Lainey Melnick chose Texas. Now she wants Texas to choose her.

Small business owner, high-tech media executive, volunteer, mother, grandmother -- Lainey is offering to put her lifetime of experience at the service of the families of Texas' 21st Congressional District.

Lainey has been standing up for democratic values from childhood, a post-partisan individual more concerned with policy than politics working towards solutions not stalemates. The second daughter of hard-working parents from the midwest, she has lived in two countries, seven states and has experienced poverty, struggle and success. She worked her way through the University of Wisconsin, gained strength from a life replete with fresh starts, and developed the ability to compromise and communicate from the business world.

When she and Todd Melnick married, they researched the country to find the most desirable place to live. Austin stood out and the family moved there in 1998. It was the perfect choice. All four children, aged eight to twenty-three, have attended Austin schools. One with Asperger's Syndrome found an amazing amount of support, became an early graduate from Westlake High School and now attends Austin Community College. Another made great strides at a private school committed to academic excellence for dyslexic children and now is heading back into public school to join her sister. The youngest is in second grade in the award-winning Eanes Independent School District. Thanks to the youngest two girls, Lainey is a proud soccer mom. The eldest is a graduate of the Texas Culinary Academy, has married a UT graduate and made Lainey the grandmother of twin boys. Everyone in the family is an active member of Congregation Beth Israel.

Lainey works as a Red Cross volunteer and as a director and reader for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. She has been a Girl Scout leader, volunteers throughout the community, and holds a chair position at Rawson-Saunders School. Lainey has extended her grassroots organizing talents, honed in the 2008 presidential campaign leading 7500 volunteers, the Austin Regional Lead in Travis County for Organizing for America.

Lainey offers Texans a voice in Congress that is more concerned about people than politics. She'll listen to her constituents and fight for them in Washington. She'll pay attention to what's happening in the 21st District and spend her spare time in the district reporting back to her bosses, her neighbors, the residents of her district. Lainey will make politics work for the people of Central Texas.