Freshour wants to refresh the 4th district

NORWALK — Shannon Freshour, a congressional candidate, is ready to run the race for the 4th district's congressional seat. Freshour is a Democrat who lives in Marysville in Union County. She grew up in Toledo and attended college in Washington D.C. and received her masters from John Hopkins in American government. Also running for the Democratic seat are Jeffrey Sites and Mike Larson. The March 17 primary winner will run against incumbent Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Urbana). "I'm really concerned that our district isn't being represented and that I consider to be an absolute dereliction of the responsibility of a congressperson," Freshour said. "You should always be working to make sure that your community and your constituents are taken care of." She said if she was in Congress, she would work to bring high quality jobs to the district, protect Social Security and Medicare and make healthcare more affordable. "There's no benefit for society to have a system that is outrageously expensive but yet people can't access and is the leading cause of bankruptcy in our communities," Freshour said. "I would want to make sure we have a robust constituents service program, if someone's having trouble that we have people on the ground who can help them." She said she wants to marry climate change with "green" new jobs. Freshour said the green economy is critical to the country's future sustainability. "Whatever country controls the green economy, is going to be the next superpower of the next century," she said. "We need to be able to make products that are environmentally conscious that are manufactured in the states, and they should be manufactured in Ohio, in our district." Freshour interned for Sen. Ted Kennedy's secretary while she was in college and said it was a "legislative bootcamp." "I learned every aspect of legislation, (like) how to compromise. I (also) spent about 25 years as a litigation paralegal," she said. "I worked with clients that had been injured so I've seen the issues within the medical system with insurance and coverage and how much bills can be. It impacts people's lives so dramatically." The candidate said she wants communities to be able to come together and have "communal spirit," like they do in times of crisis, when nothing is wrong. "What's more important is I want to make sure that people know that, regardless of party, regardless of ideology, that I'm going to help them," Freshour said. "It's a job where you're supposed to help people. I want people to know that partisan stops at the election box." Freshour said she would make sure amendments and bills passed will not cause harm to local districts and would make sure the country is "paying down the debt." "We don't need to be saddling the next 10 generations with what they will be," she said. "I just hope that people look beyond the label and look at what I can provide to make the people of this community's lives better." She said there's potential for a manufacturing base in the district, particularly with green technologies, or vehicles, and jobs that will improve Ohio's infrastructure. She said infrastructure work provides a well-paying job for those that may not have attended college and keep roads or bridges from failing. "I believe that we should be focused on making our communities stronger and bringing jobs back," Freshour said. "Norwalk will be stronger if it has a higher job base, that's going to help provide for early childcare and early education."