SHEFFIELD, Mass. - Sheffield resident, Nadia Milleron, announced her candidacy for Congress Wednesday, running as an independent in District 1.

She said she took an interest in politics after her daughter died in a Boeing 737 MAX Ethiopian airlines crash in 2019, advocating for the national bi-partisan aircraft certification safety and accountability act.

Part of the legislation allows for steeper penalties for corporations involved in incidents where people are hurt or killed. 

"I was just a regular person who didn’t have any experience with passing bills or running for office and I was able to go there and galvanize other people to get this done and it was a huge effort," Milleron said.

She said she feels ready for Congress with all the fighting she has done after the crash.  

“It’s needed right now because I’ve been successful at getting legislation passed in a bipartisan way and because we have a need right now to come together," Milleron said.

Milleron said she plans to focus her campaign on issues like healthcare, manufacturing and housing. She also said part of the reason she is running is she wants to represent Massachusetts differently than current Rep. Richard Neal. 

 “I see that our Congressman Richard Neal has a lot of corporate funding and I’m not going to take any corporate funding because I see that it influences a person to make decisions and legislation which doesn’t necessarily serve the constituents but serves the big companies," she said.

Neal, who has been in office since 2013, told Spectrum News 1, in part, “We’ve made historic progress by delivering generational investments in our infrastructure, passing the largest legislation ever to tackle climate change, addressing racial injustice, and creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs…… that’s why I’m running for reelection.”