We asked local candidates in contested primary elections to write a sub-750 word essay describing why residents should vote for them on June 24.
Next is Jordan Cooper, running for one of three District 16 House of Delegates seats in the Democratic primary. Below is Cooper’s unedited response:
I represent 2,000 constituents in North Bethesda as the President of the Luxmanor Citizens Association. As a member of the Western Montgomery County Citizens Advisory Board, I join the Board in advising the Montgomery County Executive and County Council on the County budget. I am an appointee of the Governor on the Selective Service Board of Rockville, and I am the only challenger candidate running for Delegate in District 16 who has extensive on-the-ground legislative experience in Annapolis.
I’m the only challenger candidate in this race who was born, raised, and educated in District 16, having attended and graduated from Luxmanor ES, Tilden MS, and Walter Johnson HS. I am a graduate of Vassar College and have a master’s degree in health policy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I have worked on health policy in the Maryland House of Delegates, have written language that has subsequently been incorporated into final regulations on quality measurement pertaining to the Affordable Care Act, and I currently work on Health IT at Kaiser Permanente.
My top priorities upon being elected to represent Bethesda, Potomac, Friendship Heights, and Glen Echo in the Maryland House of Delegates are to:
1. Advance affordable, quality healthcare
2. Advocate for excellence in pre-K-12 and higher education
3. Invest in our infrastructure for a stronger economy
Every month individuals and small businesses face escalating health insurance premiums. My top priority in the House of Delegates will be to work to drive down the unnecessarily high cost of health care in Maryland. I will work to ensure that every Marylander has access to healthcare for every part of their body. I will work to negotiate down the price of prescription drugs through the Health Benefits Exchange and make sure that one doctor can no longer charge five times more than another doctor for the same procedure.
This is a proven concept that has saved millions of dollars while reducing health disparities in Maryland hospitals since the 1970s. Finally, I will work on legislation that will usher in a transition from medical reimbursement structures that incentivize volume to models that create added value in healthcare.
With regard to education, as MCPS enrollment continues to grow at the rate of a new high school each year, I will work to bring more school construction dollars back to Montgomery County so that we have enough space in each school for every child. I will defend funding for the arts & music in education, because these programs foster creative problem solving skills, which are the skills that will distinguish our workforce in the new global economy. Finally, I will fight to expand foreign language immersion programs to all elementary students in Maryland. These programs would carry limited fiscal impact and have been proven to work in six separate instances in Montgomery County.
I believe that the State’s primary responsibility in ensuring that Maryland has a strong economy is to ensure that our public infrastructure functions reliably. Businesses cannot function well in an environment where power outages are frequent and of long duration, nor where water and sewer lines burst, nor where employees are unable to commute to work because mass transit options are consistently delayed. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on investing in the infrastructure that we already have to prevent deterioration of service.
I will work to drive down healthcare costs, maintain excellence in the MCPS educational system, and improve the reliability of our transportation and utility infrastructure.
That is why on June 24th, when you vote in the Democratic Primary, I ask that you consider supporting me, Jordan P. Cooper, with your vote for State Delegate.
