Very Interesting: two candidates from ohio set to visit Browns secret….

WASHINGTON, D. C. – An ex-Cleveland Browns quarterback, an author and motivational speaker, and a utility worker on Wednesday filed paperwork to mount challenges to U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a South Russell Republican who has represented the GOP-leaning 14th congressional district since 2013.

Joyce and all the other incumbents who represent Northeast Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives are seeking re-election to the job that pays $174,000 per year. To achieve that goal, they’ll have to defeat any challengers in March, then win November’s general election.

Joyce represents a Republican-leaning district in the state’s northeast corner that includes all of Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula, Trumbull counties, and all but a sliver of Portage County. He regularly faces Republican primary challengers who contend he’s not conservative enough, and pivots to facing a Democrat in November who objects to the votes he’s taken as a Republican.

“I’m proud of my record of delivering results for Northeast Ohio,” said a statement from Joyce. “From returning taxpayer dollars through the appropriations process to protecting Lake Erie through my Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, it’s been an honor to fight for hardworking Ohioans in Washington. But there is more work to be done. I look forward to earning the support of 14th district voters again so we can continue our work to secure the border, create jobs in our community, and combat out-of-control inflation.”

The Republicans who want to challenge Joyce this year include Ken Polke of Saybrook Township, Mark Zetzer of Russell Township and Elayne Cross of Kent, an author and motivational speaker. The Plain Dealer has reached out to Cross for information about her campaign.

Brian Kenderes of Mentor is the sole Democrat seeking the seat. In 2022, Kenderes mounted an unsuccessful write-in campaign in the 7th congressional district. In an email, he described himself as a retired soccer coach, mental health professional and project manager for residential construction. He cited his faith in God as a reason for running for office, and said he wanted to run for office as a Democrat because “I want be a part of a Party that serves the broken and beaten down.”

He applauded President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, and called for ending the need for abortion by properly funding foster and adoptive care, saying “we must be able to say to our traumatized young ladies ‘America takes care of its babies,’ before we can consider ending abortion – with safety and wellbeing for our mothers as top priority always.”

Polke, a former dentist who says he played quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins in the 1970s and published an autobiography, says he feels “the country is about ready to get flushed down the toilet,” and he’s running for Congress to help save it. Polke lost a primary for Ohio legislature in 2020, and unsuccessfully sought a congressional seat when he previously lived in Colorado.

The Browns and Dolphins all-time rosters don’t list Polke as a player. Past news coverage indicates he played in at least one preseason game for the Dolphins during a 1974 players strike and was cut when the regular players returned at the end of training camp. Polke was at the Browns 1975 training camp but did not make the regular team, playing on its practice squad.

Polke contends Joyce “is not really a Republican, even though he says he is,” and expressed dissatisfaction with Joyce’s support for a recent defense bill that authorizes millions in spending for Ohio projects, but also includes an extension of a foreign intelligence surveillance program that civil libertarians say has allowed invasive searches of Americans’ communications.

Zetzer, who works as a surveyor, mapper and locator in the oil and gas industry, says Joyce isn’t conservative enough and votes for spending bills that have contributed to inflation. Zetzer formerly ran for city council in Shaker Heights and ran for Congress against Democratic former U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge in 2014. That year, he got 20 percent of the vote in Fudge’s heavily Democratic district.

The latest reports filed at the Federal Election Commission show Joyce had $2.3 million in his campaign account at the end of September. None of the other candidates have filed reports to indicate that they’ve raised campaign cash.

U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, is seeking re-election in Ohio’s most demographically Democratic district, which includes Cleveland and most of its eastern suburbs. Federal Election Commission reports show her campaign had $486,820 in the bank at the end of September.

Former three-term Cleveland Heights Mayor Alan Rapoport, an attorney, has filed paperwork to seek the seat as a Republican. He previously sought a Cuyahoga County Council seat as a Democrat, and mounted an independent bid for state legislature.

Republican Landry M. Simmons, Jr., a sheriff’s deputy who last year lost an Ohio Senate Race to Democrat Nickie Antonio, has also filed paperwork to seek the seat. Simmons also filed paperwork to run for Cleveland mayor in 2021 but withdrew his name after he couldn’t get enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot.

Cleveland Heights home remodeler James Hemphill, who sought the job in 2022 but lost in the GOP primary, is making a second try. During his last campaign, he said he turned his life around after spending nearly 70 months in prison for a 1990s drug trafficking charge and hoped to help constituents avoid similar paths. He also advocated for increasing education and training for tradespeople and other efforts to boost minority ownership of small businesses.

None of the Republicans reported raising any campaign money to the FEC.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat, is seeking re-election in the district that includes all of Summit County, northern Stark County and a sliver of Portage County. An experienced state legislator before her election to Congress, Sykes had $753,192 in her campaign treasury at the end of September.

Sykes’ district is one of the most demographically competitive in Ohio. The Cook Political Report describes it as a “toss up.”

Three Republicans, including a pair of experienced Republican officeholders, and a congressional candidate who has sought the seat multiple times over the years, have filed paperwork to run against her.

Hudson council member Chris Banweg, a health care business executive who serves as a Marine Corps Reserve lieutenant colonel, so far has the biggest campaign bankroll of the challengers. Federal Election Commission filings at the end of September shows his campaign had $103,862 in the bank.

Kevin Coughlin of Bath Township, who served in Ohio’s legislature from 1996 to 2011 and was subsequently elected Stow Municipal Court clerk, has also filed paperwork to run. He currently runs a small business that provides strategic counsel and expertise in management, communications and public policy to businesses and nonprofits. He has not yet filed fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission.