Paul Filippelli

Since a young age, I have been dedicated to progressive policies and electing Democratic candidates.  I started volunteering for Democratic campaigns at age 14.  My parents remember having to pick me up when I went volunteering for the Kerry campaign in 2004 because I was not old enough to drive yet.  In high school, I was active in the Young Democrats, and I was active in the OSU College Democrats when I went to college.

After college, I went to law school with the goal of dedicating my life to fighting for workers' rights and civil rights.  I focused my studies at the Georgetown University Law Center on employment law, labor law, constitutional law, and the role of race and gender in U.S. law.

After law school, many of my classmates went on to lucrative jobs at large law firms in New York or California. However, it was 2016, so I moved back to Columbus the day after graduation and went to work as an organizer with Working America, campaigning for pro-worker candidates and legislation.

For the last three years, I have worked in plaintiff-side employment law, representing people who have faced discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

I have worked my whole adult life for the causes of civil rights and workers' rights.  Over the last couple of years, it has become clear that the Ohio General Assembly is working to undermine that work, from making it more difficult for victims of discrimination and harassment to get their day in court, to demonizing LGBTQ+ people.  Therefore, I decided to run for the Ohio House of Representatives because I believe that is the place where I can make the biggest difference for the people of our community.