Laura Ellsworth, a Pittsburgh-area lawyer running for the Republican nomination in May's gubernatorial GOP primary, was a guest on the FOX43 Capitol Beat.
Ellsworth is one of three remaining Republican candidates looking to unseat Governor Tom Wolf this November. State Senator Scott Wagner and Paul Mango, a former business consultant, are the two other candidates in the race. House Speaker Mike Turzai dropped out after not receiving Pennsylvania's Republican Party endorsement in February.
Ellsworth is relatively unknown in Pennsylvania's political sphere. She has no official political experience, yet insists her work as an attorney advocating for issues which helped jumpstart towns in Western Pennsylvania is the brand of experience needed to solve the commonwealth's financial situation.
She also advocates for multiple changes to the Pennsylvania constitution, which hasn't been amended since 1968. Ellsworth says she would push for an independent citizen commission to oversee the drawing of Congressional districts. She also would look to shrink the size of Pennsylvania's state legislature, which is already being discussed in the General Assembly, and push for part-time legislators, so local representatives could spend more time in their home districts with their constituents.
Ellsworth also adovcates for a no-budget-no-pay rule, where neither the governor nor General Assembly members get paid as long as a budget is past due.