Elldwnia English

Elldwnia English earned a graduate degree from Colorado Technical University in 2024. Her career experience includes working as an entrepreneur.[1]

U.S. House Maryland District 5

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Ella English, and I am running for Maryland's 5th Congressional District.

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing, and a Master of Science in Human Resources. I built my education around people, systems, and outcomes.

I am also an entrepreneur. I own Elldwinia Innovations LLC, a company with six active inventions in development, including a mobile child meal service and a comprehensive at-home health monitoring ecosystem. I know what it takes to build something from nothing.

I am a wife, a mother, and a Maryland resident who has watched this district get promises instead of progress. I am not a politician. I am a problem solver with the credentials, the lived experience, and the drive to actually deliver for MD-5.

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?

People Over Politics

I am not funded by corporations or special interests. I answer to Marylanders, period. Every decision I make will center real families, not donors.Justice and Economic Equity for All

Maryland's 5th District deserves a representative who fights for reparations for foundational Black Americans, closes the wage gap, invests in women and children's health, and builds an economy where every Marylander can compete and win.Infrastructure, Education, and Jobs

Roads, schools, and opportunity do not build themselves. I will push for direct investment in MD-5's physical infrastructure, fully funded public education, and job creation that serves working Marylanders, not just select industries or communities.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Reparations for foundational Black Americans. This is long overdue and I will not apologize for saying it plainly.

Women and children's health. Access to care, maternal mortality, nutrition, and mental health resources are not luxury issues. They are survival issues.

Infrastructure. Maryland's roads, bridges, broadband, and public transit are failing working families every single day. That ends with real investment, not studies and committees.

Education. Every child in MD-5 deserves a fully funded school, qualified teachers, and a path to economic independence. No exceptions.

Jobs and economic equity. I am focused on creating opportunities that serve all Marylanders. Not one industry. Not one demographic. All of us.

These are not talking po

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Harriet Tubman.

She had no title, no funding, and no guarantee of survival. She went back anyway. Thirteen times. She did not wait for permission to free her people. She built the path herself.

That is the standard I hold myself to. Not comfort. Not applause. Results.

Tubman was also a strategist, a leader, and a woman who understood that freedom is not given. It is built, protected, and fought for with everything you have.

I want to bring that same fearlessness to MD-5. No corporate backing. No political favors. Just the work.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Accountability. You work for the people who elected you, full stop. The moment you forget that, you have lost the plot.

Honesty. Voters deserve the truth, even when it is uncomfortable. Especially when it is uncomfortable.

Courage. Real change requires standing in rooms where people disagree with you and holding your position anyway.

Accessibility. Your constituents should be able to reach you. Not your staff. You.

Consistency. What you say on the campaign trail must match what you do in office. Every time.

These are not ideals. They are the baseline. MD-5 deserves a representative who treats them as non-negotiable.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Listen first. Your constituents are the experts on their own lives. Your job is to translate their needs into legislation.

Legislate with purpose. Every bill you sponsor or support must move people forward. Not politics. People.

Protect the vulnerable. Women, children, seniors, and underserved communities cannot afford a representative who looks the other way.

Stay present. Show up in the district. Attend the meetings. Walk the neighborhoods. Proximity matters.

Report back. Tell your constituents what you did, what you fought for, and where you fell short. Transparency is not optional.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want to be remembered as the representative who saw the people everyone else ignored.

The throwaway people. The misfits. The unloved. The disabled. The ones who stopped showing up to vote because no one ever showed up for them.

Your voice matters. Your life matters. And although the world has looked past you, I see you. I have always seen you.

I want to leave a district that is more just, more equitable, and more human than I found it. Where policy reflects real lives, not just powerful ones.

That is why I am running. That is who I am fighting for. All of us.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Burger King. I was 16 years old.

I worked it for about a year before I realized I could make more money working for myself. So I did.

That was not arrogance. That was clarity. I understood early that I had something to offer beyond a cash register, and I was not afraid to bet on myself.

That entrepreneurial instinct never left. It is the same instinct driving my campaign, my businesses, and my vision for MD-5. I have never waited for someone to hand me an opportunity. I build them.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Watching people suffer while help exists but stays out of reach.

I have seen hurt and broken people who did not know where to turn. I have watched systems designed to help get weaponized to gatekeep instead. And I have watched people in power profit from the misery of the less fortunate rather than dismantle it.

That is not a policy failure. That is a moral failure.

It drove me to build businesses that serve people directly. It drives my campaign. And it will drive every vote I cast in Congress.

Nobody should have to navigate their worst moment alone because someone decided their suffering was more useful than their dignity.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

The House is the people's chamber. Full stop.

Every member faces voters every two years. There is no hiding. No long runway. You perform for the people who sent you or you go home.

It is the most demographically responsive branch of the federal government. When communities organize and vote, the House reflects that shift faster than any other institution.

It holds the power of the purse. Every federal dollar begins here. That means the House decides whose needs get funded and whose get ignored. That is not a small thing. That is everything.

It is also the most accessible entry point into federal governance. You do not need decades in politics. You need the trust of your district.

That is exactly why I am here.

What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Reckoning with its own history.

Foundational Black Americans built this country. The wealth, the culture, the backbone of every institution America is proud of. That contribution has never been fully acknowledged, compensated, or protected.

The next decade will force a choice. America can continue to suppress that truth or it can finally settle its debt and watch what happens when the people it held down are fully unleashed.

I believe Foundational Black Americans are building a new and greater America. The world will watch in fear and awe.

That is not a threat. That is history in motion. My job in Congress is to make sure policy reflects that reality and stops standing in its way.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Depends on what you are compromising.

Process, yes. Timelines, yes. Strategy, sometimes. But I will not compromise on whether people eat, whether children have healthcare, or whether Foundational Black Americans receive what they are owed.

Compromise has historically meant that the most vulnerable give up the most. That pattern ends with me.

I will work across the aisle. I will find common ground where it exists. But I will not dress up surrender as diplomacy. MD-5 sent me to Congress to deliver, not to negotiate away their basic needs for the comfort of people who have never had to choose between rent and medication.

Compromise is a tool. It is not a value.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Reparations for foundational Black Americans. This is long overdue and I will not apologize for saying it plainly.

Women and children's health. Access to care, maternal mortality, nutrition, and mental health resources are not luxury issues. They are survival issues.

Infrastructure. Maryland's roads, bridges, broadband, and public transit are failing working families every single day. That ends with real investment, not studies and committees.

Education. Every child in MD-5 deserves a fully funded school, qualified teachers, and a path to economic independence. No exceptions.

Jobs and economic equity. I am focused on creating opportunities that serve all Marylanders. Not one industry. Not one demographic. All of us.

What was the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember?

The space shuttle Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986. I was nine years old.

I watched it live with my classmates. One moment there was a shuttle full of people chasing something extraordinary. The next moment it was gone.

It was the first time I understood that the world could change in an instant. That systems fail people. That those people have names, families, and dreams.

That moment stayed with me. It is part of why I believe accountability in public service is not optional. When systems fail, real people pay the price.

U.S. House Maryland District 4

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