The Democratic primary election for the District One House of Representatives seat has honed down to two candidates now that Allison Galbraith has dropped out of the race.

Jennifer Pingley, RN, who hails from Cecil County, is one of the candidates. If she wins, she will go on to run against Rep. Andy Harris in November.

What stands out the most about Pingley are her creative ideas about healthcare. She supports Universal Healthcare; however, as a realist, she knows that is not likely to happen soon. To get us through for now, Pingley envisions what she calls “Primary Care for all Citizens.” This would be a low cost, research supported plan that would enable everyone access to primary healthcare.

By ensuring that all people have access to healthcare at the beginning of their illnesses, we would avoid the much greater cost of treating individuals later in the disease process when it becomes tremendously expensive to treat them. By keeping people out of the hospital, we would save money. Pingley will also work to reduce the cost of medications by fully supporting government interventions that will slow, stop, and reverse their inflated prices.

Pingley is a staunch defender of our public school system who has carefully considered fiscal restraints so that every child has access to a quality education. She feels that presently too much taxpayer money is being wasted on privatization of our public schools. This is draining needed funds from traditional schools which have a mandate to educate all children, even those with severe disabilities, a much more costly endeavor.

In addition, Pingley would like to see student health care costs separated from general education funds. Unfortunately, too much money that the public believes is going to supply books, computers, and other education necessities is being drained for medical uses. There should be two separate budgets.

Pingley wants to stop the predatory nature of student loans. Banks attain money for student loans at extremely low interest rates and then charge students multiple times above what they need to charge to make a comfortable profit. Student loans should be affordable so that we can have a well-educated citizenry. In addition, community colleges should be tuition free.

Clean air, water, and a stable environment are basic human rights, according to Pingley. She feels that the preservation of protected lands and investment in sustainable green technologies are imperative to public health and well-being. In addition, she feels that whoever directs the EPA must be a scientist. Qualifications for the job must be the focus of Senate confirmation hearings.

In addition, Pingley asserts that we must rejoin the Paris Climate Accords and address the problems caused by climate change in District One. Although the entire district is affected, Dorchester and Queen Anne’s Counties are at the most risk of losing land to flooding and the rising ocean levels associated with climate change. Other counties, such as Wicomico, are experiencing “sunny day flooding,” which will only become worse and create hazardous problems that are expensive to address.

Pingley has many other creative ideas she would implement if elected including improving Social Security, handling the opioid epidemic, gaining access to rural broadband as well as saving the United States Postal Service. You can find out more on her website: www.ElectJenRN.com.

Susan Olsen
Talbot County