Yana Ludwig

Civil Rights

Queer and Trans folks need full protections under the law. This includes the right to marry or live as domestic partners with the same rights that heterosexual couples enjoy as domestic partners, inlcuding adoption rights. Their children must be treated the same under the law as children of heterosexual couples. Protection from hate crimes is essential, and particular attention needs to be paid to trans women of color who are the most likely group in the country to be murdered. Another key piece of my platform is addressing the epidemic of mental health challenges faced by the LGBTQIA community and particularly for queer and trans youth, who are at especially high risk of homelessness and suicide when rejected by their families. Learn more

Criminal Justice / Public Safety

Criminal justice reform is also a key place for both racial justice considerations and setting the table for any gun control legislation that we might consider. I support the efforts of the Movement for Black Lives to study and clearly articulate what is needed here, and will follow their lead on proposals for police reform. Learn more

Drug Policy

I favor the full legalization and decriminalization of marijuana, including releasing people who are serving sentences for marijuana-related charges, and wiping the records of all people with marijuana convictions. There should also be recognition of the uneven impact marijuana conviction have had on communities of color and poor communities, and legal corrections for those past harms. Learn more

Environment / Energy

Public lands form the core of what many of us love about Wyoming, providing places to hunt and fish, hike and camp, and simply enjoy some of the least spoiled natural beauty in the US. They are also a key part of a climate stabilization plan and we should be expanding and protecting our public lands right now. The wealthy owning class is currently trying to sell off our public lands to the highest bidder. This is a direct threat to Wyoming’s values and economic vibrancy. Both Liz Cheney and Cynthia Lummis have been enthusiastic supporters of this movement to sell, over the objections of hunters, responsible land advocates and climate activists. It is critical to Wyoming’s future that neither of them wins this next election. Learn more

Whatever version we end up with, the policies need to include green infrastructure, transportation and energy, and focus on economic health for “fossil fuel states” like Wyoming. I favor the bipartisan Carbon Fee and Dividend bill promoted by Citizens Climate Lobby. This would provide monthly dividends to all people, rising over time. Learn more

We must further use safe, proven technology to capture carbon. The most tried and true method for this is trees. My 10 Billion Tree Initiative would draw labor from two places: states that rely most heavily on fossil fuels currently for their economic vibrancy, and a massive reallocation of military personnel away from overseas war-making, which is disastrous ecologically and leaves vets with high levels of PTSD and depression that is inadequately treated when they come home. Learn more

Government Reform

I favor overturning Citizens United, and fully enfranchising all US citizens to be able to vote. This includes automatic voter registration when people turn 18, restoring voting rights to people with felony convictions, and letting people currently in prison vote. We further need to legitimize tribal IDs as identification for voting purposes, and ensure that all people have reasonable access to polling places, early voting and mail-in ballots. Finally, we can do a lot to ensure that all people have the opportunity to vote by 1) making election day a national holiday; 2) having two formal days of voting; 3) expanding the number, and hours of polling places; and 4) following Wyoming’s lead in having every state allow 40 full days of early voting. Learn more

Guns

Yana supports the second amendment, recognizing that guns are an important tool for hunters, and a widespread source of enjoyment for many people in Wyoming, across the political spectrum. She supports looking more deeply at the causes of growing gun violence in the US, rather than jumping immediately to plans that simply ban guns, and will only support gun legislation that is data-based and addresses those causes. One such piece of legislation would be removing ownership and possession rights from people with domestic violence records, as over 50% of the mass shooters have had DV charges on their records and DV often escalates to shootings when guns are available in the house. She also supports looking at police reform as one of our major gun violence problems in Wyoming is officer involved shootings. Finally, we need to address the underlying causes of Wyoming’s suicide epidemic, which includes addressing economic despair and the lack of support for men in particular to deal with their feelings before it reaches the level of deep depression. Learn more

Healthcare

I support Medicare for All at no cost to patients, and also believe that we must deprivatize both the insurance and the pharmaceutical industries. I’d propose making pharmaceutical companies into publicly owned utilities, with states being able to apply to have their own pharmaceutical research and production companies, and strictly enforced price controls that limit price gouging for life-saving drugs while bringing stable income to state budgets. In the more immediate term, putting price caps (like the state of Colorado recently did with insulin) on the most critical life-saving medicines would save a lot of lives while we work out the details of transitioning to the public utility model. Chronic illnesses, mental health, reproductive health (including abortion), disability and veterans’ care must be fully covered, with the elimination of economic and bureaucratic barriers to getting care. Select a topic. Learn more

Immigration

I favor significantly opening our borders, and an end to treating immigrants like criminals simply for seeking asylum and to join us in the US. The Wall is an ecological and human rights disaster that was sold to the American public (and pushed through congress) with the false notion that immigrants were dangerous and that we have a drug import problem coming over our southern border (it’s actually a much bigger problem with ports). The criminalizing of aid givers to people coming across the border also needs to end. Our current tight immigration practices are incredibly expensive, have led to thousands of families being torn apart and the deaths of multiple children, and has very little grounding in any kind of data. Learn more

Wages / Job Benefits

Yana is pro-workers. All workers. This includes military personnel, coal miners, auto workers, and literally anyone else who needs to work for a living. Whatever criticisms she may have of the companies people work for, she recognizes that we are in a shared struggle for economic security. Learn more