For years, Sara has been a leader in the fight to protect children from abuse and neglect. She took on Oregon’s broken foster care system and worked to end dangerous practices like sending children out of state to unsafe residential facilities. Thanks to Sara’s efforts, the last Oregon child placed in out-of-state care was returned home last June. Her work sparked a national movement to cancel contracts with dangerous residential facilities and reform child welfare programs coast to coast.  Now, Sara is working with advocates and legislators in multiple states to address similar problems in private residential placements. In the State Senate, Sara also championed: 

* Restricting the use of physical restraints and seclusion on children and youth in care, and in public schools

* Empowering youth to direct their own services and protecting their right to speak publicly about their own experiences

* Improving response the most dangerous cases of abuse through Karly’s Law, and ensuring transparency and system reform through public reports about fatalities and serious incidents for child welfare involved children and youth

Sara believes health care is a basic human right, not a privilege. Sara helped pass the landmark health reform law that provided health coverage for thousands of uninsured children and led efforts to expand access to prescription drugs for Oregonians in need. In the State Senate, Sara worked hard to ensure we:

* Expand access to life-saving mental health treatment, especially among young people

* Ensure patients and consumers get the coverage they deserve from their insurance company

* Eliminate nondisclosure agreements that make it difficult to hold bad actors in medicine and long term care accountable

* Tackle longstanding disparities in health care access for BIPOC communities, the elderly and people with disabilities

Sara Gelser is proudly pro-choice and will always defend women’s access to reproductive health care services. Sara has also been  a longtime supporter of equal rights for LGBT Oregonians, and was proud to carry legislation prohibiting harmful “conversion” therapy in Oregon. Her unwavering commitment to personal rights guides her work each day. In the Oregon Senate Sara will keep fighting to:

* Ensure women have access to contraceptives through their prescription drug coverage

* Oppose any effort to restrict women’s access to reproductive health care services

* Stop any efforts to roll back equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ Community

* Protect the rights of Oregonians with disabilities and those experiencing mental illness to make their own choices

Sara supports economic development that creates good jobs and promotes healthy businesses. In the Senate, Sara fought to increase the minimum wage, pass equal pay legislation, create a statewide earned sick leave policy and improve workplace harassment laws.  She also knows that safe housing is the foundation of economic security.  That’s why she voted for essential tenant protections and efforts to expand access to affordable housing.  In the State Senate, Sara will keep fighting to :

* Improve safety in every workplace, including for farmworkers and manufacturing

* Support the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain

Sara knows Oregon’s rivers, forests, farms and natural resources are essential to our economy and quality of life. She also knows that the time is now to pass meaningful legislation to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change. She was a proud co-sponsor of the Clean Energy Jobs program. In the State Senate, Sara will continue to support an pro-environmental agenda including:

* Working to pass meaningful legislation to reduce carbon emissions and invest in communities impacted by the harmful effects of climate change

* Advocating for transportation investments and policies that reduce reliance on fossil fuels

* Supporting meaningful reforms to reduce wildfire risks and to meet the health, economic and infrastructure needs of communities devastated by wildfire

As a parent, a former school board member and a state senator, Sara has worked to ensure quality public education for all children. She successfully passed legislation creating the nation’s first statewide standards for modified and extended diplomas, passed legislation to shut down the school to prison pipeline, and protective innovative alternative education programs that put kids on the road to success. She was instrumental in increasing funding for K-12 education as well as increased funding for our community colleges.  In the State Senate, Sara will continue to fight for:

• Flexible education options that meet the needs of all kids
• Eliminating discriminatory barriers that hinder success for Black, indiginous and students of color, students with disabilities, unhoused students, kids living in poverty and students who speak English as a second language
• Affordable access to universities and community colleges, including support to meet rising costs of tuition, housing and basic needs