House - OH 1st - Kate Schroder

Democrat challenging incumbent Republican Steve Chabot in Cincinnati and its western suburbs

video clip: "Running - Kate for Congress"

By challenging 12-term Republican incumbent Steve Chabot for Congress in Ohio’s 1st District, Kate Schroder could become the first woman ever elected to the House of Representatives from the district.

A 5th generation Cincinnatian, she grew up in a family of medical professionals and learned the value of service to others. Her mother was a nurse and her father was a renowned Cincinnati oncologist, both role models who inspired Kate’s career in health care.

Kate attended local schools and was elected student body president of her high school. She went on to college at Indiana University. After graduation, she worked in legislative politics for 3 years--first for Senator Evan Bayh in Washington, D.C. and then for the Cincinnati City Council.

Pursuing the opportunity to bring business solutions to the public sector, Kate earned her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She put her graduate degree to work as a health care researcher and consultant for the Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C.

Her next move was to Africa with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Kate served as the Zambia Country Director for two years, launching programs in pediatric HIV, lab services, and human resources for health. She returned to the United States and continued working for CHAI for another 10 years, her principal focus on improving health outcomes for children in Africa. She served in several leadership positions, managed global programs in children’s health, and published her results in academic journals. She rose to the level of vice president with the organization before leaving the job in 2019 to focus full-time on running for Congress.

Kate’s main policy goal is to ensure affordable, quality health care for everyone in her district. Her connection to the health care system is personal: In 2011, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Throughout her treatment, she learned firsthand what was broken in the system, and that access to the right care can be the difference between life and death. She is now cancer-free and determined to create a future where everyone can receive the treatment they need without worrying about unmanageable costs. Her other campaign messages include the need to start long overdue infrastructure projects in her district as well as to advance common sense gun control.

In addition to her work with CHAI, Kate has also been active in civic affairs since her return to Cincinnati in 2013. She was appointed to the Cincinnati Board of Health in 2016 and currently serves as its Finance Chair. She and her husband John Jeuch, an assistant city manager for the city of Cincinnati, live there with their two young children.

Chabot, her Republican opponent, has been in Congress for almost 25 years; he won re-election in 2018 by 4%. He votes with Trump 95.2% of the time, including over 50 votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act without an alternate plan. He has voted multiple times against protections for pre-existing conditions. Kate says: “I live with a pre-existing condition, along with 300,000 people in our district. It’s not okay to play politics with people’s lives.”

Chabot has a Planned Parenthood rating of zero. He claims that the evidence of man-made climate change is “far from conclusive” and has a 10% rating by the League of Conservation Voters. He has also stated: “We should always strive for the best way to raise children, and that's to have a mother and father in the home. Not two men or two women.”

This will be a tough race, but it is winnable. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County, which has voted Democratic in recent elections. Warren County, also part of the district, leans Republican, but its population is much smaller.

And Kate goes into the general election with an argument that dramatically contrasts with that of her opponent: “I have done things other than run for office for the past 35 years.” It’s a message that resonates with voters, particularly the younger voters in the district. As Kate says with great confidence and determination: “It’s time for change.”