María Teresa Rodriguez

María Teresa Rodriguez returned to school for a nursing degree while raising two children as a single mother.¹ Her route to Louisville began in Cuba, where she grew up under Fidel Castro, and included an eleven year effort to reach the United States legally.¹

Rodriguez arrived at 21, learned English and continued her education while helping support her family.¹ She became a U.S. citizen in 2017.² She built a small business before entering nursing, and now works as a trauma nurse in Louisville.¹³ In her account, her family's Catholic faith and opposition to Cuba's government brought harassment and restrictions on her educational opportunities.¹

Her campaign emphasizes lower taxes, safer neighborhoods, legal immigration and opposition to abortion.⁴ In a current election questionnaire, she proposes increasing housing supply, reducing construction regulations and improving competition and price transparency in health care.² She also supports Medicaid reimbursement improvements and helping adults who can work move toward employment and private insurance.²

She also wants data center developers to cover the infrastructure costs their projects create, with transparency and local input on water and energy demands.² Rodriguez is the Republican challenging Democratic Congressman Morgan McGarvey for the Louisville area seat, which carries a two year term.³ Her campaign presents small business ownership, nursing and motherhood as the experience she would bring to Washington, alongside a stated commitment to free enterprise and constitutional freedoms.¹