Meet Laura
District 21 has always been my home. I grew up on 9th Avenue, went to Hawthorne, and now reside just down Dill Hill in the condo where my grandma Frances lived for over 20 years.
I grew up surrounded by political conversations and instilled with values of compassion, curiosity, and service. In high school, I became a page in the U.S. Senate under Byron Dorgan. After a stint with North Dakota Reading Corps at Clara Barton Hawthorne, my first job out of college was as a field organizer for the Dem-NPL where I was assigned to help Carolyn Nelson, Kathy Hogan, and Mary Schneider with their races.
When I worked in Senator Heitkamp’s Office, I helped immigrant families reunite by making sure their cases didn’t fall through the cracks. I also fought alongside retired teamsters whose pensions were slashed because of Wall Street mismanagement. For years they kept the pressure on Congress—Democrats and Republicans—to save their pensions. The Butch Lewis Act was introduced in 2017 but went nowhere under the first Trump administration. It was ultimately signed into law by President Biden.
The inspiration I drew from those teamsters—their tenacity and their strength—guides me in my work to this day, and it’s what I would look to embody in the House.
My husband and I made our home in District 21 our senior year of college. Erik had struggled with mental health issues and suicidal ideations his entire life, but in 2022 they got worse. He had an appointment to meet with a psychiatrist to find the right medication for him, but he took his own life before that day came. If the wait time for someone like him, who had good health insurance and was going to therapy, was too much to bear, I can only imagine how onerous the barriers our neighbors in or near poverty face.
We’ve often say that District 21 is the Heart of Fargo (and our tiny bit of West Fargo!). And, it’s not just because of our location.
It’s because we have heart, and we elect folks who serve with compassion. I have spent my entire life fighting for our values with my heart on my sleeve, and I would be honored if you would let me bring that fight to the North Dakota Legislature.