Emilia Sykes

We must do everything we can to bring good-paying jobs to Northeast Ohio so folks can raise a family and build a life here. Bad trade deals have hurt our economy and our state and we need to invest in the future of our young people and our workers with increased job training and opportunities to grow. As a legislator, Emilia fought to keep local jobs for local workers and cosponsored the Consumer Protection Call Center Act to fight the offshoring of Ohio call center jobs. In Congress, Emilia will fight to keep jobs from going overseas and bring them back where they belong: Ohio.

Every northeast Ohioan deserves to have their voices heard and votes counted. In Congress, Emilia will fight to make it easier for our citizens to vote by supporting H.R. 1 the For the People Act— and she will hold accountable anyone who attacks the right to a free and fair election, particularly those who advocate violently overthrowing the government, like the attack we saw on the Capitol on January 6th of last year.

Ohioans are working harder than ever and shouldn’t be struggling to pay for gas, groceries, housing, and other expenses because of rising costs. In order to lower costs and ensure we don’t have another supply chain crisis, Emilia supports a “Made in America” plan to bring manufacturing home to northeast Ohio so we aren’t dependent on foreign countries and create good-paying jobs for Ohio workers. Emilia will also fight to put more money in the pockets of Northeast Ohioans, just as she did in the legislature when she worked to increase Ohio’s Earned income tax credit from 10 to 30 percent of the federal credit.

Women should always have the right to make decisions about their healthcare and reproductive freedom. Whether it’s abortion, birth control, or breast cancer screenings, the government has no place telling a woman what to do with her body. As a legislator, Emilia oversaw the passage of legislation eliminating the sales tax on feminine hygiene products, helped create the state’s Black Maternal Health Caucus to ensure healthier moms and babies, and fought to save infant lives through community grants and local interventions. In Congress, Emilia will fight against any attempts to criminalize abortion and contraception or punish women and will stand up for victims of rape, incest, and domestic abuse.

Emilia knows that access to clean water, clean air, and a clean environment is a basic human right—but that we can fight for those rights while also creating good-paying jobs. In Congress, Emilia will support environmentally friendly policies that support our economy, allow our National parks to thrive, and support native wildlife. By protecting our environment we can maintain a place where our children and families can live a healthy life, enjoy our local natural resources and promote tourism. 

Healthcare is far too expensive and all northeast Ohioans deserve access to quality, affordable healthcare and prescription drugs that won’t break the bank. In Congress, Emilia will push to cap the cost of life-saving medications such as insulin, make sure there are affordable long-term care options for Ohioans, and continue her work on eliminating systemic biases that lead to health inequities.

Everyone deserves to be safe, and feel safe in their communities. As a State Representative, Emilia led a bipartisan effort to ensure that survivors of domestic abuse could be protected and worked to make it a crime for people to track others without their consent. In Congress, Emilia will continue her fight to ensure law enforcement has the resources they need to protect and serve the communities where they work while ensuring there is accountability and trust within the community through meaningful criminal justice reform efforts.

Too often our Seniors are ignored or taken advantage of and we need to allow them to age with dignity in their own homes on their own terms. As a legislator Emilia supported the successful bipartisan effort to grant nursing home residents the ability to authorize and install electronic monitoring devices in resident rooms to monitor the quality of care received, as well as the effort to provide tax credits for family caregivers and lower property taxes. In Congress, Emilia will fight to hold those who target Seniors for fraud schemes accountable, allow Medicare to negotiate to lower the cost of prescription drugs and use those savings to expand Medicare benefits to cover vision, hearing, and dental services for seniors.