MENTOR, Ohio — Ahead of Election Day, Democrat Hillary O’Connor Mueri spoke exclusively with Spectrum Washington bureau reporter Taylor Popielarz about her race against Republican Congressman Dave Joyce in the 14th District.
You can watch the full, uncut conversation above or read the full transcript below.
And you can watch the full report on the race in the 14th Congressional District by clicking here.
Taylor Popielarz: So I want to start off with what’s the most cliche question. Congress right now is not really viewed in the most favorable way. Why do you want this job?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Well, isn’t that why you’d want to have the job, is to be able to change that perception by doing it right. I come from this district. I was born in Parma, which is just on the other side of Cleveland. We moved here when I was three-years-old. My parents still live in that same house today, which is just five minutes up the road from where I live. And my brother and his family are just another two minutes on the other side of me from that. So this race, it is hyper-personal to me, it doesn’t get any closer to home. So when I had the opportunity to come here and try to make change, to help my family, to help my neighbors, to help everybody in this district, it was absolutely something that I couldn’t say no to. And I think that we see that in our congressional representation, not representing the will of the people, instead representing those special interests and the people who fund their campaigns. And so hopefully being able to bring that sort of change back to the people, bring the people’s house back to the people, is absolutely why I got invested in this.
Taylor Popielarz: I’ve read your campaign platform, but as you’ve been campaigning virtually and meeting voters in this district, what are you leading with as your top two or three legislative priorities if you were to get elected?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it is not rocket science what this district needs. I studied rocket science in school, it’s not rocket science. We need access to affordable, available and quality health care for everybody. And we need access to better jobs. Not to steal Sherrod Brown’s line, but I believe in the dignity of work, and I believe in a living wage for everybody. So when we put those two things together, I think that it’s going to be something that really helps Ohio 14 regain its stature.
Taylor Popielarz: So Congressman Joyce, he’s been in office for seven years now. He’s run a campaign here several times over. Each time he’s won by double digits, sometimes as low as by 10 points, sometimes as high as by 30 points. What makes you think this cycle that you have a realistic chance?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Absolutely. This district itself is very swingy. If you look at the numbers, people here are willing to vote for whoever they think the best candidate is. We’ve seen Barack Obama take this district, and then we saw this district go for Donald Trump. At the same time, Sherrod Brown has won this district twice in a row. So it is a matter of presenting my best face forward, I believe. I think I come to this district as a hometown girl, I served my country, and I come with that sense of service and want to bring that back to this district. And I think that people are really catching on to the fact that David Joyce isn’t representing their interests. He’s representing his own interests. He’s representing the interests of the people who are funding his campaign. And I think that people have seen through that and have had enough.
Taylor Popielarz: You moved back to the district last year, correct? After your time away, especially because you were, you know, grew up here. Did you feel that you had to reconnect yourself with the district at all? Or did you feel that your time away helped you better understand things here?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Well, I traveled but I don’t think I was ever really away. As I mentioned, my parents still live in the same house I grew up in. Every holiday I’ve been here, every occasion to have a vacation, I would come home to visit. So you know, it wasn’t like I vanished and then just suddenly reappeared. It’s been my anchor throughout everywhere I’ve lived through the service and after. Beyond that, I had a hairdresser here. Every time I would call home and say, hey Mom, I’m coming to visit can you please call Donnie for me as well? My dentist was here. So I had a lot of anchors here beyond just my family as well. You know, not to be too cliche about the Navy metaphor, but you know, where your anchor is, is where you’re always going to be coming home to.
Taylor Popielarz: When you talk to constituents, and they say, I like the idea of your candidacy, but I feel good about the fact that we’ve had a representative who’s been in office for several years, who has some good positions on some good committees. And even if they don’t agree with him on every legislative issue, they say he’s been around the block and he has that experience. What do you argue to say it’s worth it for a fresh start?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Absolutely. One of the things I think that is fabulous about what I bring to the table is the fact that I don’t have those ties to the big special interests. David Joyce, at his last filing, raised $2.2 million. And of that amount, $1.6 million came from either PACs or what they call large corporate donors. Only 2.76% of his donations were from under $200 donors. I come here refusing to accept corporate pac money so that I can say that I am representing the interests of the people here. So sometimes experience is its own sort of anchor, and it ties you to things that are not necessarily in the interests of your constituency.
Taylor Popielarz: The congressman, when I’ve spoken with him, he argues that he tries to dedicate most of his time in Washington to bipartisanship. He’s part of the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House, which is 25 Republicans, 25 Democrats. He, and I can tell you from covering the delegation, he stays out of most of the D.C. drama, and he seems to focus more so on issues that are specific to the district. With that in mind, what do you view as his flaws as the representative for this area?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Well, his voting record shows that he is anything but bipartisan. He, at the current moment, has just short of a 94% Trump-line voting record, which is actually unheard of even in this current Congress. For comparison’s sake, Jim Jordan, who is fairly well reviled by the Democrats, has an 88% Trump-line voting record. So to me, that doesn’t look very bipartisan. So you know, I think that it’s a little bit more branding than anything else.
Taylor Popielarz: If you were to get elected, would your constituents be reasonable to expect that you wouldn’t vote with the Democratic Party 90+ percent of the time?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Well, I would say that I would vote in the interests of the 14th District 100% of the time.
Taylor Popielarz: Sticking within kind of the political side of things, I’m curious just how you think President Trump’s first term in office has been overall?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: I think it has been chaotic and divisive. And I think we need to return to a sense of honor and normalcy in our government affairs.
Taylor Popielarz: Had you been in the House when impeachment was going on, would you have voted to impeach the president?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Absolutely. I think that the evidence was fully stacked in favor of saying that it was the right move to make.
Taylor Popielarz: And then Nancy Pelosi has been the leader of House Democrats for a couple decades at this point, both as speaker and then as minority leader. If you were to get elected, would you be supportive of her staying in that role?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: I will be supportive of what the people in the 14th district want me to vote for. I want to evaluate any personal votes on the basis of what I think the values of the people here are interested in seeing.
Taylor Popielarz: And based off of, as you’ve been campaigning and talking with people, are they satisfied with her in this district?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: You know, I think that they believe that there is a lot of partisanship coming from that side of the House as well. You know, I can’t speculate on who I would vote for for speaker, since we don’t even have a slate or even a whisper of who might be up for it. But I will do that with the advice of my district.
Taylor Popielarz: Your history of service in the military is very impressive. And thank you for your service. I know it’s a cliche statement, but thank you for it. There are several members of the military in Congress right now, a couple from Ohio. Just based off of your experience, especially when you were serving overseas, how do you think that would impact how you approach the job if you are elected?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Absolutely. It’s truly an honor to serve my country. I love my country. I don’t want to be cheesy about it. But I really, truly believe in service and public service as opposed to politics. And I hope that that is something that we can help bring our Congress back together over. I believe that military people really have a better way of focusing on country first, country over party and mission first. So figuring out how we get from here to there with the best interests of our country at heart. And I think that that is a great way to start working together. If you look at the history of the United States Congress, you can see as the number of veterans in Congress has fallen to historic lows, so has bipartisanship. So has cross-party voting. So has cross-party sponsorship of bills. And I would love to be able to work with veterans on both sides of the aisle to start bringing us back together and have a unified country-first, mission-oriented Congress again.
Taylor Popielarz: Obviously, you’re running in the year of a major presidential election. And as I’ve been driving around the district today, I’ve seen quite the sign war on people’s front lawns. The president won this district and we were talking before about how Congressman Joyce has been successful in his races. What are you, I guess, as a Democrat running in this area, picking up on? Has anything surprised you in terms of the response not only to your campaign, but to Joe Biden’s? Is there a different vibe, you would say, than in years past?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Goodness. Well, luckily, yard signs don’t vote. And so hopefully the yard sign wars are just a little bit of play between neighbors. In the end, I think that we’re seeing people being so much more interested in the political process. For a very long time, I think that people have been told and bought into the notion that my vote doesn’t matter. You know, nothing I say or do is really going to have an effect. And I think that the grassroots activists, particularly here in northeast Ohio, have really pushed back on that narrative and have been able to change people’s opinions. We’re getting historic involvement from women here in the district. We’re seeing a whole lot more people who have never been engaged coming out and saying, hey, I want to phone bank, or, hey, let’s talk about these issues just over a glass of wine or something like that. And having people understand that activism doesn’t have to be a full time job, I think is the newest and the coolest thing that I’ve seen in this election cycle. It’s something that you can do in your spare time. It’s something that you can do hanging out with friends. And it’s just about being engaged in the process.
Taylor Popielarz: When you meet a voter, and I don’t know if they’ve asked you this question, but if they were, do you describe yourself as a moderate?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: I describe myself, typically, as a ‘pragmaticrat.’ I like to say that I believe in, you know, good jobs, good health care, all of the things that help the working class move forward. And I will do whatever it takes to get that forward in a very pragmatic fashion for lasting change that benefits the most people possible.
Taylor Popielarz: Then last question for you. You’re campaigning in the midst of a pandemic, what has surprised you most throughout this campaign?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Oh, I think that I would have to say I’ve been most surprised by people’s resilience. So many narratives revolve around people hiding from the disease. No, I think that people have just been really fabulous about finding new ways to work around it and to deal with it, and to engage with people in this new distanced world that we have to live in. I see it as a brilliant way to watch our neighbors try to take care of each other by respecting them and respecting their health, whether it’s by masking or distancing or anything of the like. So I’m just fabulously impressed by the resilience of everybody here and their commitment to continuing to make it happen.
Taylor Popielarz: Is there anything else you want to add?
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: I’m just so delighted to meet you. I’m so very privileged to be here. And I’m really looking forward to representing the best interests of Ohio’s 14th District.
Taylor Popielarz: Thanks so much.
Hillary O’Connor Mueri: Thank you. Thank you very much.