By Daniela Altimari, CQ-Roll Call

WASHINGTON — Aging Democratic lawmakers have faced escalating calls to step aside and make way for a new generation of leaders since last year’s stinging election losses.

But the uncomfortable conversations about the party’s old guard have largely sidestepped Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who turned 79 this month and is the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress.

A populist from the heartland with working-class roots, Kaptur first came to the House in 1983 and has managed to keep winning in a state that has become increasingly red in recent years.

She’s hoping to extend that streak in 2026.

“I’m a happy person. God’s given me good health, and I know this is what I was meant to do,” she said in an interview. “I want to continue to serve, if the people so choose.’’

But the potential for new boundaries that would make her Toledo-anchored battleground district even less hospitable to Democrats — along with a growing field of Republicans vying to unseat her — could make Kaptur’s run for a 23rd term her toughest cycle yet.

This week, state Rep. Josh Williams and former state Rep. Derek Merrin both launched their campaigns for the GOP nomination in Ohio’s 9th District. Merrin was the party’s 2024 nominee and lost to Kaptur by less than a percentage point. They join a pair of Air Force veterans: Alea Nadeem, who was the first Republican to jump into the race, and Wayne Kinsel, who filed to run last week. Ohio Senate President Rob McColley could also contend for the seat, especially if it’s redrawn to include Henry County, where he lives.

A top target

Kaptur has so far bucked Ohio’s rightward shift by maintaining close ties with her constituents, championing workers and farmers, and shepherding funding to major projects back home as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. Her district, which slices across northwestern Ohio and skims Lake Erie, is one of 13 nationwide held by a Democrat but won by Donald Trump in 2024.

Republicans view defeating Kaptur as key to maintaining their House majority. The National Republican Congressional Committee this week included Kaptur in an ad campaign targeting 25 vulnerable Democrats who voted against Trump’s sweeping tax cut and spending package.

“Marcy Kaptur has been in office for over four decades, yet in her own words has ‘failed and failed and failed and failed’ the hardworking men and women of Northwest Ohio,’’ NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon said in an email. “Ohioans will hold her accountable and make this her last term in Congress.”

But some Republicans have voiced concerns that a crowded and bitter primary could weaken the party’s chances.

Messy primary battles have hurt the GOP’s chances in the district in the past, and Democrats hope the fractured field will once again break in Kaptur’s favor.

“Washington Republicans have spent millions of dollars trying and miserably failing to win this seat,” Katie Smith, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an email. “No matter which corporate lap-dog who wants to gut Medicaid and Social Security makes it out of a nasty and expensive Republican primary, Marcy will defeat the special interests yet again to keep working for Ohio.”

Redistricting ramifications

The dynamics of the race could be determined by Ohio’s upcoming new congressional map.

The state Constitution requires new lines to be approved before the 2026 midterms because the previous redistricting effort in 2022 did not receive bipartisan support. The process is complicated, and Ohio Republicans, who control the redistricting process, haven’t signaled how many of the state’s five Democratic-held seats they intend to redraw. But both Kaptur and Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes are seen as the most vulnerable.

In the interview, Kaptur accused state Republicans of trying to “gerrymander in a way that’s really unfair to the people.”

Without a redraw, Kaptur would likely have a smoother path to reelection, especially in a midterm cycle that traditionally favors the party out of the White House, said Sam Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Toledo.

“She’s done a good job of outperforming other Democratic candidates,’’ he said. “She’s a classic old-school member of Congress, and she’s in the district all the time. She doesn’t live in D.C. and visit during elections. After 40-plus years, you’ve been at every ribbon-cutting and you’ve met everybody.”

Toledo, the district’s central city, remains reliably Democratic, but if redistricting adds even more GOP voters, “Marcy Kaptur might be the only Democrat who could still win it,’’ Nelson said.

GOP primary takes shape

Ohio, once a bastion of working-class Democrats, has grown far more Republican over the course of Kaptur’s career. When she arrived in the House, the partisan makeup of the delegation was roughly even, with 10 Democrats and 11 Republicans. Now Democrats hold just five of the state’s 15 seats.

While the age debate roiling Democratic politics hasn’t affected Kaptur, her Republican opponents have already made it part of their messaging.

Nadeem’s campaign is highlighting her outsider status, drawing a contrast with Kaptur’s long tenure in Congress. (She has also criticized the legislative records of her GOP opponents.)

“Control of the House runs through northwest Ohio, and Republicans aren’t going to beat a 40-year career politician … with more weak, self-serving career politicians,” Tim Edson, a spokesman for Nadeem’s campaign, said in an email.

Williams, who in 2023 became the first Black Republican elected to the Ohio House in 50 years, also homed in on the incumbent’s age, saying that “Marcy Kaptur has been in office for longer than I’ve been alive.”

Merrin, who served four terms in the Ohio House, struck a similar chord.

“It’s time for new leadership,” he said. “Let’s retire Marcy Kaptur and send a conservative fighter to Congress.”

Instead of playing down her longevity, Kaptur has emphasized it.

“I have the highest seniority in the region, and I can deliver more because of that,’’ she said, citing infrastructure improvements at the Erie-Ottawa International Airport and money for a new treatment facility for people with mental illness.

Trump will likely play an outsize role in shaping the race, from the redistricting battle to which GOP candidate will win his endorsement.

For Kaptur, navigating the Trump agenda could present a challenge in a district he won last year by 7 points, according to calculations by The Downballot. She has long embraced economic populism and said she understands the appeal of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” message.

“Imagine if you live in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and that’s where my old boyfriend from college lives, and the bottom of the rug has been pulled out economically,’’ she said. “Imagine you’re from Appalachia, and the coal industry disappeared. Imagine you’re from where I come from, and the automotive industry was outsourced.”

“My own party got off the track during the 1990s” by embracing free trade, Kaptur said. “And it has cost us dearly across this country.”

Still, Kaptur contended that while Trump “put good makeup” on his message, his agenda hurts working-class voters, accusing the administration of seeking tax breaks that would benefit the wealthiest Americans while proposing cuts that would hurt rural hospitals.

“He will turn out to be a false prophet,” she said. “Because his promise was right, but now what he’s doing, he’s hurting the people that I represent.”

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