State Rep. Connie Pillich, a Democrat from Montgomery, announced this morning she will take on Republican incumbent Josh Mandel for the Ohio treasurer's office in 2014.
Pillich, who represents the 28th Ohio House District in northern Hamilton County, won re-election last year after Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly had re-drawn her district to make it considerably more Republican.
She is a third term state representative, a retired captain in the U.S. Air Force, and a lawyer.
Ohio Democratic Party leaders have long been interested in Pillich as a potential statewide candidate, because of her track record of raising money and winning in Republican districts.
She is the second Hamilton County Democratic to announce a run for statewide office in 2014, joining former Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper, who is running for Ohio attorney general.
It is not yet known if she will have a primary opponent.
If she is the Democratic nominee, she will take on another military veteran - Mandel, a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war.
Mandel was elected Ohio treasurer in 2010; and immediately will do the job she was elected to do and make sure our tax dollars are protected and used wisely."
Last year, Democrats slammed Mandel for allegedly ignoring his duties as state treasurer while running for the U.S. Senate.
Pillich picked up the theme Monday.
"It's about time we had a real leader in the treasurer's office,'' Pillich said. "Ohio needs someone who actually wants to be treasurer, someone who will show up to do the job and put qualified people to work with her,'' Pillich said.
Matt Borges, the Ohio Republican Party's chairman-elect, fired back in a press release, saying Ohioans "cannot afford to return to the disastrous tax and spend policies of Connie Pillich."
"Connie Pillich is part of the problem that Gov. Kasich, Treasurer Mandel and others have been working to fix since they were elected in 2010,'' Borges said.
As a Democrat, Pillich is a member of the minority in the Ohio House of Representatives. She sits on the Judiciary, Financial Institutions and Military and Veterans Affairs committees. She lives Montgomery with her husband and two children.
