In 2025, I warned leaders in the state and the city that ICE was endangering our communities and we needed to prepare. When Metro Surge started, I led fundraising events and raised money, food and supplies for families afraid to leave their homes. I supported small businesses who had lost employees and customers because of the terror of Metro Surge, by bringing in dozens, sometimes hundreds of customers for these events. I stood by our businesses, cutting red tape and getting government help, and they have stood by me in this campaign. 

I showed up to support our kids who were traumatised by seeing classmates and their families kidnapped in front of them. I passed legislation providing funding for adult and children’s mental health, including mobile crisis grants and school-linked mental health grants for those impacted by the federal occupation. Young activists, like Charlie St. Dennis of Highland High School, strongly support me because - as Charlie says, “It was an easy choice, when things were at their worst, Maria was the one who showed up.”

No matter what happens in the election this November, we will still have to deal with the current federal administration and Trump’s cruel policies for another two years. Destructive legislation like the OBBBA will still be in force and it will take years of strong leadership to undo the trauma inflicted on our communities and the damage to basic services. I will be outspoken and loud in my opposition. I will stand by our most vulnerable people. 

My record and priorities are clear. I have delivered real support and resources for our residents affected by ICE and the cruelty of this federal administration. This kind of persecution is not new to me or my community and I will fight it directly - both publicly and behind the scenes.

Finally, I will reform our public engagement to center the voices of the people who are often left out of decisions that directly affect them. I will engage with these communities and meet with them where they are. If we do anything less we’ve failed.

4. Fight for BIPOC, immigrant, and LGBTQIA2+ communities against a federal administration that wants to erase us.

I have been a progressive DFL state legislator for the last four years. Here are my priorities as your next County Commissioner

Every day I hear folks’ concerns about health care. People are losing health coverage due to federal changes, and more changes are threatened by our federal lawmakers. The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 is a disaster that drastically cut federal healthcare spending—projected to slash Medicaid and safety-net funding by $900 billion to $1 trillion over a decade. This September, the Trump administration removed more than 750,000 enrollees from the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces. As your County Commissioner, I will fight to protect health services for all County residents. 

HMOs continue to merge, which has too often resulted in hospital closures and changes that make it harder for patients to get treatment. Now Allina and Sutter Health are planning to merge. I have joined in demands that any acquisition include real, enforceable benefits for our communities. A group of health care unions and people who rely on local hospitals are asking for a strong community benefits agreement similar to the one AG Keith Ellison oversaw for the North Memorial/Sanford Health merger in August, and I am proud to join in this effort.

I have delivered before in real ways to protect critical health care. One of the most important moments in my life was when I helped lead a grass-roots effort to pass the Insulin Affordability Act of 2020. I am a Type 1 diabetic who struggled in college to pay for insulin, which without health insurance, is incredibly expensive. I had to decide: do I pay for textbooks or food or insulin?

When Alec Smith, a 26 year old Type 1 diabetic from Richfield, died of diabetic ketoacidosis in 2017, I was broken-hearted. Alec was a young man who had just been promoted at work and could no longer get discounted insulin or state health care. He could not afford the $1,300 for his insulin and decided to try to ration his remaining insulin until his next paycheck. Alec died before that next paycheck. And I KNEW exactly the struggle Alec faced when he made that decision.

Alec’s parents bravely shared their pain after his death, and started fighting for affordable insulin for everyone who needs it. I joined their fight for affordable insulin - because it was my fight, too. The MN Insulin For All movement built an army of advocates ready for change. We raised money, met with legislators, and shared our stories.

Our legislators listened, and the governor listened, and I was so proud to stand with the Smith-Holton family and so many volunteers when Governor Walz signed the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act on April 15, 2020. This was the first insulin affordability law in the nation.

1. Protect essential services – health care, housing support, and food assistance, from federal funding cuts and Trump’s attacks.

I am grateful for the endorsements I have received this year from labor unions Teamsters DRIVE, AFSCME Council 5 and SEIU Local 26. These endorsements are especially meaningful because these workers make up most of the frontline workforce for Ramsey County. 

2. Support working families with job creation, affordable childcare and good transit for workers. 

This is important to me because, like so many working class Americans, I come from a family that wouldn’t have made it without the benefits that came from union membership. So many in our community rely on unions to ensure health care, living wages and safety on the job.

These organizations endorsed me because they don’t want empty promises or posturing, they need a partner they can trust and a commissioner who will deliver - for them and for Ramsey County as a whole. I am the only candidate with a track record of delivering real results for residents.

The County promotes jobs in significant ways:

The County runs Workforce Solutions, providing employment and training services to job seekers and businesses in the County. They provide career development and coaching services including assessments, occupational skills training, job search support and placement. Whether an individual is seeking their first job or a mid-level career change, these services can be invaluable. 

As a legislator, I made historic investments to increase funding, expand scholarships, and invest in workforce development. Every family deserves access to affordable childcare, and we worked to reduce the cost of childcare and early learning so that parents can work, employers can hire, and communities can thrive. These initiatives are essential to ensure that all Minnesota families have the opportunity to succeed. As your County Commissioner I will maintain strong support for these programs.

Young people have played such a big role in our campaign and they have shared great ideas to connect to jobs and internships even right out of high school. I will push to implement new ideas, pathways and programs to get young people connected to jobs, advisors and mentors who can see their talent and help them get their feet in the door in the workforce.

Through Ramsey County’s Economic Development Department, the County is creating new development, new jobs and working to expand the County’s tax base.

I am hearing from all sides that we need to invest in downtown. Increasing the commercial tax base downtown is desperately needed in order to relieve the tax burden on all Ramsey County residents. I have been committed to downtown investment long-term. As a legislator, I authored, passed and funded $40 million for the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, $6.2 million for RiversEdge, and $1 million for the Saints ballpark, as well as helping to obtain funding for the Science Museum and the Latino Museum.  

In March, government finance consultant Urban 3 laid out to the County Board how large-scale development downtown massively and positively impacts the County tax base. Dense commercial buildings pay a much higher tax rate AND can accommodate significantly more units than less-dense residential areas. Downtown also has more efficient transit and parking which positively impacts tax revenue. Targeted investment to connect downtown to the river offers a way to catalyze private development and significantly expand our tax base. Successful cities all over the world have used this exact technique to reawaken their downtowns. Omaha and Detroit brought life back to their downtowns through targeted investment in best-in-class public infrastructure. Our downtown needs this investment too.

3. Deliver downtown revitalization that expands the tax base, reduces property tax burden on homeowners, and increases public safety.

I saw what an elected official can do, and I ran for the legislature in 2022 while also successfully leading the efforts to relaunch the State’s DFL Latino Outreach “Movimiento Caucus.” I was elected to the state house, organized to bring a trifecta, and I have never looked back.

I promise you, I will look under every stone, I will work with staff to find answers, I will work with my colleagues in the legislature, I will work with our legal team to challenge these federal threats the way my friend and supporter Keith Ellison challenges them, and I won’t take no for an answer, because I never have.

I am a strong supporter of Medicare for All. I fought Big Pharma for better insulin prices and I’m not afraid to assert that Health Care is a basic human right.

María with Nicole Smith-Holton - Alec’s mom

Detroit’s Ralph C. Wilson Jr Centennial Park