Protecting Democracy

Dr. Jennifer Tran for Congress CA-12 on the Issues

What’s the challenge:

The American Dream has captivated and inspired the hearts and minds for generations. However, for many people in the East Bay and across the country, the American Dream has consistently failed to live up to its promise. Dysfunctional politics and attacks on our democracy risk further undermining the American Dream and derailing the hopes of millions of Americans.

What our community deserves:

  • A government responsive to the specific and unique needs of East Bay communities. 
  • A more civil, fair, and inclusive American political system that delivers real results. 
  • A renewed American Dream for the 21st century that honors the past while building a better future for new America.

Dr Tran’s Plan for Protecting Democracy

Protect the Voting Rights Act

…and expand and enshrine access to voting as the most sacred act in civic participation.

Reform Our Institutions

… to make the government more responsive to the needs and aspirations of real Americans.

Embrace Reforms

…to reduce income inequality, rebuild the middle class, and create more opportunity for economic mobility.

How has Dr. Tran served here before?

  • National Leadership – PIVOT
    As the inaugural Executive Director of PIVOT, the national progressive organization for Vietnamese Americans, I have worked to combat misinformation campaigns towards AAPI voters and against AAPI hate, provide in-language resources for AAPI communities to engage with local and national politics.
  • Community Advocacy
    I’ve worked in our BIPOC neighborhood to help with voter registration, and sharing of resources and information
  • National Projects
    I have informed and worked on projects for data disaggregation in order to create a better informed public where our needs across every community are clearly defined and not hidden within data

Protecting Democracy:

Policy Details + Additional Resources

Protect the Voting Rights Act and expand and enshrine access to voting as the most sacred act in civic participation.

Elections are the main setting within which American democracy unfolds and the American Dream is either advanced or attacked. Sadly, over the past two decades American democracy has been under attack in a concerted campaign to weaken voting rights. This effort harms the working people and voters of color the most by reducing our power over the political system. We need a new era of voting empowerment to reverse this erosion of our democratic rights. Congress can and must act to revitalize the Voting Rights Act to maintain equal and fair access to the voting booth for all Americans. We cannot stop there, though: a full overhaul of our voting system is necessary. This would include federal mandates to expand early voting, to establish longer hours for polling stations, to protect mail-in ballots, to eliminate voter ID requirements, to enact same-day voter registration, and to create more accessible voting practices for Americans with disabilities.

What informed our plan?

Reform our institutions to make the government more responsive to the needs and aspirations of real Americans.

The American people are tired of chaotic and combative politics. New generations of Americans are not loyal to a party and are uninterested in tired debates over the size of government. Instead, they are calling out for a government that works in solving real problems. As such, my plan advocates for a robust reform agenda to inaugurate a new era of results-driven governance for and by the American people. This means investing in and harnessing the power of local intermediaries and activists to identify and address challenges in our communities. It means creating more transparent government processes and requiring more public involvement in the policymaking process. It means championing reforms for faster and more efficient government action, such as a more comprehensive embrace of technology in all aspects of governance, so that the benefits of democracy can be felt by those who urgently need it. And lastly, it means curbing the influence of big money and corporate spending in our politics to reduce the impact of greed and corruption in policymaking.

What informed our plan?

Embrace reforms to reduce income inequality, rebuild the middle class, and create more opportunity for economic mobility.

A new American Dream needs to rest on a foundation of economic prosperity for all. The United States has long been known as the land of opportunity, but for too long this opportunity has flowed unevenly. Immigrants and people of color have long been left out of the traditional story of American economic progress. My plan embraces sweeping changes to our economic policies to re-level the playing field and truly create equal opportunity. First, I would champion a new tax system that closes corporate tax loop-holes and ensures that high-income earners pay their fair share and invest in America. Second, I would support the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to strengthen American unions: in the past, union jobs were the bedrock of middle class incomes in our cities, especially for people of color. Reinvesting in unions is a way to hand power back to the American people and reverse decades of corporate overreach. Lastly, I would seek a strengthening of anti-discrimination laws in employment, housing and real-estate, and banking to protect the ability of all Americans, regardless of their class, background, race, or identity, to pursue the American Dream.

What informed our plan?

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