Former governor endorses Lang for Congress

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has endorsed Athens Law Director Pat Lang in his bid for U.S. Congress, the campaign announced last week.

Lang is running for Ohio's 15^th U.S. House District, a newly drawn district that now includes most of Athens County, including the cities of Athens and Nelsonville.

Current 15^th District U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, will face a primary challenge from two other Republicans, Charles Chope and Ralph A. Applegate, both perennial candidates for Congress.

On Democratic side, Lang will square off against airline pilot Scott Wharton of Amanda, a small town southwest of Lancaster. Wharton had originally filed to run in the Democratic primary for Ohio's 10^th Congressional District before the compromise and the final map was put into place. He has since filed for the 15^th District.

"We need someone in Washington who will stand up for hard-working Ohioans," Strickland said in a release from Lang's campaign. "Pat Lang is the man for the job. He'll never forget where he came from."

Strickland himself represented portions of the new 15th District, including Lang's hometown of Albany, when the governor was a member of Congress representing Ohio's 6^th District.

That district, which for now includes the city of Athens, is currently represented by Congressman Bill Johnson, R-Marietta.

The newly drawn 15^th District doesn't include two southeast townships in Athens County, which are located in a newly drawn 6^th District. The new 15^th also includes Morgan, Perry, Hocking, Vinton, Fairfield, Pickaway, Clinton, Madison counties and parts of Franklin, Ross and Highland counties.

Lang thanked Strickland in the release and pledged to represent Ohio values in Congress. Lang characterized Stivers as a "career banking lobbyist whose extremist agenda ignores jobs and threatens to end Medicare as we know it."

"If there has ever been a champion for working men and women and for the middle class, it's Gov. Strickland," Lang said. "I am honored to have Ted Strickland's endorsement, and I intend to fight every day for the values we share."

Meanwhile, Wharton, a pilot for Delta Airlines, has said he is running because he believes the middle class needs a voice in Congress.

"We need an advocate from outside of politics that does not pander to special interests and big business," a release from Wharton's camp states. "We need Scott to represent the American people; it is time to take Congress back."