Geauga County employment attorney Betsy Rader, a Democrat, is running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. David Joyce in Ohio’s 14th Congressional District.
Rader, a graduate of Yale Law School, advocates for employees’ rights, including discrimination cases and whistleblower protections. She also offers services as a mediator and human resources consultant.
Rader in March won an endorsement from EMILY’s List, a political action committee that finances female Democratic candidates who support access to abortion.
The group’s president, Stephanie Schriock, criticized Joyce for voting to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood and The Human Rights Campaign LGBT advocacy group endorsed Rader as well.
“One of my happiest days was standing on the Supreme Court steps with my family when the Obergefell decision was announced,” she told the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus.
The reference was to the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
However, Rader faces an “uphill battle,” one Cleveland news website says. In 2016, Joyce defeated Democrat Michael Wager for the second time in four years, taking more than 62 percent of the vote. President Donald Trump won the Northeast Ohio district by about 12 percentage points.
Rader, a Russell Township resident, said voters in the 14th District have been willing to vote based on individual candidates, not their party. Rader said that Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown won the district in 2012.
Rader said she hopes to tackle issues such as raising the minimum wage to a “livable” level and encouraging job training.
Earlier this month, Breitbart listed the district as one of 62 the GOP must hold onto following the indictment of U.S. Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY-27) on insider trading charges by the Department of Justice.
If Republicans hold those 62 seats and flip three Democrat held seats, they will retain the majority in the House of Representatives when the 116th Congress convenes in Washington, D.C. in January 2019 with a narrow one vote margin over the Democrats, 218 to 217.
Joyce, a former public defender and prosecutor, may have his work cut out to hold onto his seat, one pundit says.
Scott Rasmussen gives the incumbent a “Likely Rep.” listing, which is a less-than-strong ranking. Rasmussen averages out four analysts’ rankings for his own: the Cook Political Report; Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball; Decision Desk; and Inside Elections. Each analyst ranks Joyce as “Likely.”
Rader is one of three Ohio candidates in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program to unseat Republican incumbents, the Daily Kos said. The others are: Ken Harbaugh, running against Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07), in the Cleveland southwest suburbs, and Aftab Pureval, running against Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH-01) in the Cincinnati northern suburbs.
With Rader’s addition, there are 56 Democratic challengers in the DCCC program that arms “top-tier” candidates with organizational and fundraising support, strategic guidance, staff resources and candidate trainings.
