Democrats look to longshot territory for midterm gains

MASON » As Aftab Pureval campaigns for Congress in southwest Ohio, he sometimes smilingly introduces himself as “a brown dude with a funny name.”

The Ohio native is the son of a Tibet-born mother and India-born father. He first upset the Cincinnati political order in 2016, winning the Hamilton County clerk of court’s post that had been in Republican hands for a century. Now the 35-yearold attorney-turned-politician wants to unseat veteran Republican Rep. Steve Chabot.

“He’s had his chance,” Pureval says of the 65-year-old Chabot, a fixture on the Cincinnati-area political landscape for three decades who hasn’t had a tough race since seats were redrawn after the 2010 census. “It’s our time now.”

Their matchup is among dozens of House contests playing out in districts that have largely been afterthoughts in recent elections. It’s these kinds of races — beyond the 25 districts that elected a Republican member of Congress in 2016 despite Hillary Clinton defeating Donald Trump there — that could determine whether Democrats gain the 23 seats they need to retake the House.

Pureval is among the Democratic hopefuls looking to reclaim districts that span the nation’s small and midsize cities and their surrounding suburbs and small towns — much of it political territory where Democrats were swept away in Republicans’ 2010 midterm romp.

Democrats felt encouraged by the tight battle in last week’s congressional special election in Ohio. While Trump claimed victory for Republican state Sen. Troy Balderson, the race against Democrat Danny O’Connor was considered too close to call, with a recount possible.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval speaks during the “Women for Aftab” advocacy group kickoff event in June in support of Pureval’s 1st House District challenge to veteran Republican Rep. Steve Chabot in Cincinnati.