John Sarbanes brings an extensive career in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. He recently concluded eighteen years serving Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives with a longtime appointment to the Energy and Commerce Committee, focusing on health, environment, and energy issues. John also led efforts to advance HR1, the Freedom to Vote Act, a historic suite of reforms to protect the right to vote, clean up corruption in Washington, and restore trust, transparency, and integrity in government. On the education front, he authored legislation establishing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which to date has brought student debt relief to over a million individuals pursuing careers as teachers, nurses, social workers, first responders, service members, and other careers in the public and nonprofit sectors.
Prior to entering Congress, John spent nearly two decades as a health care attorney at the Venable law firm and seven years leading school reform efforts at the Maryland Department of Education. He is a graduate of Princeton University and earned a Fulbright Scholarship to Greece before attending Harvard Law School. In 2025, he served as Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the SNF Agora Institute for Global Democracy at Johns Hopkins University.