Nancy Day-Achauer has a passion for creating opportunities for Ohioans to be successful and thrive. Nancy has experience as a pastor, community advocate and grassroots organizer on the west side of Columbus addressing the opiate epidemic, senior services, food insecurity, and homelessness. For the past three years, she has been providing community education on addiction and the opiate epidemic as a member of the Columbus and Franklin County Addiction Plan. If elected, she will protect and sponsor legislation for women’s reproductive rights, improve publicly funded child care, work to increase the minimum wage and encourage employer neutral workplaces, and address housing affordability.

Meet the Candidate

Can you tell our members a little bit about your journey to filing as a candidate?

As a pastor who has worked in urban, suburban and rural communities, I see people struggle to be successful and provide a better future for their families. I have spent the last seven years working hard as a community advocate and grassroots organizer on the west side of Columbus addressing the opiate epidemic, senior services, food insecurity, and homelessness. Too often, I have found that poor public policy or lack of public policy gets in the way of helping and empowering disadvantaged communities. These obstacles compel me to seek elected office so I can do more to help others.

Tell our members about a friend or family member who inspired you to become a leader.

My mother has been an inspiration to me because she was a woman ahead of her time. She went back to work when I was in 4th grade at a time when most women still stayed home. She didn’t need to go back to work, she did it because she wanted to. Five years later she accepted a promotion two hours away in San Francisco. She had spent her entire life in small rural towns and bravely started living five days a week alone in a metropolis, coming home only on weekends. Such living arrangements were unheard of for women back then, men would do it but not middle-aged married women with teenagers. Her example taught me to go after what I wanted in life regardless of society’s norms.

How has your career and life experiences shaped who you are as a person and a leader?

I was a single parent, raising my daughter alone and living two hours away from the closest relative. Like many other single parents without financial support, I struggled to make ends meet and find quality affordable childcare. I had to move every couple of years as rents skyrocketed and I was priced out of the housing market. I worked hard to raise my daughter, put myself through college, advance my career and eventually become a homeowner. I know what it’s like to be underpaid, to have insufficient health insurance, and to experience food and housing insecurity. These experiences made me resilient and taught me that I cannot wait for a leader to step and do what needs to be done to make life better for people, I must be the leader people are waiting for.

Matriots PAC has a goal to see 50% of all elected offices in Ohio held by women by 2028. What is your vision for Ohio in 2028?

My vision for 2028 is for women to comprise 50% of each elected body (e.g. city councils, Senate, House, etc.) and for Ohio to have a female governor.

Tip O’Neill famously said that “all politics is local.” What are the top-two issues your community or our state face today?

Jobs that pay a living wage and keeping housing affordable.

Tell us something personal about yourself. It can be a hobby, your favorite food or something we might not know about you that you would like to share with our members.

I love to partner with others to play practical jokes. My favorite “partners in crime” was a 75 year old co-worker, Sister Therese from the Sisters of Mercy, and a Yoruba priestess, Charmaine. The three of us played practical jokes on the lawyers in our corporate legal department.