A Democrat Is Launching a Longshot Bid to Beat Rep. Mike Turner

Democrats hope they’ve finally found a candidate who’ll make Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio wish he hadn’t decided to run for reelection.

Kristina Knickerbocker, an Air Force veteran, will announce on Tuesday that she is running for the Dayton-area House seat, launching her campaign a day after the longtime Republican incumbent said he would seek another term in office. Knickerbocker, a political newcomer who is also a nurse, has excited national Democrats, who hope she’ll give the party its best chance at winning the right-leaning 10th Congressional District in more than 10 years.

In a video launching her candidacy, Knickerbocker emphasized her dual backgrounds as a veteran and a nurse, saying the district needs a representative who has the moxie to fix the health care system and broken economy.

“In my life, I’ve never walked away from a hard mission,” she said. “Not in uniform, not in scrubs, not as a mom. And I’m not about to start now.”

Knickerbocker’s candidacy is a sign of how Democrats think they can take advantage of what they hope is a strongly anti-GOP political climate in November’s election, capitalizing on a backlash to President Donald Trump that could help them even in districts usually dominated by Republicans.

But defeating Turner will be difficult, even in a favorable environment. The former mayor of Dayton, first elected to the House in 2002, has always won reelection by a double-digit margin, with Democrats not even trying to seriously contest his seat before this year. He won reelection last year by nearly 20 percentage points, more than doubling Trump’s margin.

“Congressman Mike Turner is a proven and trusted leader who continues to deliver commonsense wins for Ohioans,” said Zach Bannon, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “The DCCC’s desperate spin in OH-10 is a joke; Congressman Turner will resoundingly defeat any out of touch Democrat candidate.”

A Republican-led redistricting effort in Ohio last year made the district modestly more GOP leaning, shifting it from one Trump won by 6 points to one he won by 8 points.

Knickerbocker is one of many armed forces veterans and health care practitioners to run this year, as Democrats seek to reinforce their patriotic bonafides while taking advantage of what they say are steep cuts to the health care system enacted by Republicans.