Megan Edwardson

North Dakota needs a fresh, bipartisan voice that can work across the aisle to find common sense solutions for folks. As North Dakota continues to grow, we need legislators to work on issues such as child care, paid family leave, education and other concerns that are facing every day North Dakotans. Through my work with constituents and federal casework, I believe I am that bipartisan voice that will listen and make sure I work across the aisle towards solutions.

As a Field Representative for U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, I helped constituents by navigating federal casework, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or USCIS. Casework is challenging, but I worked hard to find the most desirable outcome for constituents. Everyday I listened to the needs of all North Dakotans, no matter the situation. I understand the inner workings of federal systems and developed a strong knowledge for policy while also developing connections with key stakeholders to help with the casework process. Listening is one of the most important qualities to have for casework and I believe it is also a key component of being a legislator.

Child care, teacher shortages, and property taxes are the top issues I hear when visiting with folks while knocking doors. It is critical that we look at ways we can use the Legacy Fund to bolster education funding so that we can hire teachers and keep them so that we have great public schools. Excellent public education leads to vibrant, growing communities. There is also a child care shortage in our state. Often times, child care is more expensive than a mortgage payment. When families don't have child care, they can't work and this makes our workforce challenges even worse. We need to increase pay for child care workers to a living wage to make sure families don't have to choose between child care and going back to work. Property taxes are skyrocketing. We must look at ways to increase state funding for infrastructure and K-12 education to help lessen the mill levy increases when it comes to local property taxes.

Child care, paid family leave, increasing K-12 education.

Child care is one of the top issues that needs to be focused on so that we can address our workforce shortages. Families are now having to choose between going back to work and finding child care. Not only is child care expensive, families are struggling to find the right child care. We must bolster funding for child care so that we can get folks back in the workforce. We also need to focus on the barriers to employment so that everyone who is wanting to go back to work, can go back to work.

Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead are all seeing incredible growth. One of the best ways to make communities vibrant is to fund public K-12 education. By investing in education, we invest in our communities. I support increasing funding in education as well as increasing teacher salaries to address our teacher shortage and retention problem. ND is in a strong financial position and it's time we use the rainy day fund to solve these challenges. In terms of the job growth, I would also support paid family leave. Paid family leave attracts and retains employees, which helps businesses in our region continue to thrive.