Throughout my life, I’ve held a lot of titles, from “businessman” and “soldier,” to “husband” and “father,” to “candidate.”
I’ve been immensely proud to hold each of them, and “congressman” is no exception. Now, I’m retiring that title, but I know that the experiences I’ve had will remain with me for life.
When I arrived in Washington, D.C. in 2011, Republicans had also earned a new title: “Majority.” As part of the largest freshman class in recent history, we knew that the nation’s eyes were on us and many were anxiously awaiting to see what the shake up would mean for families across the country.
State Rep. Allison Russo announced Tuesday she s running for the 15th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Steve Stivers this month.
Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said she wants to run to ensure the nation s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and related economic recession helps every day people, working people and Main Street.
Russo, 44, was first elected to the Ohio House in 2018, flipping a seat previously held by Republicans. Russo said the same is possible for the 15th District – it leans Republican by 7 points in the Cook Partisan Index. But U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown won the district in 2018.
“It’s a winnable race for the right candidate, Russo said in an interview. A candidate that is someone who is going to go to Congress and work for the people of this district and be super focused on the recovery and what that looks like for all people in this district – someone like me who has a reputation for working on complex issues and doing it in a bipartisan
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.