This November, current Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice will take on Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman for New York’s 4^th District Congressional seat. The incumbent, Carolyn McCarthy is not seeking reelection. Kathleen Rice vows to continue the progressive work of McCarthy on the Hill. Rice is the progressive candidate that the 4^th district needs.

Rice will push to introduce common sense gun regulation in the House if elected. She plans to help enact legislation that forbids the sale of military-grade firearms and high-capacity magazines and introduces comprehensive background checks for all prospective gun owners. Furthermore, she plans to fight to continue funding for prevention and education programs on gun violence in her community. This straight-forward approach to gun regulation in America is absolutely necessary to prevent further tragedies involving gun violence from occurring.

Rice, if elected, will be a voice on the Hill for Women’s rights. Rice has always been a voice for Women’s rights in New York, supporting changes to New York’s abortion laws. With the recent Supreme Court Hobby Lobby ruling, Rice’s fight for fair and equal reproductive health care for women will be a difficult one.  Rice also promises to make pay equality a reality in America by working to pass equal pay laws like the Paycheck Fairness Act.

It is without a doubt that the minimum wage needs to be raised.  By its definition, it should be the minimum amount of money one needs to support themselves. However, it is simply impossible to do this with the current minimum wage.  Rice vows to work with members of congress to raise minimum wage to $10.10 as well as providing necessary increases yearly to offset inflation. While many members of the Right are saying that this change would hurt small businesses, Rice wishes to give tax credits to small businesses so the burden isn’t too great on the backbone of our economy. Income inequity is a huge problem in America, and the reforms to the minimum wage that Rice is proposing is a good place to start in fixing that problem.

Following in Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) footsteps, Kathleen Rice wants to make reforms to student loans to limit the debt burden on many of America’s students. Rice believes students should be able to refinance their loans with lower interest rates and that graduates should be able to pay loans with pre-tax dollars much like small business owners are able to. Rice also wants to make college more affordable for low income and middle income families, which can only serve to benefit the entire population.

Rice’s platform is one of progressive common sense. With her plans for student loan and minimum wage reform she shows her support for the middle and lower class, as well as students.  New York’s 4^th District has leaned left for more than a decade, and a continuation of that trend would be advantageous for the district. If elected Kathleen Rice will undoubtedly be a leading voice in Washington and represent her district well.

UPDATE: Kathleen Rice won the 2014 election, and will represent NY’s fourth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.