without fear of those bills. The time is yesterday for listening to recommendations from the single payer healthcare commission and acting on them. We have the money to take care of each other, so why don’t we? Learn more

I believe in expanding access to all healthcare, and in placing greater scrutiny on the institutions that largely get a pass to the detriment of our most vulnerable youth. Learn more

Social Services

Also, I am an adoptee who is tired of adoption being used as a pawn in the attacks on reproductive freedom. I am sickened that the latest Supreme Court referred to “the domestic supply of infants” but it accurately shows that much of adoption is an open market, rather than something that should be safe, legal, and rare, with trauma therapy that should be mandatory for all involved. Learn more

Adoption and foster care are not alternatives, but they are institutions that also need fixing yesterday. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

What I am for is finding ways to ask for those who have benefitted from our hard work to pay it forward. And I don’t mean the folks who got their dream car or took a dream vacation or bought a dream home with some leftover savings - I mean the folks whose worth is hard for us to wrap our heads around. Learn more

Our cities, fire departments, schools, and more, are fighting for pennies on the dollar, when some of the most incredibly wealthy people live in our state and are being subsidized by our hard work - and that’s not okay. If you can pay 50 cents extra dollars on your gallon of gas for the roads they use, then surely the ultra-billionaires can part with the top of their earnings for the roads they do business on. Learn more