Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives - New York 12th Congressional District in 2020 New York Regular and Presidential Primary Election.
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.
Get StartedLauren supports bills like the Equality Act which would expand existing law to make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Unfortunately, many Republican lawmakers still support legislation that further takes away the rights of the LGBT community. Protecting this community by explicitly making illegal any discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation also means that no individual can be denied health coverage for gender-affirming medical care. Lauren’s true passion is fighting for equality across all genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, ages, religions and ability, and she will never stop fighting until everyone’s rights are equal by law. Learn more
The Equal Rights Amendment is not federally ratified. Paid parental leave is not a mandatory employer benefit by law. The wage gap has not been closed. Reproductive freedom and our bodily autonomy are constantly under attack. The Violence Against Women Act has been allowed to expire amidst partisan disagreements. Rape kits go untested due to lack of funding. Congress has allowed women’s physical and economic security to remain a secondary priority, and as a vocal, pro-choice advocate for women’s rights, Lauren will fight for women as a top priority. Learn more
Lauren strongly supports the decriminalization, destigmatization, and decarceration of sex work, which would increase the safety of all involved. She is also against FOSTA-SESTA (a new law intended to curb sex trafficking), as she feels it limits free speech and also limits workers’ ability to work safely and independently. Learn more
Lauren supports ending arrest quotas, ending cash bail, decriminalizing poverty, encouraging the development of positive relationships between police forces and the communities they serve, and ending for-profit prisons and mass incarceration which has historically impacted People of Color at a much higher rate. Lauren also supports federal legislation requiring an outside special prosecutor for cases involving killings by police to eliminate conflicts of interest. Learn more
Legalizing marijuana federally to allow for both medical and recreational use (albeit with restrictions similar to alcohol), and releasing those who have been incarcerated for marijuana-related crimes would begin to undo the racism-based war on drugs in our society. The taxes from marijuana sales should be used first and foremost to assist those who have been incarcerated for marijuana-related crimes to help them reintegrate into society, and all marijuana-related crimes should be erased from criminal records. Learn more
As someone who has lived and studied abroad, Lauren has experienced and appreciated the high quality tuition-free universities available in other countries. Lauren supports Bernie Sanders’ plan to make college free and to forgive all student debt. She also believes that everyone who has paid their student debt should receive a credit for what they have paid so they can invest their money in their futures and families. Lauren believes that education is a human right, and that nobody should be burdened financially for the rest of their life for wanting to learn. Learn more
Given the urgency of this issue, Lauren supports the Green New Deal, an agenda that meets the scope of this enormous problem in order to counteract the damage done by humans to our earth. She wants to emphasize the importance of ending subsidies such as those to factory farming (one of the main contributors to greenhouse gases) and instead promote regenerative agriculture practices. Learn more
Lauren also supports a national Single Use Plastics Ban by 2030. Learn more
Lauren supports universal background checks for every single gun sale no matter the model or venue of the sale (close all loopholes) and also for ammunition. Assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks should be banned, as these weapons should have never been allowed in the civilian market after being designed for war. Learn more
Lauren supports free prescription drug coverage (on all life saving medications) including immediate provision of free PrEP for anyone who requests it. If everyone has free access, we can eradicate HIV in the United States. Learn more
In addition, she supports medical debt forgiveness, vision, dental and hearing coverage as part of this plan. Learn more
She supports the Single-Payer Medicare-for-All plan, as it removes the middleman of private health insurance companies. Learn more
Our healthcare system is broken, and much of our costs fund a middleman (private insurance companies) rather than actually helping save lives. The last thing someone who was laid off from a job should have to worry about is whether they will be able to pay their hospital bills. Mental healthcare and substance abuse disorder treatment should also be fully covered. Lauren believes that the reason we have not developed a universal healthcare system is that politicians accept campaign donations from pharmaceutical lobbies and private insurance companies. Learn more
Lauren fully endorses the Homes Guarantee (HomesGuarantee.com) which boldly champions housing as a human right. Universal rent control, a social housing zoning law, proactive protections of public housing are all included in this comprehensive plan. Lauren also specifically supports the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders) which will further secure that we meet our goal of becoming a carbon-neutral society while enhancing the quality of life and dignity of those who live in public housing. Learn more
Lauren stands with immigrants of all faiths, creeds and origins while supporting immigration reform with a path to citizenship, and endorses the Dream Act of 2017. Lauren believes our current immigration laws are tied to xenophobia, and that crossing our border should be decriminalized while legal immigration should be made easy and cost-free. ICE should be abolished immediately, and Lauren will not sign any bill further authorizing any funds for ICE until they are gone. Learn more
In combination with the Green New Deal, Lauren also supports nationalizing and upgrading all public transit and making public transit usage free for all. Learn more
NOT allowing workers to unionize benefits the CEOs and its shareholders while average workers lose their rights and power. Lauren believes that all workers in any workplace, profession, or sector should be allowed to and encouraged to organize for their rights, and nobody should be exempt from protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, or other federal labor laws. Examples of legislation Lauren supports includes Bernie Sanders’ Workplace Democracy Act, H.R. 2474, repealing Section 14(b) of Taft-Hartley, H.R. 582, ending two-stage elections in favor of card check elections, ending at-will employment and noncompete clauses, enacting fair scheduling requirements, codetermination on corporate boards (40% representation in all publicly traded companies), and a maximum wage for CEOs (30x the lowest salary in the company including that of foreign workers). Learn more
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.