I have been a mason tender, vegetable farmer, union president, and Vermont RN for 36 years. Having created successful healthcare policy even before becoming a legislator, my experience as a front line RN and previous gubernatorial appointed commissioner on several state healthcare policy committees, my voice has been invaluable to legislative healthcare policy-making. Community, organizing to make things better for all to enjoy life in Vermont are priorities. I love being and traveling with my family, riding my bicycle, kayaking, fishing, hunting, and exploring the wilderness.

A constituent and her wife once said that when they see my lawn sign in someone’s yard, they know they would be safe there. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and as someone who has experienced direct threats, I knew exactly what she meant.

Our country and state have many historical examples of solving our most significant challenges by coming together. I have demonstrated that I will fight for all of us to be able to lead a life in this beautiful state with dignity and health in our vibrant communities.

When we have seemingly insurmountable problems, we have no time to waste on superficial arguments that are not based on the details of the realities of those challenges. Those realities are known well by those who are unhoused or helping the unhoused, those needing access to healthcare and those on the front lines providing healthcare—including pharmacies, those in the building industry, parents, kids, educators, and all of you who have reached out to me or I have met in meetings and at your doors.

I have spent my entire RN and legislative career listening to countless stories about how current reality impacts you and the solutions you offer. In my committee of jurisdiction, House Healthcare, we do very deep work. The policy we’ve created in committee takes in those stories -- often heartbreaking -- to develop collective solutions, and our votes are consensus votes nearly 100% of the time.

I have fought to protect and improve your access to healthcare—including reproductive healthcare—in a complex system that, as a state, we have jurisdictional control of a very small part of—just Medicaid and commercial insurance for individual and small group plans. We do not have jurisdiction over employer-based plans, public employee plans, or Medicare.

Like our education funding system, our hospitals and healthcare systems face dire challenges. Without structural change, we may lose critical access points to healthcare. I have spent most of my life working in these complex systems where huge corporations have anti-trade control, and I am up for the challenge with you to help steer Vermont’s healthcare system through very necessary existential transformation.

It has been a great honor to serve as your Representative in the Vermont General Assembly, and I humbly ask for your support in the 2024 General Election.

I have a strong track record of “Doing Something”. My enacted bills: Act 154 of 2020 (originally H. 822): Reduced out of pocket cost for insulin Act 32 of 2021: Strengthened VT clean water protections Act 18 of 2021: Banned the trans panic defense Act 131 of 2022 and Act 127 of 2024: addressing harms caused by Pharmacy Benefit Managers and ensuring drug manuifacturer discounts reach your pockets https://tinyurl.com/CordesPBMs Act 142 of 2024: https://tinyurl.com/ACT142 Municipal Network Geothermal (policy originated with me, moved into another bill)

A short list of my House Healthcare committee work over 6 years: - Eliminated Medicaid to Medicare “cliff” for more than 12,000 Vermont seniors, putting more than $2,000 in their pockets ($4,192 if married and both spouses have Medicare) - Strengthened Vermont’s suicide prevention programs - Removed prior authorization burden from Primary Care providers - Increased support for Primary Care providers - Provided critical resources for healthcare workforce development - Increased support for mental health services - Prepared for and upheld Vermont’s providers and healthcare system during COVID pandemic - Spent innumerable hours helping many get Covid unemployment benefits - Reduced claims edit gaming by insurance companies by standardizing practices - Increased medicaid payment rate for dentists - Supported Vermont EMS

Some of my plans for next session: - Insurance coverage for donor breast milk (I introduced in last session) - Free-standing birth centers (I introduced in last session) https://tinyurl.com/H80Birth - More work addressing access to and the cost of medications - Reintroduce bill removing education funding from property taxes - Continue supports for affordable housing development as quickly as possible.

Housing - What we accomplished: - Act 250 reform to reduce regulatory burden, especially in downtown and village centers and surrounding areas. Priority housing projects are exempt from Act 250 in many places through 2026. - Invested over $1 billion — mostly federal stimulus funding — to build affordable housing, rehabbing units, emergency housing, financial support for the “missing middle,” mobile home repair, and recovery housing. - Lowered property transfer tax rates for Vermont primary residences.

More to consider: - Increase support for the trades and invest in recruiting high school-age people interested in building, electrical, HVAC and plumbing to build our construction workforce. - Limit the number of short-term rentals and non-seasonal second homes, limit private equity purchases of homes that could be used for families and multi-unit buildings, and limit the increase in property values caused by real estate speculation. - Consider a property tax deferral program for Vermonters who would like to age in place. - Enable public, state and municipal investments in utilities, e.g., community water and wastewater, to reduce home construction costs related to development.