Candidate Spotlight: Maria Sorolis - Democratic Candidate for State Representative District 48

Candidate Spotlight 

Maria Sorolis 

Democratic Candidate for State Representative District 48

About Maria:

Maria has lived in the 48th since 2004 and raised three children in the district, each of whom graduated from JCPS schools. 

After 22 years as a practicing attorney focused on employment law, Maria answered a calling to teach. While maintaining her law practice, Maria has worked part-time with recovery students at Kammerer Middle School, helping them develop the confidence, discipline and skills they need for success. 

Maria has served as a PTA president, an officer of the Kentucky PTA, and as a member of the Site Based Decision Making Council.  She is a graduate of Emerge Kentucky. She’s donated her time to Restorative Justice Louisville, Legal Aid and to the Kentucky, Florida, Georgia and District of Columbia Bar Associations, and has served as a Girl Scout leader, among other volunteer work. 

A graduate of Duke University and the University of Georgia School of Law, Maria is working toward her Master's Degree in Public Administration at the University of Louisville. 

Q: What is the most important topic/issue to you personally? 

The starting point for me is increased governmental transparency.  This is our government and too many of our elected representatives seem to have forgotten for whom they work and to whom they need to report  - and its not their big money donors, lobbyists and cronies.  We need expanded public records and public meeting laws with stronger teeth.

Q: What goals to you hope to accomplish either if you are elected?

We need increased focus and funding on genuine public education with smaller classes, less testing and comprehensive Pre-K.  A highly educated and creative workforce will attract jobs that pay living wages to our wonderful Commonwealth. We must modernize our tax code to  encourage entrepreneurship and small business and explore alternatives to generate increased revenue. Our infrastructure has been neglected for far too long and, especially in the 48th we see the way unmanaged growth can impact our quality of life.

Q: Why should Kentuckians vote for your over your opponent? 

I am an independent thinker with an interest in being an activist for a better Kentucky - not a rubber stamp for my party.  One of my opponent's first actions was to support legislation that would disenfranchise his constituents by filing a bill that would take away the right of Jefferson County residents to conduct a special election in the event the position of mayor was vacated midterm.  He was the primary speaker in favor of the tax bill passed in the 2018 the created a tax on services, lowered taxes on the top wage earners but raised taxes on middle class Kentuckians. 

Q: With everything that has been going on locally and in our nation, how would you encourage people, especially in your district, to stay positive and to not give up?  

We need to remember that no matter our differences most of us are more alike than different.  We need to get out of our "silos" and make an effort to meet and talk civilly with people who may view the world slightly differently than we do.  We will not move forward when we allow a spirit of fear, division and "otherness" to dominate our interactions.

If you would like to know more about Maria or help with her campaign, please visit her website or Facebook page.