on the issues
Public Service: A Mom's Values
Gina Arena was born and raised in a working-class Westchester family. As a mother of eight (ages 17 to 34), Gina has always understood the need to balance work and family, while also volunteering within her community.
Public service was instilled in Gina at a young age by her father, Ray Andretta. In addition to Gina’s lifelong community service, her husband Jim is a volunteer firefighter and her daughter, Victoria, was an Army Sergeant who served in Afghanistan, so the apples haven’t fallen far from the tree.
When Gina’s autistic daughter, Jesse, wasn’t getting the education she needed, Gina researched cutting edge educational programs and developed a program for her. As a direct result, Gina helped create the Foundation for Educating Children with Autism and the Devereux Millwood Learning Center.
Pro-girl, Pro-women, Pro-choice
New York legalized abortion in 1970 — three years before Roe v. Wade — and it’s been a pro-choice state ever since. But what most people don’t know, or have long forgotten, is that abortion was legalized in New York under a Republican governor, a Republican state senate, and a Republican state assembly. These were common sense New York Republicans, like me, who want government out of the bedroom. There has been no threat to reproductive autonomy in New York in the 54 years since abortion was legalized here, even under more than four decades of past Republican rule. There is no threat now.
Being pro-woman must also mean being pro-girl, though, and that’s why I’m also running on a platform to “Save Girls Sports” which are under direct attack from overly-progressive New York legislators like my opponent. I’m hoping that women of all political backgrounds rally around this important cause, too.
After more than 50 years of progress in female athletics, the New York Board of Regents wants to merge Girls and Boys sports in the state, as do strident gender activists. High school girls work too hard to make sports teams, and allowing boys and biological males to compete in Girls Sports will cost girls playing times and potentially scholarships. It’s simply not fair. Girls matter just as much as anyone else, and their sports deserve to be protected..
God knows how my opponent will try to portray me this time, but here it is from me directly:
I am pro-girl, pro-women, and pro-choice. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Turning a Family Tragedy into a Force for Good
When Gina’s son, Jimmy, tragically died from brain cancer at age 6, Gina and her husband established the “Just Imagine Making Miracles Yours” (JIMMY) Foundation in his memory. This organization helps children suffering from life-threatening diseases and/or injuries with financial assistance.
Gina Arena is running for State Senate to do far more. Gina wants her own children and grandchildren — and those of her friends, neighbors and colleagues — to be able to live, work, and raise families of their own right here in the Hudson Valley.
Keep Our Community Safe
Under one-party rule in Albany, the needs of criminals are put ahead of the needs of victims and families. Pro-criminal policies like cashless bail have led to a rise in violent crime across the State. We must stop Albany’s pro-criminal agenda, support our law enforcement and listen to our local prosecutors who know what it takes to protect our communities.
GINA ARENA will always put public safety first so that we can again feel safe in our own neighborhoods.
“As our tax and cost burdens continue to rise, it’s more and more difficult for everyone —young people, seniors, working couples — to stay in Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland.
We must have relief.” — Gina Arena
Cut Taxes & Make Our Communities More Affordable
Property taxes, income taxes, utility bills, gas and grocery prices, congestion pricing, never-ending fees — it’s enough to break the back of any working- or middle-class family.
But you wouldn’t know it if you spent any time in Albany. While everyday families, like Gina’s, feel the constant pinch of taxes and inflation, our single-party government continues to prioritize higher taxing and spending. It’s no wonder that almost a million and a half New Yorkers have fled this state in the past 20 years.
We need someone in Albany who understands the dire need to make our region and state a place where everyone can afford to live and succeed. That someone is GINA ARENA.
Gina will work to cut taxes and deliver much-needed property and other tax relief to make life just a little easier for struggling New York families.
Help Businesses Thrive & Create Good-Paying Jobs
One again this year, New York was ranked as the least economically competitive state in America. That means that jobs and opportunities that should be available for us, our children, and our grandchildren, locate somewhere else now. And Albany is doing absolutely nothing about it. It’s unconscionable.
In the Hudson Valley we are blessed with one of the best educated workforces in the nation, yet, year-after-year, we see one business after another leaving our area for friendlier tax climes. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Gina Arena will make our economy a major focus in the State Senate. That means resetting priorities and focusing on cutting taxes, eliminating regulations that drive up costs, and investing in our workforce. We must also leverage our outstanding higher-education assets to attract young talent to our community.
GINA ARENA will work day and night to enact pro-growth economic policies in New York so that people can earn the best living possible here.
Support Our Schools
Our children deserve better. We need a leader in Albany who will make sure that local school districts get the resources they need to grow, teach, and thrive. As a mother of eight from a working-class family, Gina Arena understands that a good public education is the ticket to the middle class.
Gina will also seek to invest in top-notch vocational and trade programs that can lead to solid, life-long careers.
GINA ARENA is no stranger to helping our young people succeed, and as our State Senator she will continue to do just that.
End the Migrant Crisis
An estimated 150,000 migrants have flooded into New York in the past 18-months, and there are another 150,000 lining up behind them. The reason is New York’s untenable “Sanctuary City” policies that act as a magnet for more and more migrants from around the globe.
New Yorkers are compassionate people and our hearts break to see what many of these individuals and families are going through, but we simply can’t afford to pay the cost of such an historic influx.
Albany just budgeted 2.4 billion taxpayer dollars for the overwhelmingly illegal migrants pouring into our state. That’s more money than New York budgeted for local road repairs and mental health services, and almost twice the increase in New York school aid this year.
Rather than trying to fix the migrant crisis, Albany is blowing billions of our tax dollars on band-aid solutions to a problem they created and which is only getting worse, while our roads crumble and school services get cut. Isn’t it time we had a State Senator who looked after us?
Protect Our Environment
Our state and region are fortunate to have extraordinary natural assets. Albany must do more to protect our waterways and greenspaces that significantly enhance the overall quality of life for all those around them.
Gina Arena understands that we can safeguard and improve our environmental resources without putting New Yorkers out of work. She’ll fight for a balanced approach to environmentalism that works for everyone.
GINA ARENA will find economical ways to reduce our carbon footprint while also making energy affordable and our economy stronger.
Illegal Pot Shops
Illegal pot shops are opening up all over the area, thanks to the most bungled recreational pot legalization rollout in America. In New York City alone, there are now an estimated 2,500 illegal pot shops operating, and every day more and more are opening up in the Hudson Valley.
These stores are selling completely unregulated products, many of them packaged to appeal to teenage kids. It’s outrageous, but, more importantly, it’s dangerous.
GINA ARENA will work day and night to enact pro-growth economic policies in New York so that people can earn the best living possible here
GINA ARENA will work with local police departments to shutter these illegal shops. Our children's safety must be the priority.
