What types of transportation do you use during an average week, and how has this shaped your view of transportation policy?

I prefer to bike when I travel around the city. Since I started biking in 2021, the amount of bikers and e-bikers has only increased. It is quite frankly the fastest way to get around the city and we should allocate more federal funding for making cities more bike friendly. I also often take public transit out of convenience and find that the second-fastest way to get around the city. When I need to take my kids to activities, we either take public transit or our EV, which is significantly more fun to drive than our gas vehicle. My experience is that we need to fund all the various ways that people get around, including increasing opportunities for people to get around while emitting low or no emissions. Our cities should be made to be more efficient to navigate and thus more livable for both pedestrians and travelers.

What are some transportation challenges in Illinois?

I could list over a dozen challenges but they fall into three broad buckets: (1) congestion; (2) aging infrastructure; and (3) rural mobility. Aging infrastructure and challenges to mobility for rural residents are a direct result of failing to properly allocate sufficient federal funds back into our communities, because we have relied on unjust economic/tax policy in the form of trickle down economics or because we allocate too much of our federal budget to defense or other priorities that do not funnel our tax dollars back into our communities. The solution to these challenges is more responsible budgeting. The solution to congestion is similar but also designing streets and public transit to allow more people to take alternative forms of transportation other than personal vehicles. I think we should have generous tax credits for ebikes, which allow people to get around faster and reduce congestion, and EVs which make the air quality better.

How do you view Congress’s role in setting priorities for public transit, passenger rail, and strengthening accessibility in transportation?

Congress should be taking the initiative to set the priorities because they have the budgeting power and are closest to the people in their districts/states. Fact of the matter is that public transit and passenger rail has incredible bipartisan support amongst voters. It supports community and economic development wherever it is built and should be expanded as a tool to develop affordable housing, increase quality of living, builds stronger communities, and connecting people with economic opportunities.

What’s your position on the Federal government and Illinois’ current transportation infrastructure spending, and if you could change anything, what would it be?

Right now, it feels like we are treading water with infrastructure spending. Infrastructure is crumbling and there is a continued push to collect less revenue when we actually need more revenue to build and expand transportation and electrical infrastructure. Politicians need to be better at (1) selling voters on making investments in their communities and (2) ensuring projects are built on budget. I would change the following: (1) add tax incentives to purchases of bikes and ebikes for commuting; (2) changing the funding ratio between public transportation and highways to be closer to 35%/65% because we need to expand public transportation to develop of more affordable housing; (3) invest more in pedestrian only urban spaces; and (4) invest more in downstate charging stations/networks for EVs.

What is your position on investing to expand passenger rail service in Illinois, including the development of high-speed rail?

I support. Personally, I have family in both St. Louis and Minneapolis and the lack of high speed rail is a major contributing factor that prevents us from visiting, and I have spoken with alot of midwest transplants in northern and central Illinois who feel the same way. The midwest corridor between Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis is ideal for rail travel and will increase economic opportunity and quality of life and reduce vehicle emissions.

Federal funding for Illinois transportation projects – such as the Red Line Extension and Red-Purple Modernization projects – has come under threat from the Trump administration. How do you plan to shore up funding for critical infrastructure projects under a hostile federal climate?

The Trump administration is operating with unprecedented abuse towards the regular budget and allocation process. Any response requires a multi-tiered strategy, working with partners both in and outside of Congress: (1) Any senator needs to be an effective advocate and fighter to publicly push back on Trump through traditional and social media, including advocating for Illinois funding and effectively fighting back misinformation. This is a central reason I am running for Senate. Our senators are simply not effective at this and need to be far better at coordinating outreach with favorable media and social media; (2) Coordinate with state partners to get lawsuits on file immediately regarding any impoundment of funding; and (3) passing amendments to the Impoundment Control Act to limit the president's ability to impound or withhold allocated funding.

Our streets have become increasingly militarized in the past several months as the Trump administration has ramped up DHS and ICE activity in our cities. This past summer, Congress voted to increase the ICE budget larger than most of the world's militaries.

What is your position on ICE and related immigration enforcement?

I want to abolish ICE completely. If another bad faith actor can become president and turn ICE into an unaccountable federal police force, then the agency was fundamentally ill-conceived and needs to be abolished. My neighborhood has been personally affected by ICE misconduct, and it has been scary. I think the people of Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and elsewhere need a select committee in the senate that is going to thoroughly investigate ICE misconduct, akin to a truth and reconciliation process that other countries have used to rebuild trust between the government and its citizens. I think that Congress also should strip immunity of ICE agents, pass a private right of action so that victims of ICE misconduct can sue agents, and, after an investigation, refer agents for criminal prosecution.