Ned Pillersdorf

Ned Pillersdorf met his wife, former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Janet Stumbo, playing softball; they have three adult daughters.¹ He also coached boys' basketball.¹ The Prestonsburg lawyer describes more than four decades of work for people with limited means, alongside involvement in several nonprofit organizations.²

Pillersdorf graduated from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law in 1980 and was admitted to legal practice in 1981.³ His practice includes criminal defense, employment disputes, civil rights and personal injury cases, with an office in Prestonsburg.³

The American Bar Association gave him a Pro Bono Publico Award in 2023 for helping find legal representation for people whose disability benefits were jeopardized by former attorney Eric Conn's fraud.⁴ The association credited him with recruiting volunteer lawyers for approximately 2,000 hearings and more than 250 federal court cases, as well as personally representing over 100 affected clients.⁴

In announcing the honor, the ABA said those combined volunteer efforts had helped hundreds of former Conn clients regain benefits after challenges to the government's procedures for reconsidering their claims.⁴ Pillersdorf is the Democrat challenging Republican Congressman Hal Rogers in eastern Kentucky.⁵ He opposes cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, food assistance and help with utility bills, while supporting public broadcasting, Job Corps and cancer research.² He also supports expanding the membership of the House, and centers his campaign on protecting the region's public safety net.²