Democratic nomination. Part I
Marcy Kaptur after the campaign launch in Washington D.C. with Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI)Her path to the nomination was difficult. In June 2019, the U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio's 9th congressional district, known to almost no one outside her constituency, has joined a wide field of Democratic presidential candidates. Her victory was not considered likely. In an interview with a regional newspaper in Toledo, Kaptur called her lack of a chair of the committee, despite her seniority, one of the main reasons she decided to run. At first, she did almost no campaigning and honestly admitted that she knew she had no chance, but wanted to end her political career that way.
Due to the refusal of leading Democrats, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to run, there was no clear leader in the race, and Senator Kamala Harris of California ranked first with only 9%. Popular Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio also refused to run and remained in the Senate. In September he backed his longtime friend Marcy Kaptur after second Democratic debate.
Sherrod Brown began campaigning for Marcy Kaptur in Iowa, where he was later joined by a former governor and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who also announced his support for Kaptur. After that and after a series of debates in which she was largely the winner, her rating began to grow rapidly. The main strategy of the campaign was to appeal to Obama-Trump voters, and the white working class. Kaptur had little support among minorities, so she hoped to win at the expense of white voters. This was facilitated by 3 national campaign co-chairs, U.S. Representative from Michigan's 9th congressional district Andy Levin, former U.S. Senator and former Governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton and former 2020 presidential candidate and U.S. Representative from Ohio Tim Ryan.
The main goal of the campaign was to win in Iowa. It was Kaptur's only chance to win, as losing in Iowa would mean the end of her campaign. That is why most of the attention in her campaign was paid to this state. She toured all 99 counties in the state. U.S. Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown, U.S. Senator from Indiana Joe Donnelly, former Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack, current Iowa Lieutenant Governor Rita Hart, many state senators and representatives constantly campaigned for her in the state.
The day before caucuses in Iowa the list of her endorsements was as follows:
1. Senators× Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
× Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
× Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
× Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)
2. Representatives× Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL)
× Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL)
× Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL)
× Rep. J.D. Scholten (D-IA)
× Rep. Josh Hicks (D-KY)
× Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME)
× Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
× Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA)
× Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI)
× Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) - national co-chair
× Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI)
× Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV)
× Rep. Aftab Pureval (D-OH)
× Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
× Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
× Rep. Danny O'Connor (D-OH)
× Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) - national co-chair
× Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
× Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA)
× Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
× Rep. Denny Wolff (D-PA)
× Rep. Pam Snyder (D-PA)
× Rep. Ron DiNicola (D-PA)
× Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA)
× Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)
× Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI)
× Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX)
× Rep. Candace Valenzuela (D-TX)
× Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
× Rep. MJ Hegar (D-TX)
× Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX)
× Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT)
× Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)
× Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
× Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI)
3. Governors × Gov. Richard Cordray (D-OH)
× Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI)
4. Notable former elected officials (not all)× Fmr. Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
× Fmr. candidate Julian Castro (D-TX)
× Fmr. House Maj. Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO)
× Fmr. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
× Fmr. Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI)
× Fmr. Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) - national co-chair
× Fmr. Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA)
