Issues

Traffic is a top priority for our community right now, and it is certainly a top priority for Michelle. Congested roads and freeways decrease our quality of life and make our daily commutes take precious time from our families. Just running a few errands or getting the kids to and from activities should not be difficult and stressful.

Michelle is passionate about tackling our traffic problems and making transit efficient, safe, and accessible for everyone. She sends her own kids to school via the school bus, and she wants to make it possible for every family to have options. Michelle will work to decrease time sitting in traffic by incentivizing employers to support communal transit, funding important road projects, and increasing access to school buses to improve morning and afternoon traffic flow. Michelle is a leader who will not accept the status quo, she will work to actually fix problems and leverage opportunities.

As a renter herself, Michelle knows how hard it is to find housing. As a legislator, she will work hard to bring down the cost of housing and advocate for accessibility  for every family. 

She will work to offer incentives that fast-track starter homes and create homes at more varied price points, establish a renter’s tax credit, and end bans on smaller lot sizes, townhomes, and apartments. Michelle wants every person and every family to have housing that fully meets their needs.

As a mom of two young kids, Michelle believes deeply that every child deserves access to quality education. Michelle has heard from too many friends that their children’s classrooms are overloaded, including one mom whose son was failing math when sitting at the back of a class of 38 students but who, when transferred to a class of 24 students, was able to successfully learn algebra for the first time.

She knows that our students are bright and capable and will thrive when put in a situation that makes room for them. She also knows that the hardworking teachers in our community deserve to be able to make a fair living, and she will work to increase teacher pay. 

Michelle wants every family in Charleston to be able to choose where to send their children to school. Parents who work long hours or several jobs are often unable to drive their kids across the city every day, especially given the current state of traffic. To make school choice work for every family, we need a school bus system that makes all state-funded schools accessible to all children. Michelle will fight for an education system that understands that  families have different needs.  Our educational systems must where  support and nurture every child to seek their highest potential and thrive.

When Michelle’s church severely flooded three years in a row, she knew it was time for real leadership on this issue. As a scientist, Michelle knows that current solutions, like fill and build, are not working. We need a representative in the State Legislature who will lead to help those whose homes have flooded and are now unlivable or unsellable. 

She will work to promote pier and beam construction to decrease flooding while still allowing for development, fund the Seawall to protect the peninsula from storm surge, and implement various natural flood mitigation strategies. Michelle’s environmental science background—as well as her connections with fellow local scientists and resiliency experts—uniquely situates her to bring meaningful change.

When her husband lost his job two weeks before their daughter was due, Michelle experienced the stress of trying to find new insurance and affordable options for delivery. Hospital prices were impossible to locate and navigate, especially with an uncertain insurance situation. This caused unnecessary financial, physical, and emotional stress for Michelle and her family right before they welcomed their beautiful baby, Belle. Too many families in our district have stories like Michelle’s.

She firmly believes that finding and keeping health care should not be an extra source of worry in families’ lives. Michelle wants to require transparent pricing in health facilities, increase access to high-quality healthcare and daycare providers, and protect the reproductive rights of all members of our community. As a woman and a mother, she believes that people who give birth have the right to make their own decisions. She knows that communities thrive when every family has access to the care they need.