Ohio's 15th Congressional District sprawls from the outskirts of Columbus all the way down to Athens and McConnelsville, covering six Appalachian counties in a 60% rural constituency.
Even though the majority of the 15th District is distributed over rural Ohio, the district has been represented by Rep. Steve Stivers, who has lived in a suburb of Columbus for the last decade.
So when news broke that Stivers is stepping down later this month to become the CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, local leaders across the region began considering who should fill their representative's seat.
County commissioners, mayors and non-profit leaders in the 15th District's Appalachian counties say their new representative needs to know how to navigate national partisanship while also balancing the unique economic challenges rural communities face.