Issues

Everyone deserves affordable housing; clean water; bikeable and walkable neighborhoods; access to public transportation; and safety from gun violence. Mara will continue to work with local stakeholders and government to ensure that every resident of the 8th District has access to these things.

Livable neighborhoods also demand jobs that cover the cost of living - she’s committed to worker protections and to unions. Delaware needs to make sure it pays essential workers like community health workers, paraprofessionals, school bus drivers, and many others a living wage.

Mara will also make sure that any corporation that seeks to bring a data center to Delaware does so responsibly and creatively so that energy costs for consumers do not go up, there is not noise pollution in residential neighborhoods and water is not used excessively.

And there are few things that Mara loves more about the 8th District than White Clay Creek State Park. She is committed to sustaining it for generations to come.

We have all seen how our democracy, especially our elections, has been threatened since the current Federal administration took office. That is why Mara was proud in the House to support the first leg of constitutional amendments that enshrine early and absentee voting in Delaware. She looks forward to voting for the second leg of these bills in the Senate.

In Delaware we also need to look at the dates of our elections - particularly low-turnout elections like those for school board - and see where we can consolidate. She also will fight for measures to make voting easier, including making Election Day a state holiday.

Our public schools are a reflection of our priorities as a community. The 8th District has some wonderful schools but resources are not shared equally among them. Mara will work to make sure that every child in the district has the same opportunities, regardless of where they live. This is particularly important for all of the children who suffered learning loss during the pandemic.

She is also committed to making sure that every child has access to pre-K programs and that we support working parents who need daycare.

Immigrants are vital to the economic and cultural fabric of the First State. Mara spent the entirety of her first term working on legislation that keeps our immigrant neighbors safe. This includes the passage of bills that ban the impersonation of a Federal officer, that prohibit the use of state funds for private detention facilities and that stop local law enforcement from entering into contractual agreements with ICE. She also introduced a bill to ban civil arrests at courthouses and one that prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with most ICE civil detainer requests.

Delaware’s arts sector supports jobs, drives tourism, builds identity, and gives communities something to gather around. As a member of the Arts Caucus in her first term Mara sponsored a bill that creates a distinction in the arts for high school seniors and resolutions that will explore the creation of a CTE pathway for arts education and a statewide program to support arts and cultural districts in local communities.

Mara is a champion for arts education in our schools and for the organizations like the Newark Arts Alliance that make Delaware a richer, more human place to live.

Mara also understands how vital libraries are to our communal life and educational institutions and supports open access to all library resources for every Delawarean.

Mara is deeply committed to the human rights of every person, regardless of their gender identity or sexuality. We've seen an increase in attacks on the transgender community across the country; we need to make Delaware a shining example of what it means to support and lift up our trans community, to offer the kinds of care that trans people need, and to make sure that providers of gender-affirming care are protected.

Mara believes in healthcare that is based on science and not politics. That is why she introduced and passed legislation that requires private insurers to cover vaccinations and preventative care in Delaware.

She also stands against the federal cuts to Medicaid and any threats to cut Medicare.

We do not have enough providers in Delaware and our healthcare costs are too high - Mara supports measures to address both of these problems including the creation of a medical school in the First State.

Abortion remains legal in Delaware, but it is not enshrined in our constitution, which is why Mara has signed on as a sponsor of the first leg of an amendment to do so. She also support ensuring that everyone who needs abortion has access to it and to other aspects of reproductive care, from STI testing to gender-affirming care.

In addition, Black women and babies have higher mortality rates than white women and babies during and after pregnancy and birth in Delaware; this is unacceptable. Mara will work for full reproductive justice and equity.

As a member of the Newark NAACP Branch, Mara saw firsthand how inequity and racism persist in Delaware, which is why she sponsored and passed a bill to ban citizens arrests, making Delaware the first state in the country to do so. From criminal justice reform to making sure that Black and brown children have access to all of the same resources as their white peers, she will always work to bring equity to the 8th District.