CINCINNATI (AP) - A 30-year-old Cincinnati city councilman who says Ohio needs new leaders launched a 2016 Democratic bid on Thursday for Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman’s seat in the swing state.
P.G. Sittenfeld said he’ll work to help the middle class and support key initiatives of President Barack Obama such as his health care overhaul. Sittenfeld said he’ll also have “fresh ideas” and embrace innovation.
“I feel there is a big appetite for a new generation of leaders to step up,” said Sittenfeld, the leading vote-getter in the 2013 City Council elections in which he won his second term.
He likely will have primary opposition, with several better-known Democrats, including former Gov. Ted Strickland, considering the race. Sittenfeld said he is has “enormous admiration” for Strickland but is focusing on his own effort.
Portman, meanwhile, said he’s proud of his record and is focusing on trying to get things done in Washington and traveling around Ohio to listen to constituents.
“I assume a bunch of Democrats will run, and that’s fine,” Portman said, “I look forward to a spirited campaign.”
His campaign announced Thursday that a veteran Republican strategist known for running aggressive campaigns will be his campaign manager. Corry Bliss is fresh off helping U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts win a hotly contested re-election in Kansas after joining the campaign in September.
Roberts said in a statement that Bliss’ “discipline, political savvy and meticulous organization skills are unparalleled and were vital to my re-election.”
Portman’s campaign recently reported that it ended 2014 with $5.8 million on hand. He’s also already lined up endorsements from some 250 Republicans across the state, including statewide officeholders led by Gov. John Kasich and all Ohio GOP members of Congress led by House Speaker John Boehner.
Some conservatives have said they’d like to see a primary opponent for Portman, who lost some supporters by changing his position in 2013 to announce his support for same-sex marriage. Sittenfeld said he supports “marriage equality.”
Some Democrats see an opportunity with the Ohio seat if conservatives don’t rally behind Portman and if the eventual Democratic presidential nominee galvanizes voter turnout in the high-profile state.
Portman, 59, is also from the Cincinnati area. He was elected to Congress seven times and is a former White House budget chief and U.S. trade representative. He won the 2010 election with 57 percent of the vote statewide.
Sittenfeld, who won in 2013 in Cincinnati, said Portman has a lot of experience, but it’s “the wrong kind of experience” as “part of insider Washington.”
Republican partisans dismissed Sittenfeld as an overly ambitious councilman. Ohio Republican Party spokesman Chris Schrimpf said it’s doubtful Sittenfeld has any plan “besides being a rubber stamp” for Obama.
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