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Four things I'll work on in Pierre.

Housing, healthcare, schools, and good jobs, measured by what they mean for the families of District 34.

01

A place to live that a working family can afford.

Our daughter is going to grow up in a Rapid City where young working families can rent an apartment without two roommates, and eventually buy a starter home. That isn't the city we have right now.

Property taxes are climbing, and rents are climbing faster. The Legislature's answer so far has been to shift the burden onto a sales tax that hits a young family's grocery run harder than it hits anybody with a second home. I'll push for real property tax reform that doesn't get paid for at the checkout line. I'll work for steady state investment in workforce housing so Rapid City can build what it actually needs. And I'll protect the starter-home market instead of handing more giveaways to out-of-state developers who leave town with the profit.

02

Healthcare that doesn't bankrupt the people who keep this town running.

In 2022, South Dakotans voted by a clear majority to expand Medicaid. Nearly 30,000 of our neighbors have healthcare today because of that vote. Now the legislature is asking us, through Amendment I, to put a kill switch on the whole thing. I'm voting no, and I'll work to protect what voters already decided.

I'll fight to keep rural hospitals open and work for coverage people can afford. I'll push to make ambulance service an essential service under state law, and expand the mental-health and addiction care families in the Black Hills deserve.

03

Public schools worth sending our kids to.

South Dakota ranks 46th in the country for teacher pay. The 2026 budget gave our schools a 1.4% bump while inflation ran past 2.5%. That's a cut, whatever the press release says. Our daughter, Melody, starts school in a few years. I'd like her to have great teachers, paid fairly for a hard job.

I'll push for the teacher-pay raise state law already promises and lawmakers waive most years, and for full funding for special education and student mental health. I'll back affordable childcare and pre-K so parents can work, and the career and technical education that connects Rapid City kids to Ellsworth, the skilled trades, and the tech economy already growing here. Public dollars should go to public schools, not to vouchers that drain districts of resources they can't afford to lose.

04

Good jobs, and the people to fill them.

I've spent my career in Rapid City on both sides of the local economy, running a small business on St. Joseph Street and working in the tech industry. What I see from both is a city on its way up: new shops opening downtown, a tech sector that's hiring, and families still choosing the Black Hills. The job in Pierre is to keep that momentum going and make sure it pays off for the people who live here.

Too many young South Dakotans graduate and leave because they can't find the job, the pay, or the future they want at home. Too many talented people who'd love to move here take one look at our wages, our housing costs, or our policy choices and decide somewhere else. I'll support the Main Street businesses that anchor every town in this district. I'll invest in the industries where Rapid City is already winning, from the trades to tech. And I'll work to make South Dakota a place where the next generation chooses to stay, and the next wave of newcomers chooses to build.

Housing you can afford. Healthcare that won't bankrupt you. Schools worth sending our kids to. Good jobs that build our communities. A South Dakota that works for the people who live here.

That's what I'm running on, and I would be honored to have you with me.

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