DUES, JUSTIN

DUES, JUSTIN

Running for US Senate

D

Policy Positions

Positions as of June 6, 2026, extracted from source websites.

Climate(1)

Addresses climate change as a major issue, linking it to a call for national service as a response.

"Climate Change & National Service"

Criminal Justice(1)

No position stated on policing reform.

""

Economy(13)

Supports raising wages to $30/hr by 2030 as a top affordability priority.

"WAGES to $30/hr. by 2030"

Supports restoring robust antitrust enforcement to block mega-mergers and break up monopolistic firms, which the candidate argues harm competition and small players.

"Treat bigness itself as a threat again. Stop pretending monopoly is 'efficient.' Restore antitrust to what it used to be: preventing dangerous concentration of power, not just policing whether a price at Walmart went up by 12 cents. That means blocking mega-mergers, unwinding abusive vertical lock-ins, and yes, breaking up firms when they sit on entire markets like feudal lords."

Supports reinstating hard financial firewalls akin to Glass-Steagall, separating federally backstopped banking utilities from speculative investment activities.

"Reinstate hard financial firewalls. We need modern Glass–Steagall logic: you can be a federally backstopped utility serving the public, or you can be a private casino swinging for the fences but you don't get both. If you're too big to fail, you're too big to gamble."

Supports heavily taxing billionaires as part of an affordability agenda.

"TAXING Billionaires out of existence"

Opposes 'right to work' laws, arguing they harm workers and weaken unions.

"'Right to work' is Wrong for Workers."

Supports tying corporate bailouts to strict conditions including no buybacks, no dividends, no executive bonuses, and mandatory wage floors to protect workers and taxpayers.

"If the public steps in during a crisis, workers should come out better off, not worse. That means strict conditions like no buybacks, no dividends, no executive bonuses, mandatory wage floors, union neutrality, worker seats on the board, and automatic equity upside for the public."

Supports requiring union neutrality and worker seats on corporate boards as conditions for any public rescue of private firms.

"That means strict conditions like no buybacks, no dividends, no executive bonuses, mandatory wage floors, union neutrality, worker seats on the board, and automatic equity upside for the public."

Supports punishing corporate greed and closing corporate tax loopholes, framing corporations as tax dodgers.

"PUNISHING Corporate Greed"

Supports increasing funding for maternity leave and childcare assistance as part of a support system for pregnant women and new parents.

"Increase funding for programs that support pregnant women, new parents, and families, including maternity leave, childcare assistance, healthcare, and financial aid."

Supports banning further consolidation in critical sectors to ensure multiple independent competitors remain viable, protecting supply chain resilience.

"You want to stop defense contractors from eating each other? Ban further consolidation in critical sectors unless there are at least X viable, independent competitors left."

Supports mandatory interoperability, data portability, and structural firewalls for large tech platforms to prevent anti-competitive self-dealing.

"You want to stop tech platforms from self-dealing? Mandate interoperability, data portability, and a structural firewall between running the platform and competing on it. Do not trust 'voluntary commitments.' Write the line in law."

Criticizes the pattern of privatizing financial gains while socializing losses, implying opposition to taxpayer-funded bailouts without corresponding public benefit or equity stake.

"Wall Street gets the profits. Society gets the bill. It is far past time to reset the rules of the game."

Links corporate welfare to the national debt, suggesting reducing corporate subsidies would address deficit concerns.

"Corporate Welfare & National Debt"

Education(7)

Supports revising K-12 curricula to include life skills, financial literacy, digital literacy, vocational training, and civic education alongside expanded career and technical education programs.

"Revise high school curricula to include a broader range of subjects, including life skills, financial literacy, digital literacy, and civic education. Expand CTE programs to offer pathways in trades, technology, and other high-demand sectors, ensuring programs align with industry needs."

Supports significantly increasing teacher pay and creating a U.S. Teacher Corps to attract top talent to public schools.

"Treating public teachers with the respect they deserve and paying them what they're worth. If we had the courage, we could recruit the best and brightest to the schools across the nation. Instead we should create a U.S. Teacher Corps, cherish education of each generation and watch results improve."

Supports implementing comprehensive sex education in schools nationwide, including information on contraception, sexual health, and responsible decision-making.

"Implementing comprehensive sex education in schools nationwide, which includes information on contraception, sexual health, and responsible decision-making, can reduce unintended pregnancies."

Supports making all colleges and universities tuition free, citing savings from universal healthcare as a funding mechanism.

"To put that in context, the cost to make all colleges and universities tuition free is $450B every year. Think about that for a second, we could essentially fund free universal healthcare and education with taxpayer funds - now that is a country that I would want to live in."

Supports major investment and comprehensive reform of the K-12 public education system, including infrastructure investment and expanded early childhood education.

"Our public education system is in urgent need of major renovations. A comprehensive reform that provides multiple pathways to success and prioritizes the development of essential life skills over mere academic achievement."

Supports loan forgiveness programs tied to public service participation as part of expanding post-high school opportunities.

"Increase access to college, trade, and vocational schools through scholarships, grants, and loan forgiveness programs, particularly for participants in public service."

Supports fixing what the candidate describes as a broken K-12 system and expanding education.

"Fixing a Broken K-12 System"

Guns(5)

Supports red flag laws that allow family members and law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others.

"Red flag laws, or extreme risk protection orders, allow family members and law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others. These laws provide a proactive approach to preventing potential tragedies while respecting due process rights."

Supports implementing universal background checks for all firearm purchases to prevent individuals with severe mental illness or criminal history from obtaining guns.

"Implementing universal background checks for all firearm purchases can help prevent individuals with a history of severe mental illness or criminal behavior from obtaining guns."

Supports reinstating a federal assault weapons ban, citing the precedent of the 1994 ban and the need to address mass shootings.

"If we've done it before, we can do it again - we just need people with a spine and the willpower to do so."

Supports the right to bear arms but argues that 'well regulated' in the Second Amendment justifies modern firearm regulations, including licensing requirements for gun owners.

"The Second Amendment enshrines the right to bear arms, but it also underscores the necessity of regulation to ensure public safety. Balancing this right with the need to address the growing mental health crisis requires thoughtful policies that respect individual freedoms while protecting the community."

Acknowledges the Second Amendment while suggesting it needs reinterpretation in a modern context.

"Interpreting the 2nd Amendment 250 years later."

Healthcare(9)

Strongly supports Medicare for All / single-payer universal healthcare system to replace private insurance and cover all Americans.

"Medicare for All (Universal Healthcare or Single-Payer System) Replace private insurance with a public system that covers all Americans from birth to death."

Supports empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices and serve as the main payer in a universal system, setting fair transparent prices.

"With a Medicare-for-All system the federal government would serve as the main payer - setting fair transparent prices and replacing premiums, deductibles, and surprise bills with a predictable way to pay."

Opposes pharmaceutical monopolies and supports empowering Medicare to negotiate drug prices and ban anti-competitive practices that inflate costs.

"Empower Medicare to negotiate prices and ban anti-competitive practices that inflate drug costs. Americans pay up to 10 times more for the same medications compared to Canadians or Europeans. Insulin costs $6 to produce but sells for $300 per vial in the U.S. due to patent gaming and middlemen."

Supports increasing funding for mental health programs and integrating mental health care into primary care settings to address root causes of gun violence.

"Increasing funding for mental health programs, weapons buyback programs, and integrating mental health care into primary care settings are essential steps."

Supports ensuring contraception is readily available and affordable to all individuals regardless of socioeconomic status, including free or low-cost contraceptives.

"Ensure that contraception is readily available and affordable to all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status. Policies that provide free or low-cost contraceptives can help reduce the need for abortions while supporting individuals' reproductive health choices."

Supports healthcare as a human right, framing it as a birthright and a top priority.

"HEALTHCARE as a Human Right"

Supports investing in mental health services as part of a shift toward prevention and public health spending.

"Invest in prevention and public health by shifting spending from reactive care to prevention, nutrition, mental health, and chronic disease management."

Implicitly opposes the current ACA-based system, viewing Medicare and Medicaid as 'limited patches' rather than comprehensive reform.

"Medicare and Medicaid were introduced in the 1960s but were limited patches versus comprehensive reform. In our country the rise of health insurance conglomerates, pharmaceutical monopolies, and hospital chains turned illness into a business model."

Mentions healthcare overhauls as a related factor in reproductive decisions but does not specify a distinct mental health policy position.

"none of this decision making happens in a vacuum, there needs to be massive healthcare overhauls, adoption reform, and opportunities for no-cost childcare."

Immigration(7)

Supports creating earned pathways to citizenship for undocumented residents with clean records after a 5-year probationary period of compliance and contribution.

"Allow undocumented residents with clean records to register, pay taxes, and earn legal status after a defined probationary period (e.g., 5 years of compliance and contribution). Include a fast-track option for DACA recipients, veterans, essential workers, and long-term residents."

Supports a fast-track pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients as part of a broader immigration reform.

"Include a fast-track option for DACA recipients, veterans, essential workers, and long-term residents."

Opposes physical border walls and militarization but supports tech-based border management using sensor surveillance, smart patrol routing, and international coordination focused on stopping traffickers rather than families.

"Replace physical walls with sensor-based surveillance, smart patrol routing, and international coordination. Focus on stopping traffickers and criminal elements, not families seeking a better life."

Supports modernizing and digitizing the asylum claims process using AI to triage urgent humanitarian cases and reducing wait times by expanding immigration courts.

"Digitize visa applications and asylum claims, using AI to triage and flag urgent humanitarian cases. Reduce wait times by expanding immigration courts and removing bureaucratic redundancies."

Supports modernizing the visa system by digitizing applications and removing bureaucratic redundancies to reduce wait times.

"Modernize the Visa and Asylum Systems. Digitize visa applications and asylum claims, using AI to triage and flag urgent humanitarian cases. Reduce wait times by expanding immigration courts and removing bureaucratic redundancies."

Supports humane immigration reform, stating no human is illegal and calling for Immigration Reform.

"No human is illegal."

Implicitly opposes broad deportation enforcement, favoring integration and legal pathways over punitive removal of long-term undocumented residents with clean records.

"It's time for a system that tracks criminals, not families. That welcomes workers, not walls them out. That transforms undocumented people into documented taxpayers and future citizens."

Social Issues(3)

Supports a trimester-based approach allowing greater abortion access in the first trimester with more restrictions in later trimesters, with exceptions for health of the mother, rape, incest, and severe fetal abnormalities.

"Adopt a trimester-based approach to abortion regulation. This would allow greater access to abortion services during the first trimester while imposing more restrictions in the later half of the second and third trimesters, with exceptions for the health of the mother, rape, incest and severe fetal abnormalities."

Supports LGBTQ+ rights, noting that LGBTQ traits appear naturally across the animal kingdom.

"Up to 25% of the animal kingdom show LGTBQ traits."

Suggests that reproductive freedom and protection of life can coexist, indicating a nuanced rather than absolute position.

"Reproductive Freedom & Protection of Life can coexist."