An unflagging enthusiasm for the job and her close identification with her constituents helped U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) remain in office as long as she has.
Yesterday, Miss Kaptur set a record. She became the longest-serving female member of the House of Representatives — ever.
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The child of a grocer father and a factory worker mother was working on a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when she was asked to run for the 9th Congressional District seat in 1982. She ran, defeating the one-term Republican incumbent, Ed Weber, and took office in January, 1983.
Over the years, Miss Kaptur has resisted the occasional call for her to run for governor or the U.S. Senate. She’s been re-elected over Republican opponents 17 times, averaging 72 percent of the vote.
She’s gone her own way, though always within the ranks of the Democratic Party. In 1996, Miss Kaptur spoiled President Bill Clinton’s visit to Toledo by chastising him over the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 2016, she endorsed Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination for president and privately grumbled at Hillary Clinton’s clumsy campaign appearance in Toledo’s Amtrak station.
Miss Kaptur has not been without a modicum of controversy for the occasional unguarded remark. She angered American patriots by comparing the motivation of Vermont’s Green Mountain Boys with that of Osama bin Laden and his terrorist band.
Most recently she may well have represented the views of many voters when she suggested that women who work in and for Congress attract sexual harassment by wearing overly revealing clothing.
Her crowning achievement is the World War II Memorial in Washington, something suggested to her by a constituent and carried through to become one of the top tourist attractions in Washington.
She has also never taken her status for granted. When Ohio lawmakers redrew the 9th District to stretch it — absurdly — all the way into the neighborhoods of West Cleveland, more than 100 miles away from her end of the district, Miss Kaptur learned her new territory and became as ubiquitous there as she was in Lucas County.
It’s safe to say that it’s only because of Miss Kaptur’s enduring popularity in Lucas County that Congress still has a member who calls Toledo home. The population in the 9th District is larger east of Sandusky than west of it. Without Miss Kaptur on the ballot, this side of the district would, by now, be represented by someone who would need GPS to get around the Glass City — and would have no clue why it’s called that.
A private person, fiercely proud of her family and the family history, Miss Kaptur has used her position to advocate for workers, for Lake Erie, for agriculture, for Ukraine’s fight for independence from Russia, and for the Midwest.
Though she was honored in Congress on Thursday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Miss Kaptur has not been favored by the Democratic caucus. She has never been elected to a leadership position. She came close in 2012, losing out to Rep. Nita Lowey of New York to be the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Miss Kaptur maintains that it’s her refusal to play the fundraising game in Washington that has kept her from the leadership ranks. She’s also blamed the political power of “the coasts” over that of the heartland in the Democratic Party.
The tendency of the Democratic Party to be a captive of its most left-leaning interests also played a part. Ms. Lowey promised to aggressively advocate for abortion rights. Miss Kaptur has been pro-choice, with reservations.
There is not a member of Congress who knows or serves his or her district better. “Our Marcy” has done it her way and is beloved in greater Toledo for good reason.
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First Published March 18, 2018, 9:15 p.m.
