Affordable, High-Quality Education

Every child in Delaware deserves to start kindergarten ready to thrive. As a parent and a leader at the Latin American Community Center, Jose has seen what strong early childhood programming does for kids — and how unaffordable it has become for working families.

 

Jose will fight to:

 

• Expand Purchase of Care so more working families can afford quality childcare.

• Move toward universal pre-K access across Delaware.

• Support programs like the Latin American Community Center's daycare expansion that let parents work and families stay in Delaware.

• Pay early childhood educators fairly to keep great teachers in the field

 

 

A Delaware Working Families Can Afford to Stay In

Too many Delaware families are being priced out of the state they helped build. Jose believes we need a long-term, clear-eyed strategy on cost of living — not piecemeal fixes that create sticker shock.

 

Jose will fight to:

 

• Build more affordable housing — for sale and for rent.

• Pace property tax reassessment, minimum wage, and energy pricing changes so families and small employers can plan, not panic.

• Explore targeted rent stabilization as one tool among a broader housing strategy to protect renters, seniors, and working families from displacement, while preserving pathways for housing growth, homeownership, and upward mobility.

• Strengthen the wraparound supports that make work possible for dual-income families.

 

 

Small Business Should Be a Pathway, Not a Trap

Jose has spent his life in small business. He knows the difference between thriving and shuttering often comes down to whether the state treats a 20-employee restaurant the same as a 2,000-employee corporation.

 

Jose will fight to:

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• Stop writing one-size-fits-all rules that treat small employers like big ones.

• Be intentional about how labor and compliance bills land on thin-margin industries — restaurants, child care, retail.

• Cut the regulatory "speed traps" — duplicative paperwork, vague rules, and compliance costs that hit small employers hardest. Create true one-stop sites that allow businesses to easily start a business and navigate regulatory maze.

• Pair regulation with real technical assistance, especially for minority-owned businesses.

 

 

Standing With Our Immigrant and Hispanic Neighbors

Delaware's Hispanic community is the fastest-growing population in the state — and the most underrepresented at every level of government. Jose has spent years fighting to change that. He'll bring the same fight to Dover.​

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Jose will fight to:

 

• Continue advocating for the undocumented Delawareans who are our neighbors, classmates, and coworkers.

• Pass transparency requirements for any law enforcement operating in Delaware, especially out-of-state and federal agents — no masks, no unmarked vehicles, clear identification.

• Protect local police's ability to build trust with immigrant communities by drawing a clear line between local and outside agencies.

• Expand voter registration, civic education, and language access so the fastest-growing community in Delaware finally has a seat at the table.

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A Liveable Wage and a Fairer Economy

Workers shouldn't need two jobs to keep a roof overhead — and small employers shouldn't be the only ones holding up the system. Jose supports raising the floor for workers while being honest about how that lands on Main Street.​

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Jose will fight to:

 

• Keep Delaware competitive with neighboring states on wages so we attract and retain workers.

• Raise wages on a predictable schedule families and employers can plan around.

• Take on the corporate consolidation and price-gouging driving up rent, groceries, and energy.

• Strengthen family supports in a way that helps jobs support a real life while recognizing that small businesses face higher compliance burdens and need fair, workable implementation.

 

 

Public Safety and Accountability

Public safety means families can live without fear — from crime, and from overreach. Jose believes safety, accountability, and transparency belong in the same sentence.

 

Jose will fight to:

 

• Real accountability and transparency for law enforcement at every level.

• Push back on federal and out-of-state law enforcement operating in Delaware without identification — that overreach erodes trust in our local police, too.

• Protect Delawareans from mass surveillance, automated tracking, and the sale of private data.

• Invest in community-based safety: youth programs, mental health response, and the family supports that prevent harm before it starts.

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Public Education and a Livable Environment

A Title I public school graduate himself, Jose knows what under-resourced schools cost kids — and what investing in them returns. And he believes Delaware's environment is part of the inheritance we owe the next generation.

 

Jose will fight to:

 

• Fully fund Title I schools and the supports that close gaps for low-income students and English learners.

• Strengthen career and technical pathways alongside college-prep tracks, ensuring that students who do not plan to pursue a traditional college route have clear, respected pathways into vocational training, trade schools, apprenticeships, and good-paying careers.

• Defend Delaware's coastlines, waterways, and air from corporate polluters.

• Make sure environmental policy doesn't pile new costs on the families who can least absorb them — pace the transition fairly.

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