Some politicians talk about hardship. Laura Rodriguez-Carbone has lived it.

Her family lost their farm to corporate agriculture and moved to Cleveland to work in factories. Like so many families in Ohio, they worked hard and still lost their home. That experience shaped Laura’s view of public service: government should protect ordinary people, not powerful interests.

For 23 years, Laura served the public across multiple federal agencies, like the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. She fought for patients, families, children, workers, veterans, and communities. She took on corporate health care companies when patients’ care was on the line. She worked to protect civil rights in public schools. She helped make government programs work for the people who depend on them.

Laura has also shown up in Northeast Ohio for years through boards, commissions, task forces, and community work. She is not running because politics is a career move. She is running because too many people in this district are being priced out, pushed aside, and told to expect less.

Laura believes working people deserve a representative who understands what they are up against, knows how government works, and is willing to fight for an economy and a health care system that serve the people.

That is why she does not take corporate PAC money. And that is why she is running for Congress.