Ardelia Holmes

Ardelia Holmes earned a high school diploma from the Jane Addams BCC. Holmes attended Notre Dame College of Ohio and earned a bachelor's degree from Capella University. Holmes' career experience includes working as an educator.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am an educator, economic strategist, and systems-level problem solver running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District. My work has focused on education, workforce development, and accountability in public systems, with an emphasis on outcomes over ideology. I am a lifelong District 11 Ohioan, a parent, and a professional with experience in organizational leadership, small business development, and policy analysis. I am running for Congress to confront structural failures in education, housing, healthcare, and economic policy that prevent working families from achieving long-term stability.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Education is national infrastructure. Public education should prepare students for real economic participation, civic leadership, and long-term stability, not lifelong debt or insecurity.

I support fully funding public schools, enforcing transparency and accountability in education spending, and protecting public education from policies that divert public dollars without delivering measurable outcomes.

Education policy must be tied to workforce readiness, economic capacity, and national competitiveness.Economic stability is national security. Millions of Americans are working full time or holding advanced degrees and still cannot afford housing, healthcare, or basic peace of mind. This is not a moral failure, it is a policy design failure.

I support fair wages, workforce pathways tied to real jobs, support for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and economic policies that reward work, production, and community stability rather than speculation and outsourcing.Government must serve people, not special interests. I am running to confront systems that protect insiders while families fall behind.

I support housing and healthcare as foundational systems, responsible oversight of public funds, and policies grounded in accountability, human dignity, and measurable results.

Leadership in Congress should be focused on outcomes, not ideology or party loyalty.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about education reform, economic stability, housing and healthcare access, and rebuilding American production. Education must function as true infrastructure, preparing students for real work, civic participation, and long-term independence.

Economic policy should reward work, stabilize families, and strengthen communities.

Housing and healthcare must be treated as foundational systems, not privileges tied to employment or wealth.

I believe U.S. foreign aid must be conditioned on clear humanitarian standards, civilian protection, and international law, with diplomacy prioritized.

I am also deeply focused on restoring accountability and transparency in government so public resources serve people, not special interests.

Campaign websiteHolmes' campaign website stated the following:Education as InfrastructureI will fight to fully fund public education in Ohio and across America and end the siphoning of public dollars into private and charter school vouchers. These policies destabilize our districts, overburden teachers and fail taxpayers and students. It's time to restore trust in public education and give every student a system worth staying in.At a time when some are actively working to dismantle the Department of Education, we must do the opposite: protect its role while demanding it work more efficiently.Public schools cannot be expected to perform without honest accounting.Across Ohio, districts have returned to voters for emergency levies while millions in federal COVID relief funds went untracked, underreported, or shielded from public scrutiny. State audits exist, but they are often broad, backward-looking, and insufficient to catch structural mismanagement before harm is done.I believe any district receiving federal education dollars must meet clear transparency standards, including accessible budgets, plain-language spending reports, and stronger oversight tied to outcomes. Taxpayers, parents, and educators deserve to know where money is going before classrooms are destabilized, not after.This is also why I oppose the expansion of charter and private school vouchers, public dollars should never be diverted to systems that are not held to the same transparency, accountability, and performance standards as public schools.That means modernizing federal education policy to set clear, enforceable standards. I support the introduction of a Federal Enrollment Act that sets national competency floors and guarantees outcomes while respecting local flexibility above the floor. I will also confront the student loan crisis. We need debt relief and systemic reform that makes higher education a a path to stability, not a lifelong barrier. Economic Stability is National SecurityReal national security starts at home. A country where millions of people work full time and still cannot afford rent, groceries, or basic peace of mind is not stable, it is vulnerable by design.Economic instability weakens our workforce, fractures families, and fuels the conditions that lead to mental health crises, community violence, and long-term dependency. This is not a moral failure. It is a policy failure.I believe in raising wages and building real pathways into ownership, skilled work, and independence. Wage growth must be paired with support for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs, because economic security should be achievable whether you work for someone else or build something of your own.Work requirements already exist in federal policy for those receiving public benefits, but too often they are tied to outdated programs that do not lead to stability. I will fight to realign federal workforce and benefit systems toward clear, accountable pathways that move people from assistance into durable work, training, and long-term security, not cycles of compliance without progress.When people are stable, communities are safer. Chronic instability, untreated mental health needs, and economic stress are key drivers of violence, including gun violence. Addressing safety means addressing the conditions that make desperation inevitable.A strong economy is not just about growth. It is about resilience, dignity, and national capacity.That is the foundation of real security.Housing & Healthcare as Foundational SystemsHousing, healthcare, and mental health support are not optional benefits- they are the minimum foundations of a functioning country. When these systems fail, families fall into crisis not because they made bad choices, but because instability is built into the design.My approach prioritizes stability by design, not crisis response after the damage is done.I support incentivizing local homeownership, expanding community land trusts, and holding absentee landlords accountable for neglect and long-term vacancy. I will push to expand transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness and veterans, using and strengthening existing federal programs like HUD-VASH and Continuum of Care, with a focus on dignity, workforce readiness, and permanent pathways out of homelessness.Healthcare must follow the person, not the paycheck.I support expanding Medicaid to provide universal baseline health coverage, ensuring no family loses access to care because of job loss, caregiving responsibilities, recovery, or economic disruption. Healthcare should stabilize people through transition, not punish them for it. Medicaid should function as a guaranteed floor, not a last resort.We must also fully integrate mental health care into federally funded housing, education, and workforce programs from public schools to reentry services to transitional housing. Recovery, reentry, and homelessness should be treated as restoration points, not life sentences.A nation that forces people to choose between health, housing, and survival is not efficient, it is fragile. I am running to rebuild systems that make stability possible, not exceptional.District Renewal & American ProductionWork is not disappearing, it is being misallocated. For decades, federal investment has flowed around communities like Ohio’s 11th District instead of through them, leaving talent underutilized and entire neighborhoods economically stranded.Right now, the federal government is investing billions through the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Made in America agenda. The question is not whether jobs are being created, it’s who gets them and where. Ohio 11 should be first in line, not an afterthought.I support designating Ohio’s 11th District as a pilot zone for federal site reuse and industrial reinvestment, prioritizing communities with high vacancy, underutilized land, and historic disinvestment. That means repurposing abandoned and underused industrial sites into hubs for clean energy assembly, advanced manufacturing, skilled textiles, logistics, and other labor-intensive sectors that anchor communities and cannot be easily outsourced.District renewal must be tied directly to local ownership, workforce pathways, and small business participation, NOT extractive development that leaves residents behind. I support expanding access to trades and technical education through public schools, paired with federal manufacturing grants that allow local entrepreneurs and small businesses to scale into national supply chains.This is how we rebuild American production without repeating past mistakes: by aligning federal investment with place, people, and long-term community stability.When districts like ours are rebuilt with intention, national capacity grows, and prosperity finally reaches the communities that have carried the cost of neglect for generations.— Ardelia Holmes' campaign website (April 22, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.