Free college tuition tops the priority list of Socialist Workers Party candidate Heather Wood.
The 25-year-old attended the University for five years before “quitting to devote her full time to politics.” The first-time candidate for office works for North Star Steel and is a member of the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) union.
She said her platform emphasizes the working class, not big party politics.
Further, Wood said unlike other candidates who don’t necessarily reflect their party affiliation, she represents the collectively made decisions of the Socialist party platform.
“Our party represents working and young people, like workers at Northwest Airlines fighting for a contract, or youth and the Hmong community who are protesting against racism on KQRS,” she said.
Wood said she also supports farm families, equal rights for gays and lesbians, a woman’s right to control her body (including abortion), and affirmative action with quotas.
She’s opposed to gun control under the grounds that “the rich use it as a way of curtailing democratic rights.”
“Solidarity of workers around the world” is another theme of the Socialist Workers Party, she said.
The party’s “internationalist perspective” includes opposition to the United Nations, which she said acts in the interests of the United States and other imperialist countries. The party also promotes the independence of Puerto Rico, she said.