There are two Democrats, both from Bay Village, competing in the March 19 primary for the opportunity to represent their party in Ohio's 7th Congressional District. The winner of the primary will take on Republican Rep. Max Miller, who's currently in his first term and is running unopposed in the primary.
The potential challengers
Matt Diemer
Matt Diemer was born and raised in Cleveland. He attended the University of Hawaii for Political Science and, after graduation, studied Mandarin in China. He lived in Beijing and Shanghai, before moving to Taiwan to complete his MBA at the National Cheng Kung University.
Diemer currently lives in Bay Village in the Northwest corner of the 7th Congressional District. But he said his experience abroad gives him a different perspective when it comes to relationships with other countries.
“I think it gives me a unique light, an insight about what other countries are thinking, especially China,” Diemer said. “I'm kind of like a peek under the hood, and so...I can take that knowledge to Washington.”
Addressing the growing national debt is top of his to-do list, Diemer said.
“We keep spending more and more. Every year, Congress passes more bills that put us more in debt, and we're still wondering where the taxpayer money's going, ” he said. “Everybody is asking the same thing: ‘Why isn’t our money coming back here?’”
While Diemer has the endorsement of the Ohio Democratic Party, he felt there are many issues on which members of both parties can find common ground.
“We voted for abortion rights in Ohio in November, for recreational use of marijuana as well,” he said. “Those are conversations of policy that people — not red or blue, not Republican or Democrat — people, knew was common sense for Ohio.”
Diemer said his other priorities include addressing inflation and running a more efficient Congress.
“We have to walk and chew gum at the same time because all of these issues are important to people,” he said.
Doug Bugie
Doug Bugie grew up in Bay Village and now lives in Edgewater. Although he most recently served as the director of a capital venture company, he has maintained an interest in politics since high school, Bugie said.
“I even campaigned for the 18-year-old right to vote. It didn’t exist when I was a senior,” he said.
Bugie has been both a registered Democrat and Republican in the past and refers to himself as a centrist. But since the presidential election of Donald Trump in 2016, he said he thinks the Republican party has gone too far right.
“And even before he was elected, the party was really starting to change into something that it isn't,” Bugie said. “It’s become something very different today, and I don't agree with where it's at, particularly on gun violence, particularly on women’s right to choose, particularly on immigration.”
His priorities include advocating for stricter gun control, encouraging legal immigration and curbing the opioid crisis. He also wants to establish a flat tax rate, he said.
“It should be very, very easy to file, and there should be, it should be the same tax for everybody,” Bugie said. “That includes corporations, so they don't have loopholes where they can get out of making their fair share contribution.”
It is important to elect someone who can work with representatives from both parties, and he is that candidate, Bugie said
“I think the people in the center who can get Democrats and Republicans to work together and get independents to weigh in heavily — that's the kind of future we have that's going to help heal America and get us on the right track,” Bugie said.
Profile of the 7th district
The 7th District includes all of Medina and Wayne counties, as well as parts of Cuyahoga and Holmes. It stretches from Cleveland’s southwest suburbs to Wooster. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey, 86% of the district’s population of over 700,000 is white.
The median income for households in the district is more than $81,000, and almost 40% of households make six figures. More than 90% of residents 25 and older have a high school diploma.
“It's not overwhelmingly Republican, but it's certainly drawn in such a way designed to elect a Republican House member,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates the district as safely Republican. Of the more than 500,000 registered voters in the district, 18% are registered as Republican and 13% as Democrat, according to an Ideastream Public Media analysis of Ohio Secretary of State records.
“I think in a really good Democratic environment, the Democrats might be able to compete for it,” Kondik said. “But districts like that are generally going to vote Republican again unless the Democrats had a really strong electoral cycle.”
During the 2022 election, Miller defeated Diemer by winning more than 55% of the vote. Diemer, the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party, is being challenged by Doug Bugie for the nomination this election cycle.
Former Cleveland Mayor and 10th Congressional District Representative Dennis Kucinich announced earlier this year he plans to run in the district as an Independent. He will join the ballot during the general election in November.
