Mary Jo Kilroy

The daughter of a pipe-fitter, Mary Jo paid her own way through college working as a waitress, a blood technician at a hospital and doing clerical work. She scraped and saved and did without to make ends meet. Mary Jo knows what it’s like to be short at the end of the month and do without health insurance.

As a Franklin County Commissioner and community advocate on health care, Mary Jo worked to provide the initial grant and continued funding for Access Health Columbus, a medical assistance organization that provides medical care and prescription medicine for low-income and uninsured residents of Franklin County. Mary Jo fought for and succeeded to fund the Columbus Neighborhood Health Centers, The Breathing Association’s free clinic, the AIDS Task Force and the Diabetes Association. Her dedication to Central Ohio earned her the Public Official of the Year award from the Central Ohio Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Those real life experiences shaped who she is and why she cares so passionately about the need to break down barriers and see that working people get a fair shake. She knows families are being squeezed by soaring gas prices and falling property values. Health care costs are out of control. Bad trade deals have sent jobs overseas and cut the muscle out of our manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, we are bogged down in the longest war in American history and our veterans are not honored or taken care of when they come home.