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Candidates › IN-03 race › 2025–2026
Kelly Thompson
D Democratic nominee for U.S. House, IN-03
Has not served in Congress
- On the ballot
- Lost the general electionNov 3, 2026 · 55,282 votes (45.8%) · 2 of 2
- Where to vote
- Find your polling place (opens in a new tab) · More ways to vote
- Top priorities
- Campaign Promises
- INVEST IN INDIANA, NOT ENDLESS WAR
- TOO MUCH POWER IN TOO FEW HANDS
- OUR DEMOCRACY IS NOT FOR SALE
- PUTTING OUR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FIRST
- Money
- $347.1K raised, $293.1K spent, $54K cash on hand (through Oct 14, 2026). Where it comes from
- Who gives
- 0% of individual money from donors at $200 or less · 82% from Indiana
14 priorities from kellythompsonforcongress.com, in the order they are listed there. Every heading and the text under it is copied exactly, as one passage for each page it is from, and links to that place on the page; hover a source to see which passage it opens.
Our campaign is focused on making life more affordable, putting Hoosiers ahead of corporate interests, and restoring accountability in Washington.
From healthcare, housing, education, and energy costs to government corruption, corporate power, and endless wars, these promises outline the priorities we’re fighting for.
Make Indiana Affordable Again lowering costs on housing, healthcare, education, utilities and energy.
Fight for Medicare for All.
Fully fund education from child care to college by taxing Wall Street.
End U.S. wars in the Middle East and bring our troops home.
Put Hoosiers first, not corporations and foreign governments.
Release the Epstein files and prosecute the criminals.
Ban stock trading by Congress and the President.
Make corporate polluters pay, not working families.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com
Washington always seems to find money for another war, another weapons package, another military contractor, or another foreign government.
But when Hoosier families need affordable healthcare, better schools, childcare, housing, help keeping the family farm, or support for a small business, suddenly politicians want to know how we are going to pay for it.
Our priorities are backwards.
American foreign policy should protect the American people, defend our country, pursue peace, and keep us out of unnecessary wars.
We will stop pouring American lives and money into permanent war and start investing those resources here at home.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
For more than two decades, Washington has dragged America from one war to another, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and Iran, at an enormous cost in lives, money, and global stability.
Presidents of both parties have expanded military operations while Congress has repeatedly surrendered its constitutional responsibility to decide when America goes to war.
That has to end.
We will repeal outdated war authorizations and require Congress to vote before the United States enters sustained military conflicts overseas.
Emergency action to defend Americans from an imminent attack must remain possible. Permanent war by presidential decree should not.
If Congress will not vote for a war, America should not be fighting it.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
American taxpayers should not be financing the destruction of Palestinian families.
We will end American weapons transfers and military assistance used to carry out the destruction of Gaza and oppose continued U.S. support for policies that amount to collective punishment, forced displacement, starvation, or the mass killing of civilians.
American weapons should never be used to commit human-rights abuses or violations of international law.
This is not hostility toward Jewish people or the Israeli people. It is opposition to using American money and weapons to arm a government carrying out devastating violence against Palestinians.
We will support humanitarian aid, reconstruction, diplomacy, Palestinian freedom and self-determination, and genuine security for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Not another American bomb for the destruction of Gaza.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
Israel is a wealthy nation with one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world.
American working families should not be required to provide billions of dollars every year to subsidize another country's military while our own communities struggle to pay for schools, hospitals, roads, farms, housing, and public services.
We will end unconditional military aid to Israel.
Any future assistance must comply with American law, international humanitarian law, and basic human-rights standards.
Foreign governments do not have an automatic claim on American taxpayer money.
Our first responsibility is to the people we were elected to represent.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
The United States can have allies without merging our military infrastructure with another country's defense establishment.
We oppose policies that make America's military increasingly dependent on Israeli weapons systems, military technology, intelligence networks, joint production arrangements, or permanent defense infrastructure.
American military strategy must be based on American interests.
American soldiers must remain under American command.
American defense policy must be determined by the American people and their elected representatives.
Cooperation with an ally is one thing.
Building a military-industrial system that becomes inseparable from another government's foreign policy is another.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
Weapons manufacturers profit when the United States prepares for war, enters wars, sends weapons overseas, and then replaces the weapons it gave away.
That creates an obvious conflict between what is profitable for defense contractors and what is best for the American people.
We will crack down on the revolving door between the Pentagon, Congress, lobbying firms, and defense contractors.
Senior military and defense officials should not be able to award billions of dollars in contracts and then leave government for lucrative positions with the companies that received them.
We will also require greater transparency around defense contracts, weapons transfers, lobbying expenditures, and political spending by companies seeking Pentagon business.
Foreign policy should be designed to keep Americans safe, not keep defense contractors profitable.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
A new military-industrial complex is emerging around artificial intelligence, mass surveillance, cloud computing, autonomous weapons, facial recognition, drones, and private data systems.
Some of the wealthiest technology executives in the world increasingly want their companies embedded into the basic infrastructure of American government and national defense.
That creates enormous risks.
Private corporations should not become so deeply integrated into the military that elected leaders cannot govern without them.
We will require strong congressional oversight of military contracts involving artificial intelligence, surveillance, autonomous weapons, data systems, and other emerging technologies.
Critical military systems must remain accountable to the public rather than dependent on the personal politics, business interests, or whims of billionaire technology executives.
We will also require meaningful human control over lethal military decisions.
No billionaire should become more powerful than the government that hired him.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
The same tech oligarchs seeking billions of dollars in military and government contracts should not be given the power to gut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits, disability programs, food assistance, or other programs Americans depend on.
We reject the idea that billionaires should be invited into government, given access to enormous amounts of public data, and allowed to decide which programs working people deserve.
Efficiency cannot become an excuse for privatization.
Technology cannot become an excuse for eliminating due process.
And artificial intelligence should never be allowed to automatically deny someone healthcare, disability benefits, food assistance, or retirement income without meaningful human review.
The social safety net belongs to the people who paid into it, not the tech oligarchs looking for something else to dismantle.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
Government should use technology.
Technology companies should not govern.
We will prevent private technology contractors from gaining unchecked access to Americans' Social Security information, health records, financial data, immigration records, military information, or other sensitive government databases.
Major government technology contracts will require transparency, cybersecurity safeguards, privacy protections, public oversight, and strict limits on how companies can use government data.
The federal government should never become dependent on one billionaire's company to perform basic public functions.
Public power must remain publicly accountable.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
The Constitution gives Congress the authority to decide when the country goes to war.
For decades, Congress has allowed presidents to stretch old military authorizations far beyond their original purpose.
We will repeal outdated Authorizations for Use of Military Force and require explicit congressional approval for sustained hostilities overseas.
Members of Congress should have to cast a public vote before sending American troops into another war.
They should have to explain that vote to the people who elected them.
No authorization. No war.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
Every dollar represents a choice.
Money spent subsidizing another country's military cannot also repair a bridge in Indiana, keep a rural hospital open, help a family afford childcare, support a farmer, or create a good-paying job here at home.
We will redirect federal priorities toward the people and communities that actually need the investment.
That means funding affordable healthcare, rural hospitals, public schools, teacher pay, universal pre-K, childcare, paid family and medical leave, affordable housing, roads, bridges, clean water, broadband, Social Security, Medicare, and veterans' services.
It also means supporting Indiana farmers through regenerative agriculture, soil conservation, local food processing, stronger protections against agricultural monopolies, and programs that help family farms stay in family hands.
We will invest in Indiana small businesses and manufacturing through affordable lending, Buy American requirements, downtown revitalization, rural broadband, federal contracting opportunities, and an industrial policy that creates good union jobs building the things our communities actually need, including medical equipment, agricultural machinery, public transit, energy infrastructure, semiconductors, and housing materials.
And we will fully fund veterans' healthcare, disability benefits, mental-health services, housing, and job support. Washington should never have unlimited money to send someone to war and then suddenly become fiscally responsible when that veteran comes home.
National security is not just a Pentagon budget.
It is whether families can afford healthcare.
It is whether farmers can keep their land.
It is whether small businesses can survive.
It is whether veterans are taken care of.
It is whether Indiana workers have good jobs that do not depend on another war starting somewhere overseas.
We should be rebuilding Indiana, not subsidizing permanent war.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies-all
America is supposed to have a free market.
But there is nothing free about a market where a handful of giant corporations control what we buy, what we pay, where we work, what information we see, and increasingly, even who gets to compete.
For decades, Washington has allowed mergers, private equity roll-ups, corporate consolidation, and Wall Street concentration to hollow out competition.
The result is simple: Fewer choices. Higher prices. Lower wages. Less innovation. More power for billionaires and giant corporations.
Our plan will take on monopoly power, strengthen antitrust enforcement, stop anti-competitive mergers before they happen, and make sure no corporation or financial institution becomes too powerful to challenge.
Stop Monopoly Mergers Before They Happen ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
For too long, regulators have waited until industries are already dominated by a few giant companies before acting.
We will reverse that.
Our plan will strengthen the Clayton Act and Sherman Antitrust Act so regulators can block mergers and acquisitions that create excessive market concentration before the damage is done.
That includes:
- Lowering the threshold for blocking mergers in already concentrated industries
- Cracking down on companies that buy dozens of smaller competitors over time
- Scrutinizing acquisitions designed to eliminate future competitors
- Blocking mergers that reduce competition for workers, not just consumers
- Considering the impact of mergers on wages, innovation, local communities, and political power
A corporation should not be allowed to buy its way out of competition.
Crack Down on Private Equity Roll-Ups ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
Private equity firms increasingly buy up businesses one by one until they dominate entire local or regional markets.
- Hospitals.
- Nursing homes.
- Veterinary clinics.
- Housing.
- Retail.
- Manufacturing.
- Local businesses.
Individually, each deal may appear small.
Together, they can create enormous market power.
Our plan will require regulators to examine the cumulative impact of serial acquisitions, not just each transaction in isolation.
If a private equity firm is quietly building a monopoly through dozens of smaller purchases, regulators should have the power to stop it.
Take On Wall Street’s Concentration of Power ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
A small number of giant financial institutions now own major stakes across competing companies in the same industries.
That raises a basic question: How competitive is a market when the same giant investors own pieces of everybody?
Our plan will require greater disclosure and scrutiny when large institutional investors hold significant stakes in multiple competing firms.
Major investors will have to disclose potential conflicts and explain how their ownership could affect competition.
No financial institution should be able to quietly accumulate enough influence to shape an entire industry.
End Backroom Corporate Control ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
Corporate ownership should not be hidden behind layers of shell companies, derivatives, private funds, and complicated financial structures.
We will strengthen beneficial ownership disclosure so regulators and the public can see who actually controls major corporations and investments.
Large investors will face stronger disclosure requirements for:
- Major ownership stakes
- Derivative positions that create hidden influence
- Voting power
- Short positions
- Securities lending
- Corporate board relationships
If someone controls a company, the public has a right to know.
Stop the Same People From Controlling Competing Companies ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
It should be obvious:
The same people should not be sitting on the boards of companies that are supposed to be competing against each other.
We will aggressively enforce and strengthen laws against interlocking corporate directorates and close loopholes that allow investment firms to place representatives on boards across competing businesses.
Competition cannot exist when the same financial interests are sitting on both sides of the table.
Break Big Tech’s Grip on the Market ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
Digital monopolies present a new form of corporate power.
A dominant platform should not be able to control the marketplace and compete against the businesses that depend on that marketplace at the same time.
Our plan will prohibit anti-competitive practices such as:
- Self-preferencing by dominant platforms
- Using proprietary marketplace data to undermine competitors
- Acquiring emerging rivals simply to eliminate them
- Locking users and businesses into closed ecosystems
- Using control of data to prevent meaningful competition
Big Tech should have to compete like everyone else.
Protect Workers, Not Just Consumers ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
For decades, antitrust enforcement has focused too narrowly on whether a merger immediately raises prices.
That ignores enormous economic harms.
Corporate concentration can also:
- Suppress wages
- Eliminate jobs
- Weaken unions
- Reduce innovation
- Destroy local businesses
- Limit consumer choice
- Concentrate political power
Our antitrust laws should protect workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, communities, and democracy, not just short-term prices.
Give Antitrust Cops the Power to Do Their Jobs ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
We cannot take on trillion-dollar corporations with regulators that are understaffed, underfunded, and afraid to enforce the law.
We will significantly increase resources for the:
- Federal Trade Commission
- Department of Justice Antitrust Division
- Securities and Exchange Commission
We will create specialized enforcement teams focused on monopoly power, private equity, digital markets, securities transactions, and corporate concentration.
And regulators will be instructed to act proactively rather than waiting until monopoly power has already devastated an industry.
Break Up Monopolies When Necessary ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
Some companies have become so dominant that fines are simply another cost of doing business.
When a corporation has obtained or maintained monopoly power through anti-competitive conduct, regulators must have the ability to pursue structural remedies.
That means breaking companies up when necessary.
No corporation should be too big to regulate.
No billionaire should be too powerful to challenge.
And no company should be allowed to become so dominant that competitors, workers, consumers, and even elected governments are afraid to stand up to it.
Get Big Money Out of Politics ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
Economic monopoly and political monopoly go hand in hand.
When enormous corporate fortunes can be converted directly into political influence, concentrated economic power becomes concentrated political power.
That is why breaking up monopolies must go together with campaign-finance reform, stronger disclosure laws, and limits on the ability of billionaires and corporations to buy political influence.
A democracy cannot function when a handful of people have more political power because they have more money.
Markets Should Serve People ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies at this heading)
Competition is supposed to reward better ideas, better products, and better service.
It is not supposed to reward whoever has enough money to buy every competitor.
Small businesses should have a fair shot.
Workers should have choices about where they work.
Consumers should have choices about what they buy.
Entrepreneurs should be able to compete without being crushed by a monopoly before they ever get started.
Break up monopoly power. Stop corporate consolidation. Rein in Wall Street. And put markets back in the hands of the people who actually make the economy work.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/business/monopolies
America is supposed to be a government of, by, and for the people.
But too often, the people with the biggest checkbooks have the loudest voices.
Billionaires can pour enormous sums into elections.
Corporations and special interests can spend through organizations that hide their donors.
Members of Congress can buy and sell stocks while voting on legislation that can move markets.
Government officials leave public service and cash in as lobbyists for the same industries they were supposed to regulate.
That is not democracy.
It is legalized influence-peddling, and we are going to end it.
Overturn Citizens United ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Corporations are not people, and money is not speech.
The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision opened the door to an explosion of unlimited outside political spending and helped give billionaires and corporations even greater influence over our elections.
We support a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United and related decisions and restoring the authority of Congress and the states to place meaningful limits on political spending.
The Constitution should protect the political voice of human beings.
It should not guarantee corporations the right to buy elections.
End Dark Money ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
If someone spends millions of dollars trying to influence your vote, you have a right to know who is paying for it.
Our plan will require organizations spending significant money to influence elections to disclose the people and corporations funding that political activity.
No more hiding billionaire donors behind innocent-sounding nonprofits.
No more shell organizations designed to conceal where political money originated.
No more political advertisements financed by interests voters cannot identify.
We will require clear, timely disclosure of major political donors and the true sources behind election spending.
If you are spending money to influence our democracy, you should have to put your name on it.
Ban Members of Congress From Trading Stocks ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Members of Congress receive information, attend classified briefings, regulate industries, write tax laws, approve government contracts, and vote on legislation that can move billions of dollars through financial markets.
They should not be trading individual stocks while they do it.
Period.
Our plan will prohibit members of Congress from buying, selling, or actively trading individual stocks, corporate bonds, commodities, options, and similar financial assets while in office.
The prohibition will also apply to spouses and dependent children so politicians cannot simply move trades into a family member's name.
Elected officials will be permitted to hold diversified investments such as broad-based mutual funds, index funds, government securities, and other assets that do not create conflicts with individual companies.
Existing conflicting assets will have to be sold, moved into qualifying diversified funds, or placed into a genuinely independent blind trust.
No More Profiting From Information the Public Doesn't Have ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Public service should not provide elected officials with an investment advantage.
We will strengthen financial disclosure requirements and impose serious penalties for violations.
No symbolic fines.
No slap on the wrist.
Politicians who deliberately violate the law should face penalties large enough to eliminate any financial benefit from the trade, along with additional civil or criminal consequences when appropriate.
If insider trading would send an ordinary American to court, holding public office should not provide a loophole.
Slam Shut the Revolving Door ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Too many public officials regulate an industry on Friday and go to work for that industry on Monday.
Members of Congress become lobbyists.
Regulators become consultants for corporations they once oversaw.
Defense officials take jobs with military contractors.
Corporate lobbyists enter government, write rules affecting their former employers, and then return to the private sector.
The public has every reason to wonder who those officials were really working for.
We will impose strong cooling-off periods preventing senior elected officials, political appointees, congressional staff, and regulators from lobbying the institutions where they previously served.
For the highest-ranking federal officials, we support a lifetime ban on lobbying the office or agency they once led.
Stop Regulators From Cashing In ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Government employees should not be able to use public service as an audition for a lucrative corporate job.
Senior regulators will face restrictions on accepting employment, consulting contracts, board positions, or compensation from companies they directly regulated or oversaw for a substantial period after leaving government.
Likewise, officials entering government from regulated industries will be required to recuse themselves from matters directly involving recent employers and major clients.
Serve the public or serve the corporation. You should not be able to do both at the same time.
Make Lobbyists Tell Us Who Is Paying Them ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Lobbying should happen in daylight.
We will strengthen lobbying disclosure laws so the public can see:
- Who hired the lobbyist
- How much they are being paid
- Which agencies and elected officials they are lobbying
- What legislation or regulations they are trying to influence
- Which corporate or financial interests ultimately benefit
- Which former government officials are lobbying their former colleagues
We will also close loopholes that allow people who perform lobbying work to call themselves "strategic advisers" or "consultants" and escape registration.
If you're being paid to influence government, you're a lobbyist.
Ban Corporate PAC Money for Candidates Who Refuse It ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Our democracy should be financed by voters, not corporate political-action committees.
We will strengthen public financing and small-donor matching programs so candidates can run competitive campaigns without spending their time begging wealthy donors and corporate PACs for money.
A $20 contribution from a teacher, nurse, mechanic, or waitress should matter more than it does today.
Political power should come from organizing people.
Not collecting billionaires.
Stop Super PACs From Becoming Shadow Campaigns ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Super PACs are legally supposed to operate independently of candidates.
Too often, everyone knows that "independence" exists mostly on paper.
We will strengthen anti-coordination laws and close loopholes that allow candidates and supposedly independent organizations to effectively work from the same playbook.
If an organization is functioning as an arm of a campaign, it should be regulated like the campaign.
You should not be able to evade campaign contribution limits simply by creating another organization with a different name.
Make Government Contractors Choose ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Companies receiving enormous federal contracts should not be able to use some of that money to buy political influence from the same government awarding the contracts.
We will impose strict restrictions on political contributions and election spending by major federal contractors and require full disclosure of political spending by companies seeking substantial government business.
Taxpayer dollars should purchase goods and services.
They should not finance political influence.
Give Ordinary People More Political Power ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Getting big money out of politics is not only about limiting the power of billionaires.
It is about increasing the power of everybody else.
We will expand voluntary public financing and small-donor matching systems that multiply the value of modest contributions from ordinary voters.
That means candidates can spend more time talking to constituents and less time calling wealthy donors.
A democracy works best when politicians need more voters, not richer donors.
Public Office Is a Public Trust ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness at this heading)
Serving in government should be an honor.
It should not be an investment strategy.
It should not be a stepping stone to a multimillion-dollar lobbying contract.
And it should not give anyone the right to sell access to the highest bidder.
We can have a government that works for workers, families, small businesses, and communities.
But first, we have to break the grip of the money that controls it.
Ban congressional stock trading.
Shut the revolving door.
And give our democracy back to the people.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/democracy/campaign-finance-and-media-fairness
Every child in America deserves a great education, no matter what neighborhood they grow up in, how much their parents make, or what their ZIP code happens to be.
And no parent should have to choose between caring for a newborn, staying home with a sick child, or keeping a paycheck coming in.
For too long, we have treated education, childcare, and family leave as individual problems families are supposed to figure out on their own.
They aren't.
Investing in children and families is investing in the future of our country.
End the ZIP Code Lottery in Public Education ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
A child's education should not depend on the property value of the homes surrounding their school.
But that is exactly what happens when local property wealth determines how much money schools have.
Children in wealthy communities get newer facilities, smaller class sizes, more programs, and greater opportunities.
Children in poorer communities are told to make do with less.
That is not equality of opportunity.
Our plan will significantly increase federal investment in public education and target resources toward schools and communities that have historically been underfunded.
A child's ZIP code should never determine the quality of their education.
Give Every Child Universal Pre-K ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Every child should have the opportunity to begin school ready to learn.
Our plan will provide universal, publicly funded pre-K for every 3- and 4-year-old in America.
We will:
- Build and expand high-quality early childhood education facilities
- Train and hire qualified early childhood educators
- Pay childcare and pre-K workers professional wages
- Expand programs in rural and underserved communities
- Make early childhood education available to every family, regardless of income
Universal pre-K gives children a stronger start and gives parents greater freedom to work, go to school, or care for their families.
Make Childcare Affordable for Every Family ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Childcare has become one of the largest expenses facing working families.
For many parents, especially parents with multiple young children, childcare can cost as much as rent or a mortgage.
That is unsustainable.
We will dramatically expand federal support for childcare so that no working family is forced to spend an unreasonable share of its income simply to have someone safely care for their children.
We will also raise wages for childcare workers and expand the number of available childcare providers, particularly in rural communities and childcare deserts.
Parents should be able to afford to work, and childcare workers should be able to afford to live.
Guarantee Paid Family and Medical Leave ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Having a baby should not mean losing your paycheck.
Neither should developing cancer, caring for a dying parent, recovering from surgery, or staying home with a seriously ill child.
We will establish a national paid family and medical leave program so workers can take necessary time away from work without falling into financial crisis.
Workers will be able to take paid leave to:
- Welcome and bond with a new child
- Recover from childbirth
- Care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent, or family member
- Recover from their own serious illness or medical condition
- Address major caregiving emergencies
No American should have to choose between their family and their job.
Paid family leave is not a luxury.
It is basic economic security.
Give America's Teachers a Raise ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
We say teachers are important.
We should start paying them like they are.
Our plan will provide federal funding to immediately increase teacher compensation, with a goal of raising teacher pay by at least $10,000 per year while directing additional resources toward the lowest-paid districts and hardest-to-staff schools.
We will also strengthen educators' ability to organize and collectively bargain for:
- Better wages
- Smaller class sizes
- Safer schools
- Better working conditions
- Adequate classroom resources
Teachers should be teaching.
They should not be working second jobs to pay their bills or buying basic classroom supplies with their own money.
Let Students Graduate High School With a Head Start ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Not every student needs the same path after high school.
Some will attend universities
Some will learn a trade.
Some will enter the workforce.
We should prepare students for all of those paths.
Our plan will allow every high school student to graduate with the opportunity to earn either:
- An associate degree, or
- A recognized trade or technical credential
at no cost to the student or family.
We will expand partnerships between public high schools, community colleges, trade schools, apprenticeship programs, and unions.
A student should be able to graduate from high school already prepared to enter a good-paying career or continue toward a bachelor's degree.
Make Public College and Trade School Tuition-Free ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Higher education should be a path to opportunity, not decades of debt.
Our plan will make tuition at public colleges, universities, community colleges, and qualified trade schools tuition-free.
Students who want to become teachers, nurses, electricians, engineers, welders, scientists, plumbers, mechanics, or anything else our country needs should be able to get the education necessary to do it without taking on crushing debt.
Cancel Student Debt ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Millions of Americans did exactly what they were told to do.
They worked hard.
They went to college.
They tried to build a better life.
And many were rewarded with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
That debt delays:
- Buying a home
- Starting a family
- Opening a business
- Saving for retirement
- Building wealth
Our plan will cancel existing federal student loan debt and reform higher education so that we do not simply recreate the same debt crisis for the next generation.
Education should expand opportunity, not become a lifelong financial penalty.
Invest Early Instead of Paying for Failure Later ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Children who experience poverty, instability, hunger, violence, neglect, or other serious childhood trauma often carry those consequences into adulthood.
Those experiences can affect educational achievement, health, employment, and long-term well-being.
Instead of waiting until families are already in crisis, we should invest earlier.
We will strengthen:
- School counselors
- Mental health services
- Nutrition programs
- Early childhood education
- Family support
- Community schools
- After-school programs
- Violence prevention
- Youth development programs
Helping children succeed early is both the compassionate thing to do and one of the smartest investments government can make.
Make Wall Street Help Pay for It ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
Wall Street moves trillions of dollars through financial markets while working families are told that universal pre-K, affordable childcare, better schools, paid leave, and tuition-free public college are somehow too expensive.
Our plan will impose a small financial transaction tax on Wall Street trades, including stocks, bonds, derivatives, and other financial instruments.
The people making ordinary purchases at the grocery store already pay taxes on transactions every day.
Wall Street can afford to contribute too.
Revenue from that tax will help finance:
- Universal pre-K
- Affordable childcare
- Better-funded public schools
- Higher teacher pay
- Tuition-free public college and trade school
- Student debt relief
- Expanded educational opportunities for high school students
- Investments in children and families
Put Families First ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare at this heading)
We can afford to give every child a great education.
We can afford to make childcare accessible.
We can afford to pay teachers what they deserve.
We can afford to let parents care for newborn babies and sick family members without losing their income.
And we can afford to educate the next generation without burying them in debt.
The question isn't whether America has the resources.
The question is what we choose to prioritize.
Our children should come before Wall Street profits.
Our teachers should come before tax giveaways.
And families should never have to go broke because they decided to have a child, get an education, or take care of someone they love.
Put children first. Put families first. Invest in America's future.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/education/education-and-childcare
American farmland should belong to the people who work it, care for it, and pass it down to the next generation, not multinational corporations, Wall Street investors, or foreign governments.
For generations, family farmers have fed this country, protected our soil and water, and held rural communities together. But today, more and more farmland is being bought up by corporations, investment funds, and outside interests while family farmers struggle to keep the land they have worked their entire lives.
Our Preserve Family Farmland Program will help keep farmland in the hands of farmers and families.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/farms/protecting-family-farms
No family should be forced to sell the farm just to pay a tax bill after a parent or grandparent dies.
Under our plan, qualifying farmland passed from one generation to another individual or family member, rather than sold or transferred to a corporation, will be exempt from the federal estate tax.
The goal is simple: if a family wants to keep farming the land, government should help them keep it, not force them to sell it.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/farms/protecting-family-farms
Farmland is not just another financial asset. It is part of our food supply, our environment, and our national security.
Our plan will prohibit additional purchases of American farmland by foreign governments and sharply restrict purchases by corporations, investment funds, and nonprofit foundations whose primary business is not agriculture.
To qualify as an agricultural entity eligible to acquire farmland, at least 55 percent of the organization’s business or investment activity must be directly connected to agriculture.
We should be making it easier for farmers to buy farmland, not allowing Wall Street and foreign interests to outbid them.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/farms/protecting-family-farms
Corporations that own substantial amounts of American farmland have a responsibility to help protect the land and rural communities from which they profit.
Under our plan, corporate farmland owners will be required to contribute 1 percent of their profits every five years to agricultural conservation and family-farm stewardship programs.
Those funds will support proven efforts that help farmers preserve farmland, improve soil and water quality, protect working lands, and keep family farms economically viable, including:
- American Farmland Trust
- Conservation Stewardship Program
- Environmental Quality Incentives Program
- Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
- Conservation Reserve Program
- Regional Conservation Partnership Program
The Treasury Department will establish a dedicated account for these contributions, ensuring that the money goes directly toward protecting farmland and supporting family farmers.
Family farms should be passed down to children and grandchildren, not auctioned off to the highest corporate bidder.
Our agricultural policy should reward the people who work the land, strengthen rural communities, and ensure that American farmland remains in American hands for generations to come.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/farms/protecting-family-farms
No American should have to choose between seeing a doctor and paying the rent. No parent should be afraid to take their child to the emergency room because they don't know what the bill will be. And no insurance company should be able to make money by denying somebody the care their doctor says they need.
Healthcare is a human right. It should not be a luxury, and it should not be a business model.
That is why we support Medicare for All: one national health insurance program covering every American.
Not a public option. Not another complicated marketplace plan. Medicare for All.
Cover Everyone ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
Under Medicare for All, every American will be covered automatically.
Coverage will include:
- Doctor and hospital care
- Emergency care
- Prescription drugs
- Mental healthcare
- Dental care
- Vision care
- Hearing care
- Reproductive and maternity care
- Preventive care
- Substance-use treatment
- Other medically necessary care
Coverage will no longer depend on your employer, your income, your age, or what state you live in.
If you need healthcare, you will have healthcare.
No More Premiums, Deductibles or Medical Bills ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
Working families already pay enormous amounts for healthcare.
We pay insurance premiums every month. Then we pay deductibles before our insurance starts working. Then come copays, coinsurance, prescription costs, and bills for services the insurance company decides it will not cover.
Under Medicare for All, those costs go away.
No premiums.
No deductibles.
No copays.
No surprise medical bills.
0Instead of sending thousands of dollars every year to private insurance companies, Americans will contribute to one national system based on their ability to pay.
For the overwhelming majority of working families, that means more money left in every paycheck.
Choose Your Doctor, Not Your Insurance Network ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
Your insurance company should not decide which doctor you can see.
Medicare for All eliminates restrictive insurance networks. You will be able to choose your doctor, hospital, specialist, or healthcare provider without wondering whether they are "in-network."
No more calling an insurance company before making an appointment.
No more discovering after treatment that the anesthesiologist wasn't in your network.
No more changing doctors because your employer changed insurance companies.
Your doctor works for you, not your insurance company.
Take Healthcare Off the Backs of Employers ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
Businesses are paying thousands of dollars per employee every year for private health insurance, and those costs continue to rise.
That hurts workers, small businesses, and American competitiveness.
Medicare for All takes that burden off employers.
Instead of every business negotiating separately with insurance companies and administering complicated employee health plans, healthcare will be financed through one national system.
That means small businesses can compete for workers without having to compete with giant corporations on health benefits.
And workers will finally be free to change jobs, start businesses, organize a union, or work for themselves without losing their healthcare.
Stop Paying Insurance Companies to Tell Us No ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
The United States spends enormous amounts of money administering a fragmented healthcare system built around thousands of different insurance plans, billing rules, networks, deductibles, prior authorizations, and claims.
A single national program dramatically simplifies that system.
Doctors should spend their time treating patients, not fighting insurance companies.
Hospitals should spend their resources providing care, not employing armies of people to navigate different insurance plans.
And patients should not have to become insurance experts just to figure out what their healthcare will cost.
We will replace that bureaucracy with a simple guarantee: You get sick. You go to the doctor. You get treated.
Use Our Buying Power to Bring Costs Down ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
Right now, insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and middlemen negotiate across a fragmented system.
Medicare for All puts more than 300 million Americans into one bargaining pool.
That gives the American people enormous power to negotiate fair prices for prescription drugs, medical equipment, hospital care, and other healthcare costs.
We will use that power on behalf of patients, not insurance-company shareholders.
Put Healthcare Dollars Into Healthcare ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
America already spends more on healthcare than any other wealthy nation.
The problem is not that we aren't spending enough.
The problem is where the money goes.
We spend hundreds of billions of dollars administering a complicated private insurance system while insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations make enormous profits.
Even an analysis from the conservative Mercatus Center found that a Medicare for All proposal could reduce total national healthcare expenditures by roughly $2 trillion over ten years under its assumptions.
We can spend less by eliminating waste, negotiating better prices, and removing the insurance-company middlemen standing between patients and their doctors.
Healthcare Not Wealthcare ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare at this heading)
Medicare for All is not about creating another government program alongside the insurance industry.
It is about guaranteeing healthcare to every person in America.
- It means never losing your insurance because you lost your job.
- It means never staying in a bad job because your family needs the health plan.
- It means never putting off seeing a doctor because you haven't met your deductible.
- It means never opening a hospital bill and wondering whether it will bankrupt you.
We’re told America is the greatest nation in the world, yet we rank 30th out of 38 OECD countries in life expectancy, while 37 of those 38 countries guarantee universal healthcare. If they can do it, why can’t we?
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/healthcare/healthcare
Owning a home is supposed to provide security.
But across America, families are watching homeowners insurance premiums rise, deductibles climb, and coverage disappear as floods, wildfires, extreme storms, drought, and other climate disasters become more costly.
Working families did not create this crisis.
They should not be left with the entire bill.
For decades, fossil-fuel corporations made enormous profits while contributing to the pollution driving climate change. Now homeowners, farmers, and communities are being asked to pay for the consequences.
That is backwards.
Our plan will protect homeowners, strengthen communities, reward sustainable farming and land stewardship, and make major polluters help pay for the damage they helped create.
Protect Homeowners From Rising Insurance Costs ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
A family should not lose its home because insurance becomes unaffordable.
We will create a national Homeowner Climate Insurance Assistance Program to help families facing major premium increases or loss of coverage because of climate-related risk.
Assistance will include:
- Direct help with climate-driven insurance increases
- Grants and affordable financing for home resilience improvements
- Support for flood mitigation, storm protection, fire-resistant construction, improved drainage, and other protective measures
- Assistance for low- and middle-income homeowners facing the greatest financial pressure
- A public backstop in communities where private insurers abandon homeowners altogether
The goal is simple.
Keep families insured and keep families in their homes.
Make Insurance Companies Show Their Work ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
Insurance companies should not be able to blame climate change for a massive rate increase without explaining how they calculated it.
We will require insurers to clearly disclose how much of a premium increase is being attributed to climate risk and give regulators stronger authority to challenge unjustified increases.
Insurance companies will also report data on premiums, claims, coverage denials, and non-renewals so regulators and the public can see where the system is failing.
If a company wants to dramatically raise your rates, it should have to prove why.
Climate change cannot become an excuse for price gouging.
Make Fossil-Fuel Companies Help Pay ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
The costs of climate change should not fall entirely on homeowners and taxpayers.
We will establish a Climate Resilience and Transition Fund financed through contributions from major fossil-fuel companies based on their pollution, production, and revenues.
That money will be invested directly in protecting families and communities.
Funding will support:
- Homeowner insurance relief
- Flood and wildfire protection
- Resilient roads, bridges, drainage, and water systems
- Home energy efficiency
- Renewable energy
- Soil and water conservation
- Regenerative agriculture
- Forest, wetland, and prairie restoration
- Local food systems
- Sustainable waste reduction and recycling
- Good-paying jobs in the communities doing this work
The companies that profited from the pollution should help pay for the repair.
Pay Farmers to Protect the Land ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
Indiana farmers are some of our most important environmental stewards.
Instead of forcing family farms to absorb the cost of changing agricultural practices, we should reward them for rebuilding soil, conserving water, reducing erosion, improving biodiversity, and drawing carbon back into the land.
We will expand grants, tax incentives, low-interest loans, and direct payments for regenerative practices including:
- Cover crops
- Crop rotation
- Reduced and no-till farming
- Managed grazing
- Composting
- Agroforestry
- Pollinator habitat
- Prairie and wetland restoration
- Improved irrigation and water conservation
- Reduced dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
Farmers who provide a public environmental benefit should be compensated for it.
Healthy soil is infrastructure, and the people rebuilding it deserve our support.
Help Family Farmers Make the Transition ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
Changing farming practices costs money.
Farmers may need new equipment, seed, fencing, technical assistance, or several seasons before they see the full financial benefit.
We will help cover those transition costs through grants, affordable financing, USDA technical assistance, conservation payments, and crop-insurance incentives.
We will prioritize family farms, beginning farmers, and communities that have historically had the least access to federal agricultural programs.
The purpose is not to punish farmers.
It is to make sustainable farming easier and more profitable.
Protect Farmland, Forests, Wetlands, and Water ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
Some of the best tools for protecting communities from climate change already surround us.
Healthy forests absorb water and carbon.
Wetlands reduce flooding.
Prairies protect soil.
Working farmland can store carbon and conserve water.
We will expand conservation programs that pay farmers and landowners to restore these natural systems while keeping productive farmland in agricultural use.
We will also invest in watershed protection, erosion control, floodplain restoration, tree planting, and natural infrastructure that reduces the damage from extreme weather.
Protecting the land protects the people living on it.
Build Stronger Communities Before Disaster Strikes ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
It is cheaper to prepare for disasters than rebuild after them.
We will invest in community resilience, including improved drainage, flood protection, wildfire prevention, stronger infrastructure, modernized building standards, and home retrofits.
Local governments should have the resources to prepare for the climate conditions they are actually facing instead of waiting for the next disaster declaration.
The original proposal already directs funding toward community-level adaptation and resilience projects such as natural infrastructure, drainage, wildfire prevention, and updated building standards.
Preparation saves homes, saves money, and saves lives.
Build Clean Energy Where It Makes Sense ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
We will expand solar, wind, geothermal, energy efficiency, and modern energy storage while protecting productive farmland and local communities.
Whenever possible, we will prioritize renewable development on rooftops, warehouses, parking lots, brownfields, government buildings, and already-developed land.
We will also support agrivoltaics where farmers can continue producing food while generating energy on the same land.
Clean energy should lower costs and strengthen communities.
It should not become another excuse for corporations to push farmers off their land.
Cut Waste and Build a Circular Economy ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
America throws away enormous amounts of material that could be reused, repaired, recycled, or composted.
Our priorities will be clear:
- Reduce unnecessary waste
- Reuse materials
- Repair products instead of throwing them away
- Expand recycling
- Expand municipal and agricultural composting
- Recover useful materials before disposal
Public investment should support local recycling, composting, repair, and resource-recovery businesses that create jobs while reducing landfill use.
For genuinely non-recyclable waste, communities may consider tightly regulated low-emission energy-recovery technologies where they meet strict environmental and public-health standards.
Waste policy should begin with using less and recovering more.
Create Good-Paying Jobs ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
Building a more resilient economy will require people to do the work.
We will invest in training and apprenticeships for careers in construction, home retrofitting, renewable energy, agriculture, conservation, water infrastructure, public transportation, waste reduction, and advanced manufacturing.
These should be good-paying jobs that can support a family.
Whenever federal dollars are involved, we will prioritize strong labor standards, local hiring, apprenticeships, and American-made materials.
The transition should create opportunity for working people, not another corporate giveaway.
Put Communities First ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland at this heading)
Climate policy should not be written for Wall Street.
It should make life better for the people actually living with the consequences.
That means helping homeowners stay insured.
Helping farmers improve their land without going broke.
Protecting drinking water.
Reducing flooding.
Lowering energy costs.
Creating good jobs.
And making the corporations that contributed most to the problem contribute to fixing it.
America does not have to choose between protecting working people and protecting the
environment.
We can protect both.
Protect homeowners.
Support family farmers.
Reward good stewardship.
Build stronger communities.
And make polluters pay.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/housing/housing-in-the-heartland
America is supposed to be a nation of laws.
Those laws have to apply to everyone.
Presidents, billionaires, cabinet officials, federal agents, corporate executives, political donors, and government contractors should all answer to the same justice system as everyone else.
For too long, powerful people have operated under a different set of rules. They commit abuses of power, enrich themselves through public office, violate constitutional rights, ignore court orders, hide behind executive authority, and assume the country will eventually decide that accountability would be too divisive.
That is how corruption becomes normalized.
That is how constitutional rights disappear.
And that is how democracy dies.
We will investigate the crimes, prosecute those responsible, defend the Constitution, and restore one system of justice for everyone.
Prosecute Donald Trump ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Donald Trump should not receive immunity from criminal accountability because he was president.
His previous federal prosecutions involving the attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the retention of national-defense information were stopped before they could be resolved at trial.
Those cases should be pursued again when he leaves office, along with investigations into criminal conduct committed during his current administration.
That includes crimes involving corruption, obstruction, abuse of government power, bribery, financial misconduct, violations of constitutional rights, and criminal conspiracies involving members of his administration or political network.
The presidency cannot become a four-year license to break the law.
Donald Trump should be investigated, prosecuted, and held accountable for his crimes just like any other American.
Prosecute the Attempt to Overturn an Election ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Trying to overturn the votes of millions of Americans is not normal politics.
It is an attack on democracy itself.
Trump was already federally indicted on charges involving conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of the electoral certification, and conspiracy against the rights of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.
We will investigate and prosecute the entire effort to overturn the 2020 election, including attempts to pressure public officials, interfere with vote certification, submit fraudulent electoral documents, obstruct the peaceful transfer of power, intimidate election workers, and deprive Americans of their voting rights.
Accountability cannot stop with the person at the top.
Lawyers, political operatives, campaign officials, government employees, financiers, and outside organizations that knowingly participated in criminal conduct must be held accountable as well.
If we will not prosecute an organized attempt to overturn an American election, then our elections are protected by little more than tradition and good faith.
Prosecute the Classified Documents Case ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Donald Trump was also federally indicted for allegedly retaining national-defense information after leaving office and obstructing government efforts to recover it.
That prosecution should be restored.
Presidents do not own classified national-security information when they leave office.
They do not get a special exemption from laws that would be aggressively enforced against a soldier, intelligence officer, government contractor, or federal employee.
The same laws must apply to the former president.
National security cannot mean one law for ordinary Americans and another for Donald Trump.
Investigate Trump Administration Corruption ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Public office is not a business opportunity.
The presidency should never be used to enrich the president, his family, his business partners, political allies, or wealthy donors.
We will launch independent investigations into bribery, kickbacks, self-dealing, pay-to-play arrangements, government contracting fraud, misuse of federal resources, money laundering, obstruction of justice, illegal conflicts of interest, and the sale of government access or influence.
Donald Trump and members of his family have built enormous financial interests while he has exercised presidential power.
That demands scrutiny.
We will examine business transactions, government decisions, communications, financial records, cryptocurrency transactions, foreign investments, and relationships between people providing money to Trump-linked businesses and people seeking favors from the federal government.
The presidency belongs to the American people. It is not a family business.
Investigate Trump's Cryptocurrency Empire ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
A sitting president should not be able to personally profit from financial products while simultaneously controlling the agencies that regulate those products.
Trump-linked cryptocurrency ventures, meme coins, stablecoins, investments, and foreign financial relationships should receive a full independent investigation.
Investigators should examine who invested, how much they invested, what access they received, what government business they had, and whether presidential actions benefited people financially supporting Trump or his family.
Cryptocurrency cannot become a convenient way for corporations, billionaires, or foreign interests to anonymously purchase influence with the President of the United States.
Follow the money from the investor to the White House.
Investigate Foreign Money ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Foreign governments and foreign interests should never be able to purchase influence over an American president.
We will investigate foreign investments in Trump businesses and financial ventures, payments involving Trump-controlled companies, cryptocurrency purchases, licensing arrangements, gifts, real-estate transactions, and other financial relationships involving foreign interests.
Investigators will examine whether government policies, contracts, meetings, pardons, diplomatic decisions, regulatory actions, or other official benefits were connected to those financial relationships.
Bribery does not become legal because the payment travels through a corporation, cryptocurrency wallet, investment fund, or family member.
American foreign policy cannot be for sale to the highest bidder.
Investigate and Prosecute Corrupt Pardons ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The Constitution gives presidents broad authority to issue pardons.
It does not give presidents the authority to sell them.
We will investigate pardons and clemency decisions involving credible allegations of bribery, financial payments, political contributions, investments, business deals, gifts, or other benefits provided in exchange for presidential action.
Pardons involving wealthy donors, political allies, business associates, or people with financial relationships to the president deserve particular scrutiny.
The pardon power exists to provide mercy.
It does not exist to create a presidential marketplace for criminal immunity.
Release the Epstein Files ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The American people deserve the truth about Jeffrey Epstein, the people who participated in his trafficking operation, the people who enabled it, and the institutions that allowed it to continue.
We will release every Epstein-related federal document that can legally be released.
Victims and minors will be protected.
Politicians, billionaires, celebrities, donors, corporate executives, members of royal families, and presidents will not receive secrecy simply because disclosure would embarrass them.
Being named in a document does not establish guilt.
But government secrecy should never be used to shield powerful people from legitimate investigation.
Protect the victims. Release the files. Expose the network.
Investigate Donald Trump's Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein should receive a complete and independent investigation.
That investigation should examine relevant communications, witness testimony, financial records, travel records, photographs, law-enforcement records, and any credible allegations contained in government files.
The purpose is not political theater.
It is to determine what Trump knew, what interactions occurred, whether criminal conduct took place, and whether anyone attempted to conceal or obstruct investigations into Epstein's trafficking network.
The same standard should apply to every powerful person connected to Epstein.
No president, former president, billionaire, or political donor gets a special exemption from a sex-trafficking investigation.
Prosecute the Epstein Network ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Jeffrey Epstein did not operate in isolation.
A trafficking operation requires people who recruit victims, facilitate access, move money, arrange transportation, provide locations, protect perpetrators, intimidate witnesses, and conceal criminal activity.
We will investigate and prosecute criminal conduct throughout that network.
That includes sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness intimidation, destruction of evidence, financial crimes, facilitation of trafficking, and corruption by government officials who protected offenders or interfered with investigations.
Political affiliation will provide no protection.
Neither will wealth, fame, celebrity, or social status.
Everyone who participated in trafficking or helped protect traffickers should answer for it.
Prosecute Sex Trafficking ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Sex trafficking is a violent crime.
It destroys lives while traffickers and the people who enable them profit from exploitation.
We will dramatically strengthen federal investigations into child sex trafficking, interstate and international trafficking networks, online trafficking operations, financial networks supporting trafficking, and businesses knowingly facilitating exploitation.
We will follow bank records, shell companies, property holdings, payment systems, transportation networks, corporate structures, and other financial trails that can identify the people organizing and profiting from these crimes.
At the same time, we will expand safe housing, healthcare, trauma treatment, legal assistance, education, job training, and long-term services for survivors.
Prosecute traffickers and protect the people they exploited.
Investigate and Prosecute ICE Crimes ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
A badge does not provide immunity from criminal law.
ICE officers, Border Patrol agents, detention officers, contractors, supervisors, and political officials who commit crimes should be prosecuted.
We will establish independent investigations into allegations involving unlawful detention, assault, excessive force, sexual abuse, falsification of records, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, corruption, medical neglect, abuse of detainees, and criminal violations of constitutional rights.
Federal immigration agencies cannot investigate themselves and expect the public to trust the results.
Independent investigators must have access to officers, facilities, video recordings, medical records, internal communications, personnel files, contracts, and use-of-force reports.
Law enforcement authority comes with greater responsibility, not greater immunity.
Independently Investigate ICE Killings ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
When a government agent kills someone, the government owes the public a complete accounting of what happened.
Every fatal shooting and suspicious death involving federal immigration enforcement should receive an independent investigation.
Investigators must determine whether deadly force was legally justified, whether the person presented an imminent threat, whether officers followed the law, whether official reports were truthful, whether evidence was preserved, and whether supervisors or other officials attempted to interfere with the investigation.
If an agent unlawfully kills someone, prosecute the killing.
If officials falsify reports to cover it up, prosecute the cover-up.
A government badge cannot become a license to kill.
Investigate Deaths in Immigration Detention ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
People detained by the federal government are under the government's care.
When they die, the government has an obligation to explain why.
Every death in immigration detention should receive independent review, including examination of medical treatment, staffing, use of force, mental-health care, suicide prevention, delays in treatment, facility conditions, and actions by detention contractors.
Deaths caused by criminal abuse, intentional denial of care, falsification of records, obstruction, assault, or other criminal conduct must result in prosecution.
Government custody creates government responsibility.
Nobody should enter civil immigration detention and disappear into a system where their death receives no meaningful investigation.
End Abuse in Immigration Detention Facilities ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Immigration detention does not erase human rights.
We will establish independent inspections of every federal immigration detention facility and private detention contractor.
Investigators will examine allegations involving physical abuse, sexual abuse, medical neglect, solitary confinement, unsafe conditions, inadequate food, sanitation failures, retaliation, treatment of children, deaths in custody, excessive force, and falsification of records.
Private detention corporations receiving billions in taxpayer money must face the same criminal accountability as government employees.
Contracts will not shield companies from prosecution.
If you imprison human beings in the name of the United States government, you are accountable for how they are treated.
Prosecute Unlawful Detention ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The government does not have the right to imprison people without legal authority.
We will investigate systemic unlawful detention by ICE and other federal agencies, including cases where officials continued holding people after courts ruled that detention was illegal or after officials knew there was no lawful basis to continue imprisonment.
Investigators will determine who created the policies, who implemented them, who received warnings that they violated the law, and who ordered officers to continue.
A bureaucratic mistake is one thing.
A government knowingly operating an unlawful detention system is another.
The power to take away someone's freedom is one of the greatest powers government possesses. It must never be exercised outside the law.
Defend the First Amendment ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The government cannot punish Americans because it dislikes their political beliefs.
We will defend freedom of speech, freedom of the press, religious liberty, peaceful protest, assembly, and political organizing.
Federal agencies will not be used to punish journalists, protesters, students, activists, immigrants, or political opponents for lawful speech.
Immigration authority cannot become a weapon for silencing political dissent.
Neither can federal funding, government contracts, regulatory authority, or criminal investigations.
The First Amendment protects speech from government power, especially speech the government does not like.
Defend the Fourth Amendment ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures.
We will defend it against warrantless surveillance, dragnet location tracking, unlawful searches, unconstitutional raids, unjustified seizures, and abusive law-enforcement practices.
The government should not be able to build databases tracking everyone's movements simply because technology makes it possible.
Immigration enforcement does not repeal the Fourth Amendment.
National security does not repeal the Fourth Amendment.
New technology does not repeal the Fourth Amendment.
The Constitution does not contain an exception for government convenience.
Defend the Fifth Amendment ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The federal government cannot deprive people of liberty without due process.
People detained by the government have the right to challenge that detention.
People facing deportation have legal rights.
People accused of crimes have constitutional protections.
No president should be able to order the federal government to arrest people, imprison them, remove them from the country, or strip away their rights without lawful process.
Due process is not a loophole criminals exploit. It is protection against government tyranny.
Defend the Fourteenth Amendment ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law.
A president cannot erase those guarantees with an executive order.
We will defend birthright citizenship and oppose efforts to create different constitutional rights based on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or political identity.
Equal protection means government cannot decide that some Americans deserve constitutional rights while others do not.
Citizenship and equality are constitutional guarantees, not presidential favors.
Defend the Sixth and Eighth Amendments ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The right to counsel, the right to a fair trial, and protection against cruel and unusual punishment are fundamental to the American justice system.
We will defend those rights for everyone.
Government cannot build a system where people are imprisoned without meaningful access to lawyers, subjected to abusive conditions, or denied fundamental legal protections simply because they are politically unpopular.
Constitutional rights mean very little if they disappear the moment government accuses someone of wrongdoing.
Rights that apply only to popular people are not rights.
Protect Habeas Corpus ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The government cannot simply disappear human beings into detention.
People imprisoned by the government must retain the right to challenge the legality of their detention before an independent court.
We will defend habeas corpus against attempts by presidents or federal agencies to place people beyond the reach of judicial review.
No secret prisons.
No indefinite detention without legal review.
No moving detainees around to prevent courts from exercising jurisdiction.
The government must be able to explain to a judge why it has taken away someone's freedom.
Enforce Court Orders ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The President of the United States is not a king.
Federal agencies do not get to decide which judicial rulings they feel like obeying.
Government officials who conceal evidence, lie to courts, destroy records, obstruct judicial proceedings, hide detainees, or intentionally defy lawful court orders should be investigated and prosecuted.
An independent judiciary means nothing if the executive branch can simply ignore it.
Court orders are orders, not suggestions.
Investigate the Killing of People on Boats ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The United States should not become a country where the government kills people because it accuses them of criminal activity.
Military attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels must receive independent investigation.
We need to know who was killed, what intelligence identified them, whether they were civilians, whether they posed an imminent threat, whether interdiction or arrest was possible, what legal authority was used, who approved the strikes, and whether the attacks complied with American and international law.
Accusing someone of being a drug trafficker does not automatically create a legal right to execute them from the air.
Suspicion is not a trial, and accusation is not a death sentence.
Investigate Extrajudicial Killings ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The United States cannot claim the power to execute people anywhere in the world simply by labeling them criminals or terrorists.
Every credible allegation of an extrajudicial killing carried out by American forces should receive independent investigation.
Officials responsible for authorizing unlawful killings cannot hide behind classified legal opinions or vague claims of national security.
The government should disclose the legal authority for lethal operations and explain why capture was impossible when force was used outside a traditional battlefield.
Government officials do not get to secretly invent a legal theory that gives them the power to kill anyone they choose.
Prosecute War Crimes and Serious Violations of International Law ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
International law applies to the United States too.
We cannot demand accountability when Russia, China, Iran, Israel, or another country violates international law and then declare ourselves exempt when American officials do the same thing.
Credible allegations involving intentionally targeting civilians, torture, unlawful killings, mistreatment of prisoners, or other serious violations of the laws of war should be independently investigated.
Responsibility does not stop with the soldier who carried out an order.
Commanders and civilian officials who ordered, authorized, or knowingly facilitated criminal conduct must be investigated as well.
There cannot be one international law for our enemies and another for ourselves.
Investigate Civilian Killings ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Civilian casualties cannot simply disappear into Pentagon statistics.
When American military action kills civilians, there must be transparent investigation into what happened.
Investigators should examine the target, intelligence, weapons used, precautions taken, proportionality assessments, civilian warnings, chain of command, and whether officials attempted to conceal mistakes or wrongdoing.
Not every civilian death is a war crime.
But every government that uses lethal force has an obligation to account for the people it kills.
Human life does not become meaningless because the bomb was American.
Follow the Chain of Command ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Accountability cannot stop with the lowest-ranking person involved.
When government crimes are systemic, investigators must determine who designed the policy, who authorized it, who ignored legal warnings, who ordered subordinates to continue, who falsified records, who destroyed evidence, and who participated in covering it up.
A frontline officer should not become the only person prosecuted while the officials who created an illegal policy retire to consulting jobs and television appearances.
Government power flows downward.
Accountability has to travel upward.
Prosecute Trump Administration Cronies Who Commit Crimes ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Cabinet officials, White House aides, political appointees, campaign officials, government contractors, donors, corporate executives, and political allies do not receive immunity because they are close to the president.
We will investigate corruption, bribery, fraud, kickbacks, obstruction, witness tampering, misuse of public money, illegal financial transactions, civil-rights violations, destruction of government records, money laundering, trafficking, and criminal conspiracies throughout the administration.
Political loyalty will not protect anyone from criminal accountability.
Working for the president does not put someone above the law.
Protect Whistleblowers ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
Government corruption is often exposed because someone inside the system refuses to stay silent.
We will strengthen protections for federal employees, law-enforcement officers, military personnel, contractors, inspectors general, and others who lawfully expose crimes, corruption, fraud, constitutional violations, or abuse.
Government officials will not be allowed to destroy the careers of people who expose wrongdoing while protecting the people responsible for it.
Retaliation against lawful whistleblowers will carry serious consequences.
People who expose government crimes should be protected, not punished.
Restore an Independent Justice Department ↗ (opens kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution at this heading)
The Department of Justice belongs to the American people.
It does not belong to Donald Trump.
And it should not belong to the next Democratic president either.
Presidents should not be able to order criminal investigations of political enemies, shut down investigations of friends, protect donors, interfere with prosecutions, or turn federal law enforcement into a personal weapon.
We will restore the independence of federal prosecutors and strengthen safeguards against White House interference in individual criminal cases.
An independent Justice Department must be willing to prosecute political power regardless of which party holds it.
Justice cannot depend on who occupies the Oval Office.
One Constitution. One System of Justice.
If an undocumented immigrant commits a crime, the law applies.
If an ICE officer commits a crime, the law applies.
If a billionaire commits a crime, the law applies.
If someone participates in sex trafficking, the law applies.
If a military commander commits a war crime, the law applies.
If a cabinet secretary commits a crime, the law applies.
And if the President of the United States commits a crime, the law applies.
That should not be radical.
It is the basic promise of a constitutional republic.
For too long, America has confused avoiding accountability with protecting democracy.
It does the opposite.
Every time powerful people escape consequences, the next administration learns that it can go further.
The Constitution does not enforce itself.
The rule of law does not defend itself.
Democracy survives only when people are willing to hold power accountable.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/constitution
The Constitution does not say the law applies to everyone except presidents.
It does not say billionaires get one justice system and working people get another.
It does not say federal agents can ignore constitutional rights because someone is an immigrant.
And it does not say powerful people get to hide behind classified documents, sealed records, political connections, or government office.
For too long, America has operated with two systems of justice.
One for ordinary people.
And another for the rich, powerful, and politically connected.
We are going to end that.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
The Constitution is not optional.
It does not disappear during a political crisis.
It does not disappear at the border.
And it does not disappear because a president finds it inconvenient.
We will aggressively defend the constitutional rights of every person in America, including:
- The First Amendment: freedom of speech, religion, the press, peaceful assembly, and protest.
- The Fourth Amendment: protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
- The Fifth Amendment: due process and protection against abuse of federal government power.
- The Sixth Amendment: the right to counsel, a fair and public trial, and the ability to confront your accusers in criminal prosecutions.
- The Eighth Amendment: protection against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.
- The Fourteenth Amendment: citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law.
- The right to habeas corpus: the government cannot simply disappear someone into detention without allowing the legality of that detention to be challenged before a court.
Constitutional rights are not privileges the government hands out when it feels like it.
They are limits on government power.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
No president should have the power to decide that someone has no rights because of where they were born.
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee due process.
Government should not be able to arrest someone, imprison them, deport them, seize their property, or strip away fundamental rights without lawful procedures and meaningful access to the courts.
We will defend access to attorneys, hearings, judicial review, and the basic right to challenge government power.
Due process is not a loophole. It is the Constitution.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
The Fourteenth Amendment means what it says.
People born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States.
We will defend birthright citizenship and oppose attempts by any president to rewrite the Constitution through executive order.
We will also vigorously enforce equal protection under the law.
Government power cannot be based on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, political belief, or whether somebody has powerful friends.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
Donald Trump should be subject to the same criminal laws as every other American.
We will support independent investigations into credible allegations of criminal conduct involving Trump, members of his administration, political associates, business interests, and anyone else who may have participated in illegal activity.
Where evidence establishes a prosecutable crime, prosecutors should bring charges.
Not because someone is a Republican.
Not because someone is a Democrat.
Because nobody is above the law.
Investigations must be independent, evidence-based, insulated from political interference, and conducted with full due-process protections.
The Justice Department should never become a president's personal law firm.
But neither should the presidency become immunity from accountability.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
Public office is not a license to steal.
We will establish independent investigations into credible evidence of:
- Bribery
- Kickbacks
- Procurement fraud
- Pay-to-play schemes
- Obstruction of justice
- Misuse of government resources
- Self-dealing
- Illegal conflicts of interest
- Destruction or concealment of evidence
- Corruption involving government contracts
- Selling government access or influence
- Conspiracies to violate federal law
That investigation will follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Cabinet secretary.
Billionaire.
Political donor.
White House aide.
Corporate executive.
Member of Congress.
Same law. Same standard. Same consequences.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
A badge does not put anyone above the Constitution.
ICE officers, Border Patrol agents, contractors, supervisors, and administration officials who commit crimes should be investigated and, where the evidence supports it, prosecuted just like anyone else.
That includes credible allegations involving:
- Unlawful detention
- Assault
- Sexual abuse
- Excessive force
- Falsification of records
- Obstruction of justice
- Destruction of evidence
- Corruption
- Conspiracy to deprive people of constitutional rights
- Knowingly violating court orders
- Abuse of people in federal custody
We will create strong independent oversight with the power to investigate federal immigration enforcement agencies without interference from the agencies themselves.
We will protect whistleblowers who expose misconduct.
And we will create transparent reporting requirements for deaths, serious injuries, allegations of sexual assault, use of force, and other major incidents in federal immigration custody.
A uniform is not immunity.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
America is a constitutional republic.
Presidents do not get to decide which court orders they feel like following.
Federal agencies do not get to ignore judges because they disagree with them.
We will defend an independent judiciary and hold government officials accountable when they knowingly obstruct courts, destroy evidence, conceal detainees, or illegally refuse to comply with lawful judicial orders.
The rule of law means the government follows the law too.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
Releasing documents is not enough.
Any credible evidence of criminal conduct revealed through those records should be investigated.
That includes potential:
- Sex trafficking
- Sexual exploitation of minors
- Conspiracy
- Obstruction
- Witness intimidation
- Financial crimes
- Evidence destruction
- Facilitation of trafficking
- Participation in trafficking networks
- Official corruption or cover-ups
Being named in a document is not proof that somebody committed a crime.
But credible evidence of criminal conduct should be investigated regardless of the person's wealth, fame, political affiliation, or connections.
Follow the evidence. Prosecute the crimes.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
Sex trafficking is not a political talking point.
It is a violent crime.
We will significantly strengthen federal efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers, trafficking organizations, people who knowingly facilitate trafficking, and predators who sexually exploit children.
We will increase resources for specialized investigators and prosecutors focused on:
- Child sex trafficking
- Interstate and international trafficking networks
- Online trafficking operations
- Financial networks used to conceal trafficking proceeds
- Traffickers using hotels, transportation networks, and other businesses
- Organized exploitation and coercion
- Corrupt officials who protect traffickers
Federal investigators will follow the money as aggressively as they follow the traffickers.
Trafficking networks depend on financial systems.
Those financial trails can lead investigators to organizers, facilitators, and people profiting from exploitation.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law
Justice also means helping survivors rebuild their lives.
We will expand funding for:
- Safe housing
- Trauma-informed healthcare
- Mental healthcare
- Legal assistance
- Witness protection
- Education
- Job training
- Long-term survivor services
Victims should never be treated as criminals for conduct they were coerced into performing.
Our enforcement priority will be the people who traffic, exploit, coerce, abuse, and profit, not the people they victimized.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · kellythompsonforcongress.com/policies/justice/rule-of-law