Democrat Betsy Rader will seek to challenge U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Geauga County employment attorney Betsy Rader announced Wednesday that she's running to try to unseat Republican Rep. David Joyce in Ohio's 14th congressional district.

Rader, who's running as a Democrat, faces an uphill battle. In 2016, Joyce defeated Democrat Michael Wager for the second time in four years, garnering more than 62 percent of the vote. Republican President Donald Trump also won the Northeast Ohio district last year by about 12 percentage points.

But Rader, a 55-year-old Russell Township resident, said voters in the district have shown a willingness to vote based on the individual candidates, not their party. In an interview with cleveland.com, Rader noted that Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown won the district in 2012.

Like Wager, Rader is an attorney who hasn't previously held elected office (though she previously ran unsuccessfully for Geauga County Common Pleas Court judge and Russell Township trustee - both times as an independent).

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/04/democrat_betsy_rader_to_challe.html