Policy Priorities

Carin grew up in the East Bay as the daughter of a mother on welfare. She earned a scholarship to Barnard College at Columbia University, built a career in IT and healthcare consulting across New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, earned a Master's in International and European Governance from Leiden University while living in the Netherlands, and spent three years leading service delivery at LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco. She didn't arrive at her policy positions through ideology - she arrived at them through life.

That's what makes her different. And that's what CA-14 needs right now.

Healthcare That Works Without the Bureaucratic Tax

Carin has lived the healthcare system from multiple angles - as a patient navigating breast cancer treatment, as a parent supporting a daughter diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, and as a professional who spent years working with healthcare clients and then directly with people who rely on services to maintain their independence and workforce participation.

Her conclusion isn't ideological. It's practical: the friction in our healthcare system is costing us - in dollars, in outcomes, and in lost productivity. She has seen firsthand, both in the United States and in Europe, that it is possible to deliver high-quality healthcare while managing costs — not by rationing care, but by removing the administrative waste, improving care coordination, and making services genuinely accessible before small problems become expensive emergencies.

For CA-14, that means pushing for policies that reduce the burden on working families and small businesses, protect coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and ensure that healthcare access doesn't become a barrier to workforce participation. For the most vulnerable - the elderly, the disabled, the uninsured - it means making sure that getting help doesn't require navigating a maze designed for people who already have resources.

Getting People Where They Need to Go

CA-14 sits at the heart of one of the worst commute corridors in the country. Congestion isn't just an inconvenience - it's an economic drag, a quality-of-life crisis, and a barrier to opportunity for anyone who can't afford to live close to where they work.

Carin's approach to transportation is straightforward and grounded in what actually works: if you invest in BART and regional transit without fixing first-and-last-mile access, you've wasted the money. The highway doesn't know it's supposed to be empty just because a train station exists. Real transportation solutions mean that getting to the train - and getting from it - is as seamless as the ride itself. That means better feeder transit, safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and smart connectins that make public transit a genuine choice rather than a last resort.

When transportation works for everyone, it works for the elderly resident who can no longer drive, the disabled commuter who depends on accessible options, the essential worker who can't afford to live in the district they serve, and the family that could stay in CA-14 if their commute wasn't consuming two hours of every workday. Real transit investment reduces congestion, makes housing more accessible across a wider geography, and opens up opportunity for people at every income level.

Economic Opportunity for Every Corner of CA-14

CA-14 is a district of extraordinary economic strength in some areas and genuine hardship in others. Carin doesn't just represent the Tri-Valley's prosperity — she represents the whole district, including the communities in the western part that have historically had fewer resources and fewer rungs on the ladder.

She knows what it means to grow up in a household that needed support to get by, and she also knows - because she lived it - that the right support at the right moment can change everything. The goal isn't dependency. The goal is giving people the tools to excel on their own terms. That means access to quality education and job training, affordable housing that doesn't force people to choose between staying in the community and staying solvent, and economic policies that reward work and reduce barriers for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Carin's time working internationally gave her a comparative lens that few candidates bring: she has seen what governments in other high-performing economies do well, and she brings that perspective without the ideological baggage. She's not looking to import a foreign system - she's looking to take the best of what works and apply it to the real conditions in CA-14.

Lifting Up Those Who Have the Furthest to Climb

A consistent thread through Carin's career - from LightHouse for the Blind to Democrats Abroad to Women to Win - is a focus on reducing friction for people who face the highest barriers to participation. Whether that's a visually impaired person navigating the workforce, a citizen abroad trying to exercise their right to vote, or a family in a lower-income part of the district trying to access healthcare or opportunity, her instinct has always been the same: find what's in the way, and remove it.

That's not charity. It's pragmatism. An economy and a democracy where only some people can fully participate is a weaker economy and a weaker democracy. When more people can work, contribute, and engage, everyone benefits. That's the stewardship philosophy that has defined her life - and it's the lens through which she'll represent CA-14.

Why Carin, Why Now

CA-14 doesn't need a candidate running on talking points. It needs someone who has managed complex organizations, delivered real services to real people, navigated both American and international systems, and has the personal history to understand - not just intellectually, but viscerally - what's at stake for working families across this district.