Of all the chapters in my legal career, my time in the Special Victims Unit remains closest to my heart. In that unit, you don't just handle cases—you handle the fragile pieces of shattered childhoods. Your job is to stand up for the most vulnerable members of our community: kids who have experienced things no human being should ever have to endure.

It is incredibly heavy work, but it taught me everything I need to know about the human heart of the law.

I used to sit with these kids before they had to walk into a courtroom—a place that feels massive, terrifying, and completely sterile to a child. They would look at me, their eyes wide with fear, and tell me how terrified they were to stand up and testify against their accusers. I developed a routine with them. I would look them in the eye and ask, "You're really scared, right?" They would nod. Then I’d say, "Do you know there is only one person in this entire world that the person you're afraid of is running from?" They would look at me, confused, and ask who. I’d look right back at them and say, "It’s you."

Watching the realization wash over their faces—watching them realize that their truth carried an immense, undeniable power—is something I will never forget. I loved watching those kids step up to the witness stand, find their courage, and watch their accusers suddenly look very small in the presence of their truth.

But doing that work also opens your eyes to a painful reality. The trauma inflicted on child victims doesn't just vanish when a trial ends. If it is left unaddressed, that trauma festers. It warps a child’s worldview, fractures their sense of safety, and heavily influences the choices they make as they grow up.

My time in the Special Victims Unit didn't just make me a sharper prosecutor; it gave me an acute understanding of trauma that I carry with me to this day. It taught me that a judge must possess an extraordinary capacity to listen. When a victim or a witness steps into a courtroom, they need to know that the person in the black robe sees them as a human being, not just a line item on a busy morning docket.

As your judge, I will bring that profound respect for human dignity to the bench. I will ensure our courtrooms are places where the truth can be spoken safely, where victims are heard, and where the law is executed with the steady, calm authority that our community desperately needs.