JEFFERSON – Maria Jukic launched her local campaign for the Ohio 14th Congressional District Thursday evening, July 30, at the Jefferson Community Recreation Center, promising to bridge the gaps between voters who lean left, right or are in the center.
She began by talking about her bid in 2024 to run for Congress as an independent candidate. She was unable to gather enough valid petition signatures to make the ballot but learned some important lessons.
“What I learned from that experience collecting signatures…we spoke to Republicans, Democrats, unaffiliated, people on the left, right and the center,” Jukic said. “People really opened up. What I learned is that people in this district, in this country, are really not that different.”
Jukic appealed to what she called the “massive middle,” 80 percent of voters who are not on the far left or right and who, she claimed, share a broad consensus on most of the divisive political questions of the day.
She said she spoke to conservatives and Republicans who privately told her they support some form of legal abortion and modest gun control, as well as liberals and Democrats who want better immigration policy and border enforcement – and who also own guns.
Jukic is challenging incumbent Republican David Joyce in the November general election.
Her background includes serving as Ward VII Euclid City Council member and chair of the Sustainability and Parks Committee. She is an attorney by training and has served as a former leader in arts and medicine initiatives at the Cleveland Clinic before becoming a consultant.
She is campaigning on expanding access to affordable healthcare, protecting Social Security and Medicare, supporting public education, defending reproductive rights, economic policies aimed at supporting working families, restoring Medicaid and SNAP benefits, supporting unions, job creation and higher wages, supporting public education and regulating AI and campaign finance reform.
“I’m going to do everything I can to get money out of politics,” Jukic said.
Jukic gave her reasons for running, reeling off a litany of controversial decisions and policies made by the White House and the President. She characterized the lack of opposition to the White House and checks from Congress as “reprehensible.”
While the 14th Ohio Congressional District has polled showing a 9-point advantage for Joyce in the past, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball gives Democrats a generic 8-point advantage nationwide, predicting a potential gain of between 25 to 40 House seats in November.
Jukic characterized this as favorable conditions for a moderate Democrat to win OH-14 in November.
“We have everything we need to win,” she said.
