Minnesota Senate 2026: What Suburban Voters Want from Angie Craig
Angie Craig just made it official - she's running for Tina Smith's open Senate seat. It's a crowded DFL primary with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Melisa Lopez Franzen also in the mix. For a moderate Democrat from a suburban swing district, understanding what voters actually want could be the difference between winning and losing.
So I ran a quick study with suburban American voters. Not Twitter polls. Not focus groups. Actual synthetic personas validated by EY to correlate 95% with traditional research. The results are worth paying attention to.
The Study: 6 Suburban Voters, 3 Questions
We asked suburban voters across America three questions about the 2026 Senate race:
1. What issues are most important to you?
2. How do you feel about candidates who position themselves as moderates?
3. What would make you more engaged - volunteering, donating, or talking to neighbours?
Key Finding #1: 'Moderate' is a Vibe Until You Show the Work
Suburban voters are sceptical of the "moderate" label. They've heard it before and watched candidates abandon it once elected. What matters isn't the branding - it's the receipts.
"Moderate is a sticker," said Travis from rural California. "I like the idea if it means boring competence that lands real wins across factions. But I've watched plenty of self-described moderates dodge hard votes when the pressure hits."
Jerome from Boston was even more direct: "'Moderate' is a vibe until you show the work. I need to see specific votes, specific wins, and times you took heat from your own side because the policy was right."
For Craig, who has built her brand on bipartisanship, this means leading with concrete accomplishments rather than positioning. The Laken Riley vote, the ICE resolution, the hemp bill - these need to be the story, not abstract claims about working across the aisle.
Key Finding #2: Cost of Living Dominates Everything
Every voter mentioned kitchen-table economics in their top issues. Groceries, healthcare premiums, childcare, housing - these aren't policy abstractions. They're the monthly math that determines whether families can make ends meet.
Michael, a school custodian from Pennsylvania, was blunt: "If my budget does not get easier and safer, your moderate badge is just noise. Show me the grocery bill going down, the premium flattening, the rent not jumping."
Jaime from Texas added: "Cost of living tops everything. Groceries, childcare, medical, rent. Any candidate who gets how to shave even a few hundred off my family's monthly outflow gets a long look from me."
Key Finding #3: They Want Boring Competence, Not Theatre
Suburban voters are exhausted by political theatre. They don't want candidates who "need to win Twitter to win the room." They want people who fix things quietly and follow through.
"I want someone who fixes things quietly, cleans up messes, and does not need a press conference for every pothole," said Jerome. "Authentic is knowing your flaws and owning them. Calculated is saying whatever the room wants to hear."
This is actually good news for Craig's positioning. Her focus on "lowering costs, keeping communities safe, and fixing Washington" aligns with what these voters want - as long as she leads with specifics, not slogans.
What This Means for the Craig Campaign
With Flanagan running as a progressive and Lopez Franzen as another moderate, Craig needs to differentiate on substance, not just vibes. Based on this research:
1. Lead with receipts. Specific bills passed, specific votes taken, specific times she crossed the aisle and delivered. Not "I work across the aisle" - show it.
2. Make the cost-of-living case concrete. What specifically will change in household budgets? Healthcare premiums, grocery prices, childcare costs - give voters the math.
3. Own the boring competence lane. Voters are tired of drama. Craig's suburban swing-district experience is an asset if framed as "I know how to deliver for everyone, not just my base."
The Full Study
This research was conducted using Ditto's synthetic consumer research platform. Explore the full study here: Minnesota Senate Race Voter Research.
Want to run your own voter research? Ditto delivers insights in minutes, not months. Test messaging, track sentiment through the primary, and understand what's landing with your target voters before you commit.
What the Research Revealed
We asked real voters to share their thoughts. Here's what they told us:
What would make you more engaged in the 2026 Senate race - volunteering, donating, or talking to neighbours about it? What would a campaign need to do to earn that level of engagement?
Travis Vaquero, 31, Analytics Engineer, Scottsdale city, AZ, USA:
Short version: I’m not your rah-rah guy. I’ll engage if you prove you can move throughput on water, heat, housing, health costs, privacy. Otherwise I bike, vote, and keep my head down in the sun. My engagement, ranked Donate: one-time, small-dollar. I’ll do $25-$50 at kickoff, then another if you hit a posted milestone. No recurring toggle tricks. Volunteer: behind the scenes only. Data cleanup, Spanish translation, light phone/text in short blocks. No door knocking. Talk to neighbors: limited. I’ll share a one-pager on the apartment bulletin, soccer group, and family WhatsApp. No yard-sign cosplay. What earns that level of engagement One-page plan with line items: costs, funding source, rollout dates. English y en español. Post it as a PDF and a plain webpage. Open KPIs with deadlines: acre-feet saved, ADUs permitted, transit on-time rate, heat inspections. Quarterly updates. Same sheet both languages. Proof of work: show one narrow bill you already shipped or a local pilot you backed. Right-to-repair, heat standard, permit fix - something tangible. Shop-floor time: visit a plant in July, not just a donor lunch. Publish the notes and what you changed after. Clean money and privacy: no corporate PACs, real-time donor list, no selling data. Cap emails at 2 per month, texts opt-in only. Consistent language: same message on Univision and talk radio. No me vendas humo. Heat and water specifics: shade projects with maps, fair river comps, microgrid pilots. Dates, not vibes. ...
Michael Salcido, 40, Facilities Manager, Rock Hill, SC, USA:
Short version: I cannot vote, but I will move bodies and run my mouth if you earn it. It is cold and my nerves are already tight, so keep it simple and real. What I would actually do: Talk to neighbors - pickup line, bleachers, church parking lots. I will vouch if you give me a clean one-pager I can hand off. Volunteer logistics - set up chairs, check-in table, Spanish-friendly materials, short canvass loops with clear routes. No spammy phone-banking. Small donate - like 20 bucks or snacks and water for canvassers, only if I see where it goes. No fake “triple match” gimmicks. What you have to do to earn that: One page, 90-day plan on schools, clinics, immigration, housing - with dates, costs, and who picks up the phone when it stalls. Receipts posted weekly - what you tried, what broke, how you fixed it. Admit misses. Local specifics for York County - buses, HVAC, safe crosswalks on the fast corridors, CTE slots, starter-home supply. Not DC bumper stickers. No culture-war theater and no family-favor “diplomacy.” Looks rotten. Focus on work permits, due process, clinic funding, utility reliability. Low-data, real-world outreach - printed handouts, clean PDFs, human Spanish, a field organizer who texts back after 6 pm. No “do-not-reply” blasts. Respect my time - 2-hour shifts, tight turf, clear script, no surprise asks for SSN or citizenship status to volunteer. Do that and I will bring the folding tables and text half the pickup line. If it is buzzwords and photo ops, I...
Jerome Shen, 50, Logistics Coordinator, Boston city, MA, USA:
Short answer: I am not a voter, but I am not a bystander. If you want me out in the slush talking to neighbors, parting with twenty bucks, or giving you my Saturday hour, you have to clear some very specific bars. After today’s headlines - Gaza rubble, Venezuela whiplash, creepy deepfake garbage - my patience for fluff is near zero. Cold Dunkin, colder mood. Baseline tests you must pass: Moral clarity: say ceasefire and massive aid for Gaza in plain English. No process soup.Receipts: bill numbers, timelines, pay-fors. A one-pager like a project tracker, not vibes.Local spine: ride the MBTA at rush, publish an MBTA funding plan with milestones, and commit to quarterly town halls with a public dashboard.Privacy and AI: back a real deepfake law and take zero money from data brokers. If you cannot say it, I am out.Healthcare and housing: concrete steps to cut drug costs, curb hospital consolidation, and add homes near transit. No glossy renderings without budgets. What would get me talking to neighbors - first and easiest: Simple, honest materials I can hand out in English and Bengali, with two or three specific wins you will deliver in year one.MBTA-accessible events near Maverick or Government Center, not “drive 40 minutes and pay for parking.”No spin on immigrants: respect permanent residents’ stake. Do not ask me to pretend I can vote. What would make me donate - small-dollar, but real: Action before ask: co-sponsor the deepfake bill, sign the ceasefire-aid commitment, and...
Jaime Tejada, 47, Sales Manager, Visalia city, CA, USA:
So if you’re asking what gets me off the sidelines in 2026 - volunteering, donating, or talking to neighbors - here’s my apples-to-apples. Cool day, clear sky, but my head’s still buzzing from that ICE shooting video. Trust is thin. I don’t waste time on vibes. What I’d actually do, if you earn it: Talking to neighbors: Yes. After church, at Sofia’s soccer, WhatsApp chats. 1-2 hours a week max, six weeks before Election Day. I’ll explain your plan in plain Spanish and English if it’s solid. Volunteering: Maybe one Saturday morning a month for doors or Spanish phone banks. Family-friendly shifts, no buzzword scripts, bilingual handouts, and a local lead who answers his phone. Donating: Small-dollar only, $25 to $50, tied to a milestone. Variable income and I just lost my wallet, so no endless auto-charges. If you miss your own deadline, I stop. Fácil. What you must do to earn that level of engagement: Show up here, monthly. Visalia and Porterville town halls with open Spanish Q&A. No staff screening. Take heat and stay till the end. Bring a one-page budget. Line-item water storage and canal fixes, clinic slots in Tulare County, working chargers on 99 and 198, shop class funding. With dates and costs. Public safety with accountability. Body cams on, independent reviews, discipline process in writing. No culture war theater. Cost of living pledges. Kill junk fees, stop surprise taxes, and show what you cut if you add anything. Post it in both languages. Commission-earner fa...
Raven Sanchez, 31, Sales Manager, Harrisburg, PA, USA:
Short answer: talking to neighbors, maybe hosting a small coffee, if a campaign proves it can actually execute. I can’t vote in federal races and I will not flirt with legal gray areas on volunteering or donations as a non-citizen, so they’d have to make it very worth my limited time. What earns that level of engagement: One-page plan with receipts - costs, funding source, timeline, county-level KPIs tied to childcare supply, rural broadband, grid hardening, and predictable legal-immigration processing touchpoints. Name the trade-offs - what gets cut or delayed to pay for it, in plain English. Prove constituent service - rural office hours, a staffed phone line, and published casework stats. Less posting, more solving. Accessible events - weeknight town halls with childcare and a Zoom option, recordings posted next day. Start on time. Have a snow-or-sleet backup because our grid flickers when it drizzles. Supporter toolkit that respects boundaries - a county-specific brief I can share, no scripts, no spam texting, and a clean opt-out. Do not sell my data. Ethics baseline - no stock trading, clear disclosures, and an operations lead who can move a permitting backlog, not just comms fluff. Progress tracker - living update page with milestones and slips acknowledged, not buried. If they show that, I’ll vouch to neighbors because outcomes beat slogans. If it’s vibes, photo-ops, and mystery math, I’m out - I’ve got a kid to feed and a sleet-slick driveway to salt.
Justin Slabinski, 35, Data Analyst, Oklahoma City city, OK, USA:
Short version: I don’t hand out time or money for vibes. If a campaign acts like an ops shop with receipts, I’ll lean in. If it’s cable-news cosplay, I’ll keep my Saturdays for the smoker and a Route 66 loop. What would actually move me to engage Donating - I’ll put in real dollars if they publish a monthly cash-in/cash-out with vendor names, caps on consultant skim, and zero national-committee pass-throughs. Tie my donation to a concrete sprint, like “prior auth bill filed by X date with Y co-sponsors” and email me the result. No spam. One digest a week, max.Volunteering - I’m not your script-reading robocaller. Use my ops brain. Give me a defined role with metrics: route optimization for canvass, event run-of-show, queue times at town halls, data hygiene on the voter file. Start on time, end on time, publish the scoreboard. If you treat volunteers like adults, I’ll give you 2 evenings a month and a Saturday morning when it isn’t slick out.Talking to neighbors - Hand me a one-pager with 5 bullet commitments, pay-fors, and a QR to a live dashboard. Keep it local: grid reliability, site-neutral payments, I-35, fentanyl and mental health access, teacher pay tied to outcomes. No cheap shots. If I can explain it in 60 seconds without feeling like a clown, I’ll bring it up at the mailbox and at men’s group. What a campaign has to do to earn that Post a 100-day action list with bill titles, named partners, and dates. Then run quarterly dashboards on progress like a clinic KPI she...
How do you feel about candidates who position themselves as moderates who can work across the aisle? What makes a candidate seem authentic versus calculated?
Jerome Shen, 50, Logistics Coordinator, Boston city, MA, USA:
Short take: “Moderate” is a vibe until you show the work. With Boston slush on my cuffs and the Green Line whining, I do not care about aisle selfies. I care about floor votes that move trains, drop copays, outlaw deepfakes, and stop bombs landing on kids. After today’s headlines - Gaza rubble, Venezuela chaos, creepy AI nonsense - my tolerance for performative centrism is basically zero. Working across the aisle can be great when it delivers concrete, near-term wins. But if it means sanding off every moral edge to keep donors comfy, miss me. What feels authentic: Receipts: name the exact bill, the number, the co-sponsors, the timeline, the pay-for. No vibes, just parts and labor.Visible tradeoffs: you explain what you gave, what you got, and who benefits. If your own side grumbles, good. That is proof of life.Consistency across rooms: same words at a union hall in Chelsea and a Back Bay fundraiser. No code-switching for the wealthy ear.Proximity to the mess: ride the MBTA at rush, take unfiltered Qs, answer the one about Gaza clearly, not with process soup.Moral line in the sand: on human life and civil rights, you pick a side, in daylight, even if it costs you a check. What smells calculated: “Common-sense solutions” repeated like a screensaver and nothing specific behind it.Both-sides-ing atrocities to keep your booking on Sunday shows.Throwing immigrants under the bus to look “serious.” I am a green card guy. I notice.Hard-hat photo ops with no funding mechanism, no ti...
Travis Vaquero, 31, Analytics Engineer, Scottsdale city, AZ, USA:
“Moderate” is a sticker. I like the idea if it means boring competence that lands real wins across factions. But most folks slap it on to please donors and dodge heat. It’s warm out, I’m biking later, and I want shade and stability, not triangulation theater. Authentic cross-aisle to me Documented trade-offs: show the clause you gave up and the clause you won, with the vote tally. No vibes, numbers. KPIs posted: acre-feet saved, units permitted, transit on-time, heat-safety inspections. Quarterly, same sheet in English y en español. Willing to annoy your own side: take a tough committee vote, explain it plainly, stand there and eat the heat without blaming staff. Shop-floor time: tour a plant in July, meet workers and small owners, not just a donor lunch. Come see throughput and scrap in the wild. Consistent language: same message on Univision and talk radio. No “hola amigos” one day and dog whistles the next. Narrow, useful bills: right-to-repair, heat standards, housing permits. Less cable hits, more cosponsors from both columns. Calculated performative “moderate” Split-the-difference mush: poll-tested lines that solve nothing. “Both sides” word salad. Photo ops over outputs: hard hat selfies, zero RFPs issued. No line items, just merch. Two sets of talking points: English town hall says A, Spanish mailer says B. No me vendas humo. Whip-bot voting: votes 100% with party after promising independence. Then blames procedure. Subscription politics: endless fundraising emai...
Michael Salcido, 40, Facilities Manager, Rock Hill, SC, USA:
Moderate is just a sticker. I care if you can get real stuff done without tossing immigrants, teachers, or working folks under the bus. Working across the aisle is fine when it delivers buses that run, clinics funded, and clear timelines - not a pretty press conference and nothing behind it. My nerves are already tight with today’s chaos, so spare me the branding and show the work. Authentic looks like: Names the bill, the other-party co-sponsor, and a 90-day plan with dates. Admits trade-offs and where they won’t compromise, even if it costs them. Shows receipts - budget lines, who answers the phone, progress posted online. Calculated looks like: Poll-tested mush like “commonsense solutions” with no numbers. Factory photo ops with spotless boots and sudden flannel in October. Dodges yes-or-no on tough stuff, blames “Washington,” and keeps the donors happy.
Jaime Tejada, 47, Sales Manager, Visalia city, CA, USA:
So if you mean “moderates who can work across the aisle,” here’s my apples-to-apples take. I like cooperation when it delivers concrete wins here, not vibes. After that ICE shooting on video and the other screwups, my trust is thin. The weather’s calm, but my head’s still buzzing from the headlines, and I’m not in the mood for poll-tested mush. Authentic looks like: Takes heat from their own party on a specific vote, explains the why, and links the roll call. No hiding. Shows up in Visalia and Porterville, Spanish Q&A, no handler filter. Takes hostile questions and stays till the end. Brings a one-page budget: what they fund, what they cut, dates. Water storage, clinic slots, working chargers on 99 - with timelines. Names donors or lobbyists they told no to. Posts meetings and travel, both languages. Admits misses and fixes them. No spin, just “we blew it, here’s the new date.” Talks like a normal person. Short sentences. Specifics. No buzzword salad. Calculated looks like: Says “common sense solutions” 20 times, creates a bipartisan task force that never reports. Splits the baby on hot issues, won’t name costs or trade-offs, lawyer talk. Photo-ops at farms, then votes straight party line on storage, SGMA funding, or permitting. Promises help for “working families” while stuffing junk fees into midnight amendments. Screens Spanish questions, avoids WhatsApp or real office hours here. Bottom line: Crossing the aisle is not a trophy by itself. If it gets us lower bills, ...
Raven Sanchez, 31, Sales Manager, Harrisburg, PA, USA:
Short take: I like the idea of moderates who actually deliver, not moderates as a brand. If crossing the aisle means budgets on time, stable broadband, and fewer 3 a.m. voter-stress headaches, great. If it means press conferences, mushy platitudes, and no votes with teeth, hard pass. I can’t vote in federal races, but the outcomes still hit my kid, my mortgage, and my workdays. Authentic looks like: Receipts - name the bipartisan bill, your co-sponsor, the trade you made, and the result by county. Dates, dollars, KPIs.Consistency - same answer in a union hall, a church basement, and a Chamber lunch. No shapeshifting by ZIP code.Costs and cuts - pricing out your plan and saying what gets delayed to fund it. If you never say no, you’re not serious.Constituent service that shows up - rural office hours, a real phone line, published casework stats. Less tweeting, more solving.Ethics baseline - no stock trading, clean disclosures, and you actually read your own conflict policy.Operations people on staff - not just comms. I want the boring doers who can move a permitting backlog. Calculated looks like: “Common sense” as a shield - but no bill text, no funding source, no timeline.Photo-op bipartisanship - smiling across the aisle with zero co-sponsorship or tough votes to back it.Poll-chasing - careful hedges on anything with a price tag, then culture-war nibbles to keep donors happy.Vague frameworks - whitepaper energy without implementation steps. Moderation by vibes. Today’s r...
Justin Slabinski, 35, Data Analyst, Oklahoma City city, OK, USA:
Short take: “Moderate” isn’t a personality - it’s a work product. If you can’t show receipts of deals that shipped, you’re just selling vibes. It’s 20-something out and the grid still makes me twitch - spare me the kumbaya talk and show me box scores. Authentic “works across the aisle” looks like: Named partners and bill numbers - “I co-wrote HB 1234 with Smith, got 62 votes, cut wait times 14 percent.” Names, votes, outcomes.Tough votes with an explanation - willing to buck your own party, then stand in a town hall and walk us through the tradeoffs without hiding behind staff.Unsexy committee grind - you show up for markups, amendments, and pay-fors. Not just cable hits and photo ops in hard hats.Cross-coalition backing - a sheriff and a school superintendent, a hospital CFO and a small manufacturer. Not just your primary base or your donor class.Transparency tells - calendars public, meetings posted, no stock trades, and you publish quarterly progress like an ops dashboard.Willing to disappoint me sometimes - real compromise means both sides win something and swallow something. If I never wince, you’re probably faking it. Calculated cosplay smells like: Word salad - “common-sense solutions,” “kitchen-table,” “bring people together” with zero specifics or pay-fors.Issue-dodging - filibusters on guns, energy, or immigration instead of concrete positions with timelines.Both-sides theater - scolding tone to look above the fray, then feeding base red meat on Twitter at 10 p.m....
What issues are most important to you in the 2026 Senate race? What should candidates focus on to earn your vote?
Michael Salcido, 40, Facilities Manager, Rock Hill, SC, USA:
Short version: I’m not a citizen, so I can’t vote. But I still pay bills, run a school building, and talk to a lot of parents and neighbors. If a Senate candidate wants my support and my mouth working for them at cookouts and pickup lines, hit these, clean and concrete: Schools: Stable funding, better teacher pay, working buses, and HVAC that doesn’t die in August. Real CTE tracks and apprenticeships, not buzzwords. More counselors. Health care: Affordable primary care and meds without surprise bills. Keep clinics funded. Make basics like dental and vision easier to reach. Immigration: Straightforward legal path, lower fees, faster work permits, due process. No theater raids. Keep families together. Housing: First-time buyer help that actually lands. Stop big investors from scooping starter homes. Allow more small duplex-townhome builds so regular folks can buy. Infrastructure: Fix the roads we already have, safe crosswalks on fast corridors, some transit that runs on time. Clear timelines, posted online. Energy: Lower power bills and a grid that doesn’t blink every storm. Simple rebates for rooftop solar and heat pumps without 12 forms. Public safety: Practical gun safety like background checks and safe storage. Body cams on, mental health response teams funded. Consumer junk: Kill hidden fees and trick subscriptions. Affordable home internet with plain pricing. No gotchas. Work and wages: Paid sick time, fair base pay, and real pipelines into trades. Stop making small org...
Jaime Tejada, 47, Sales Manager, Visalia city, CA, USA:
So if you’re asking what matters to me in 2026, here it is, apples-to-apples. I want safety with real accountability, lower living costs, water for the Valley, better healthcare access, immigration reform that is orderly and humane, and schools that teach real skills. After the latest mess with that ICE shooting on video, my trust is thin. It’s a cool, clear day, but I still didn’t sleep great. I’m tired of slogans. Public safety with accountability: Back good officers, fire bad ones. Body cams on, independent reviews, no special protections that dodge consequences. No culture war theater. Cost of living: Kill junk fees, stop playing with new taxes, fix insurance and registration creep. Show me what you’ll cut if you add anything. Line-item it. Healthcare access here, not just in the cities: More clinics and urgent care in Tulare County, reasonable premiums for middle-income families, clear pricing. Let me keep my doctor. Don’t overpromise networks then vanish. Housing and lending: Make mortgage underwriting fair for commission income. Speed permits. Build starter homes, not just luxury stuff. Keep property tax hikes in check. Water and ag: Storage, recharge, canals fixed. SGMA with funding so small growers don’t get crushed. Heat protection for field workers. No new rules without a plan to pay for them. Energy and transportation: EV goals tied to grid reality in the Valley. Support hybrids too. Chargers on 99 and 198 that actually work. Right to repair and parts availabili...
Jerome Shen, 50, Logistics Coordinator, Boston city, MA, USA:
Short version: I cannot vote in a Senate race. I am a green card guy. But I pay taxes, ride the cursed Green Line, and raise kids here, so I still judge hard. On a wet snow Boston day like this, my priorities are very practical. Transit that actually works. Fix the MBTA, not with ribbon cuttings, with track crews, signals, and buses that show up. Spare me the hard-hat photo ops without a funding plan.Healthcare without landmines. Keep coverage stable, lower drug costs, stop hospital consolidation that guts care, and build domestic supply for critical medical gear. Respect the people who keep ORs running.Housing and cost of living. More homes near transit, fewer loopholes, real help for renters who are one rent hike from chaos.Climate and coastal resilience. Eastie floods are not a thought experiment. Raise seawalls, fix drains, cool down heat islands, and do it before the next nor’easter, not after.Immigration sanity. Pathways that are real, family unity, and no making permanent residents collateral in a talking-point war.Privacy and AI harms. Outlaw nonconsensual deepfakes, rein in data brokers. I have a teenage daughter. I am not interested in tech bros explaining freedom to me.Gun safety. Background checks, safe storage, the basics. My kids should not practice geometry with a side of lockdown drills.Work and wages. Paid leave, predictable schedules, protect organizing. If you like the service, pay the people.Foreign policy restraint. No blank checks. If you want force, sh...
Travis Vaquero, 31, Analytics Engineer, Scottsdale city, AZ, USA:
Short version: I want boring competence that fixes water, heat, housing, health costs, skills jobs, privacy, and sane immigration. Cut the culture-war noise. It’s warm today and I’m biking home later, so yeah... shade and safety are real, not slogans. Top issues for me Water + heat: Lock down fair Colorado River deals, stop groundwater giveaways to alfalfa outfits, fund shade trees, cool corridors, and microgrids. Hold utilities accountable on rates and make rooftop solar credits fair. Housing: Lower costs by backing infill near transit, ADUs, and actual permits moving. Less NIMBY theater, more keys in doors. Healthcare: Marketplace premiums and deductibles are crushing. Cap inhaler and common meds, back clinics, kill junk fees and surprise billing games. Skills and manufacturing: Invest in apprenticeships, community colleges, and small shops. Tie incentives to real throughput and scrap reduction, not ribbon-cuttings. Transport: Safer bike lanes, crossings, and bus-rail that runs on time. If I can get to work without frying at 3 pm, that matters. Privacy + right to repair: Stop data brokers selling my location. Ban dark-pattern subscriptions. Let me fix my e-bike and phone without voiding life. Immigration: Manage the border with tech and due process, expand work visas, protect DACA. No stunt buses. Mi familia cruza Sonora; I want order and dignity, both. Democracy hygiene: Keep mail-in voting, paper trails, normal audits. Make elections boring again. How to earn my vote ...
Raven Sanchez, 31, Sales Manager, Harrisburg, PA, USA:
Short version: competence over vibes. Also, I can’t vote in federal races since I’m Canadian, but I still pressure-test candidates because their decisions hit my kid, my mortgage, and my workdays. What matters most to me right now: Cost of living that isn’t a shell game - childcare supply and affordability, a sane child tax credit, and healthcare networks that stop playing gotcha with surprise out-of-network bills.Legal immigration that’s predictable - faster processing, clear fees, and no treating long-term legal residents like collateral when politics flare. I’m tired of proving I exist every time I refinance or renew ID.Rural infrastructure - stable broadband, USPS performance that doesn’t crater past the city line, road maintenance, and a grid that doesn’t flicker every time it sleets. Today’s rain-snow mix is a reminder.Privacy and tech accountability - rein in data brokers, protect kids online, and cut the dark-pattern nonsense. Say how you’ll enforce it.Climate resilience, not performative bans - grid hardening, home efficiency incentives that normal people can actually use, and flood mitigation. Show county-level timelines.Public safety with a brain - safe-storage and background checks on guns, plus real treatment capacity for opioid addiction alongside interdiction. Less theater, more beds and counselors.Schools and care - evidence-based reading, stable funding, after-school options so parents can work. Keep culture-war bait out of classrooms.Governing like adults -...
Justin Slabinski, 35, Data Analyst, Oklahoma City city, OK, USA:
Short version: show me measurable fixes to everyday problems in Oklahoma, not cable-news cosplay. If you can’t put numbers, dates, and pay-fors on it, I’m out. Healthcare that actually works - I live in the weeds on this. Kill junk prior auth. Real price transparency with penalties that bite. Site-neutral payments so a simple clinic visit doesn’t get a hospital tax slapped on it. PBM reform with audit teeth. Expand mental health access, especially for fentanyl recovery and rural communities. If you can’t explain your plan in 5 bullet points with a 12-month scorecard, you’re not serious.Grid reliability and energy realism - After Uri, I want winterization, storage buildout, and transmission permitting that moves in months, not decades. Support oil and gas and keep building wind - Oklahoma is both. Transparency on fuel-cost pass-throughs so ratepayers aren’t the permanent bagholders. Capricious DC rules that whipsaw markets? Hard no.Schools and workforce - Pay teachers competitively, raise the floor on reading/math outcomes, and double down on CTE/apprenticeships. Stop the culture-war bait and fund what moves the needle: tutoring, classroom stability, and principal autonomy. Report results by cohort, not press release.Border, fentanyl, and legal pathways - Secure the border with manpower and tech, hammer the cartels, and fix the asylum logjam. Mandatory E-Verify paired with faster legal visas for fields we actually need - nursing, skilled trades. I want fewer slogans and more ...