For the Press

Just a fed-up mom and LPN ready to take on the corruption in DC. Cortney Peterson is a nurse and mother fighting for working families in Ohio's 11th Congressional District. She is NOT a politician, nor does she have aspirations to become one — she wants to be a policymaker who fights for fairness and equity for the working class. No corporate PAC money. No foreign PAC money. Grassroots all the way.

Cortney Peterson is a Licensed Practical Nurse and Ashtabula, Ohio native running to represent Ohio's 11th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives as an Independent. She is running as an independent against incumbent Shontel Brown in the 2026 general election.

Cortney spent the last 12 years working as an LPN. A rare medical condition required a stent to be placed in her brain to restore normal pressure and flow. After her procedure in October 2025, she recovered — and awoke, in her own words, from a "political coma." She realized members of Congress were casting votes not on behalf of their constituents, but for the lobbyists who lined their pockets. She knew that if she wanted her sons to inherit a sustainable future, she would have to fight for it herself.

A mother of two sons — including a preschooler with an IEP for autism spectrum disorder — Cortney understands what working families face every day: the impossible cost of childcare, the fight for equitable education, the gap between what politicians promise and what they deliver. She is also endorsed by Citizens' Impeachment — Courage for Democracy as a Courage Candidate.

Cortney's platform centers on Medicare for All, taxing the wealthy and corporations, ending foreign and corporate influence in Congress, reproductive freedom, a Green New Deal, affordable housing, livable wages, and abolishing ICE. She accepts no corporate PAC money and no foreign PAC money. Her campaign is funded entirely by working people — and she intends to govern the same way.