Jared’s Platform
Jared knows that good government can do great things because he's made progress in his own neighborhood.
He worked with the community to tackle crime head-on with simple and effective solutions like installing better street lighting, converting abandoned properties to public parks, and investing in youth programs — and it is WORKING. After cleaning up the WeLoveU Park and putting an end to short dumping, crime around the park went down 37% in just a matter of weeks.
learn Where Jared Stands on the Issues
Abortion Rights
Abortion and personal health care decisions are between a woman and her doctor, not politicians. Jared will always protect and defend women’s access to abortion in Pennsylvania. Throughout his entire tenure in the State House, Jared has maintained a lifetime 100% voting scorecard from Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates based on votes on key legislation related to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Voting Rights
The right to vote is the fundamental right from which all other rights flow. In the State House, Jared is working tirelessly to ensure that all Pennsylvanians can exercise their Constitutional right to the ballot box in free and fair elections, with the ability to safely and reliably vote by mail.
Gun Crime
Jared knows that leadership on gun violence starts with presence. That means showing empathy to victims, not only through words, but through grieving with families, seeing victims, listening to, and surrounding them with resources and compassion.
Jared believes that to address the immediate threat of gun violence, we don’t need fewer police — we need a different type of policing. In the State House, Jared has supported investments in training and a return of policing to pre-pandemic engagement with communities so that officers have sectional integrity in all they do and get to know the schools, churches, and businesses within their sector. Each officer needs to build connections within the community they are policing, helping with investigative work and doing preventive policing instead of reactive policing.
Similarly, Jared believes we must rebrand what it means to be a member of the police force in Pennsylvania with a massive public-service campaign that calls for the best and brightest of this generation to uplift our communities from within our communities. This campaign must resonate with this new generation of young people and should include incentive sign-on pay to attract the best candidates.
In the State House, Jared is working to bolster investment in gun crime preventative justice tools that have already shown promise, including gun-violence intervention initiatives like turning blighted properties into community parks, lighting, home repairs, and greening up gun-violence-plagued blocks; and investing in the gun-violence task-force model in which prosecutors and field agents supplement local law enforcement to combat firearm crimes.
In Harrisburg, Jared is working bring commonsense gun reforms to Pennsylvania, including stronger red-flag laws, a ban on assault weapons, expanded background checks, and shutting the ghost gun loophole. Jared is not afraid to take on the gun lobby, reckless gun retailers, and ghost gun manufacturers.
Clean Air and Water
Pennsylvanians have a state constitutional right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic values of the environment. Jared is working to conserve and maintain our environment by supporting legislative efforts to hold corporate polluters, frackers, or illegal dumpers accountable when they commit environmental crimes.
Jared believes that Pennsylvania’s existing environmental regulations do not do nearly enough to protect our state's air, water, and health. Pennsylvania needs stronger environmental protections, including steeper civil fines and enhanced criminal charges for environmental crimes where appropriate.
Labor and Employment
Jared’s mother was a union public school teacher for 35 years as a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, teaching special education. It was her union benefits that allowed her to raise him as a single-mother and provide him with opportunity in life.
That’s why, during as a State Representative, Jared has fought to protect unions, preserve workers’ rights, raise the minimum wage, and invest in workforce development programs that expand job-training, vo-tech, and apprenticeship programs.
Jared is proud that Governor Shapiro’s first budget included funding for the Schools-to-Work program that his legislation created, developing career pathways for high-schoolers through partnerships between schools and local employers for good-paying, family-sustaining jobs.
Unions built the middle class in Jared’s Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood, across Pennsylvania, and throughout our entire country. Pennsylvania is stronger when unions are strong. That’s why Jared is committed to fighting every day to uphold Pennsylvanians’ right to bargain collectively.
Consumer Protection
Throughout his life, Jared has always taken on the bullies, scammers, schemers, and cheaters who put their profit motive ahead of Pennsylvanians. In Harrisburg, Jared is working to protect Pennsylvania consumers from predatory lenders and price gougers. Health, safety, and privacy issues are of the utmost importance to Jared.
Housing
Having a secure place to live is one of the most important components of securing Pennsylvania families’ futures. In Harrisburg, Jared is committed to taking on predatory businesses that scam aspiring homeowners with misleading “rent-to-own” schemes, or mortgage lenders who systematically discriminate against neighborhoods like his with a high percentage of racial or ethnic minorities. In his community, Jared is helping tenants know their rights, and helping them take action against landlords who violate Pennsylvania law.
Public Corruption
Jared is the leading voice in fearlessly calling out the culture of corruption in Pennsylvania, regardless of political party. After the sweeping 116-count federal indictment that ensnared many of the political power brokers in Philadelphia, Jared was the only elected official to stand up and call for their resignation.
Jared continues to be one of the only elected officials in Harrisburg publicly advocating for truly transparent, ethical, and good government. Jared believes that the true work of government is improving the lives of the people it represents, and when public officials use their position to improve their own lives at the expense of the public, Jared will call them out regardless of political party.
Drug Policy
Jared believes that the heroin, fentanyl, and opioid epidemic is the top public safety crisis in Pennsylvania, with 14 Pennsylvanians dying from opioid overdoses every day. To address the crisis, we need a multi-prong approach that includes prevention, enforcement, treatment, and recovery, with all stakeholders working together.
In Jared’s State House district, he took action and worked to locate a substance abuse and mental health provider next to law enforcement so that people with drug and mental health issues would have their criminal charges dropped if they went through approved programs.
Jared believes we must shift law enforcement resources to bolster interdiction and interception of these drugs as they enter our Commonwealth and prosecute fentanyl traffickers to the fullest extent of the law. At the same time, Jared believes we must show greater compassion to the victims of this epidemic and in Harrisburg he supports efforts to make substance use disorder treatment and recovery services available to those suffering from addiction.
Jared supports legalizing marijuana for adult medical and recreational use. Jared also supports Governor Shapiro’s call for legalization to include expungement for those in jail or who have served time for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
Fighting Bigotry, Antisemitism, and Hatred of All Kinds
As Co-Chair of the Black-Jewish Caucus in Harrisburg, Jared has centered multi-ethnic, interfaith collaboration in all of his work. The purpose of the Black-Jewish Caucus is to build upon the historic work of Black and Jewish people who have come together since the Civil Rights movement to fight antisemitism, racism, and hatred of all forms.