People are struggling right now. Groceries cost more. Gas costs more. Just getting through the month costs more. You are working hard, making responsible choices, and still asking yourself why it feels like you are falling behind. That is a fair question and it deserves to be taken seriously.

Joe cannot fix what is happening at the federal level, but he can make sure our county government is doing everything in its power to ease the pressure locally.

• Joe will make sure every county dollar is spent with the same discipline hardworking families bring to their own budgets, fighting waste and pushing back on unfunded mandates that drain local resources.

• Joe will back small businesses, protect family wage jobs, and make sure our local economy is not left waiting on someone in Washington DC to fix it.

• Joe will stand with our farmers, protect farmland from being lost, and keep it in family hands where it belongs.

We may not control everything that is making life harder right now. What we can control is whether our county government is working as hard as you are.

Joe hears this everywhere he goes. Parents watching their adult kids leave the county because rent is out of reach. Young couples who have done everything right and still cannot save enough for a down payment. Seniors who built their lives here and are now being squeezed out.

Cookie cutter solutions from the city do not work for communities like ours. He pushed back on blanket apartment mandates from the state when he was on the City Council because he knew our community deserved better answers than that.

• Joe will work with cities and towns to expand workforce and middle income housing without sacrificing the character of our communities.

• Joe will push to align infrastructure investment with housing growth so development happens where it actually makes sense.

• Joe will keep the focus on homeownership and pathways for first time buyers, not just rental units that keep people from ever building equity.

Our next generation deserves a real shot at putting down roots here. Joe is fighting to make sure they get one.

When Joe took the oath of office he stepped down from the City Council and walked away from a teaching career he loved. Not because he had to. Because the people of this county deserve a commissioner whose full attention never leaves this county.

This is not a part time job. You cannot take a few months off and still be effective for the people counting on you. Joe is here. Joe is working. And Joe is not going anywhere.

• Joe will maintain full time focus on county government, showing up for every meeting, every decision, and every constituent who needs him.

• Joe will be reachable, accountable, and present in the communities he serves.

• Joe will measure success by results people can see and feel here at home.
  

Your commissioner should work for you. That is the only job Joe is interested in.

Good health should not depend on your zip code. In a county that stretches from island communities to mountain towns, too many people are driving an hour for basic care or going without it entirely. That is not acceptable and it is not something we can afford to ignore.

Mental health and behavioral health are not fringe issues. They are kitchen table issues. Families across our county are dealing with them right now, quietly, and often without enough support.

• Joe is strengthening mental and behavioral health services across the county with a focus on reaching rural communities that have been underserved for too long.

• Joe is expanding substance use prevention and overdose response programs where they are needed most, treating this as the public health crisis it is.

• Joe is making sure county public health decisions are driven by local needs and local evidence, not by what is politically convenient.
  

A healthy community is a strong community. Joe is committed to making sure every corner of this county has access to the care its people deserve.

Skagit County stretches from islands in the sea to a national park in the mountains, with some of the most productive farmland and important waterways in the Pacific Northwest in between. That is not just something to be proud of. It is the foundation of our economy, our way of life, and the inheritance we pass on to the next generation.

Our farmers depend on it. Our fishermen depend on it. Our families depend on it. And flooding, shifting weather patterns, and aging infrastructure are putting real pressure on all of it right now.

This is not about politics. It is about protecting what makes this place worth living in.

• Joe is investing in smart flood control and protection of the Skagit River watershed, because flooding is not a future threat for many of our neighbors, it is a present reality.

• Joe is working to restore salmon runs that are both an ecological and economic cornerstone of our region.

• Joe is building the case for infrastructure that connects our communities and holds up under the conditions we are already living with.
  

What we protect today is what our kids inherit tomorrow. Joe is making sure we get that right.