I have spent my career in public service fighting for equality, justice, and progress. I came to North Carolina to attend law school and later became an attorney, civil rights advocate, and state legislator. As a progressive leader in Raleigh, I worked to pass the South’s first anti-racial profiling bill, fought to reform juvenile justice programs, passed bills to expand voting rights, and opposed laws that would take our state backward, including anti-LGBTQ Amendment One. In Congress, I’m honored to serve as the Vice Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Since coming to Congress, I have worked hard to protect and expand voting rights, combat partisan and racial gerrymandering, enhance judicial ethics and transparency, support survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, and more. 

The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy. It’s imperative that we work to strengthen voting rights—not make it more difficult for North Carolinians to cast a ballot. That’s why I have been working with my colleagues to combat gerrymandering—a tool employed by North Carolina Republicans to increase their political power by diluting the voices of voters who disagree with them. I have introduced legislation that would reform North Carolina’s partisan, secretive redistricting process as well as a bill that would end the harmful, undemocratic practice of prison gerrymandering.

In Congress, I have led efforts to enhance trust and transparency in our judicial process. In my first term, President Biden signed my legislation into law to enhance financial disclosure requirements for federal judges and ensure they are held to the same disclosure standards as the legislative branch. On the House Judiciary Committee, I continue to work with my colleagues to address serious concerns about impartiality and conflicts of interest on the Supreme Court. To strengthen our justice system, I have also introduced bicameral legislation to curb the dangerous practice of judge shopping, where litigants seek specific judges to guarantee their preferred outcome in a case.