Kate Schroder

Kate Schroder (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio's 1st Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Schroder completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

In 2020, Schroder participated in a Candidate Conversation hosted by Ballotpedia and EnCiv. Click here to view the recording.

Elections

2020

Ohio's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (April 28 Democratic primary)

Ohio's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (April 28 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Incumbent Steve Chabot defeated Kate Schroder, Kevin Kahn, and Kiumars Kiani in the general election for U.S. House Ohio District 1 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Steve Chabot (R)	51.8	199,560
	Kate Schroder (D)	44.6	172,022
	Kevin Kahn (L)	3.6	13,692
	Kiumars Kiani (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	11

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 385,285
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Kate Schroder defeated Nikki Foster in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1 on April 28, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kate Schroder	67.6	36,579
	Nikki Foster	32.4	17,520

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 54,099
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Meghan Pratschler (D)
Laura Ann Weaver (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Incumbent Steve Chabot advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1 on April 28, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Steve Chabot	100.0	44,746

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,746
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Kevin Kahn advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1 on April 28, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kevin Kahn	100.0	266

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 266
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Moderated by journalist and political commentator Greta Van Susteren, Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to easily get to know their candidates through a short video Q&A. Click below to watch the conversation for this race.

Ballotpedia survey responses

Kate Schroder completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Schroder's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Kate, a cancer survivor who was born and raised in Cincinnati, has spent her career finding solutions to tough challenges. She did it by expanding dental services in local schools while on the Cincinnati Board of Health and reducing the cost of prescription drugs by 40% while working abroad in global health. In Congress, Kate will work hard to lower drug costs and other out of pocket health care costs, pass comprehensive common-sense gun reform legislation, and work to bring resources back to her community to provide jobs, infrastructure, and reduce disparities in healthcare treatment. Kate is a fifth-generation Cincinnatian. She and her husband, John Juech, live in Clifton and are parents to a daughter Josie (six) and a son Peter (four).

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Access to quality, affordable health care is a fundamental human right. As a cancer survivor, I know what it's like to receive a life-changing diagnosis and how access to healthcare can be the difference between life and death.
I will work to bring federal dollars to the district to fix our roads, highways, and bridges. Right here in our backyard, the Brent Spence Bridge and Western Hills Viaduct are crumbling and have been neglected for years. We need a strong leader who will build partnerships at the local, state, and federal level to get the job done.
Gun violence is a national security and public health issue, and poses unacceptable risks to our kids and families. I take a common-sense approach to reducing gun violence, including mandatory background checks on all gun purchases, banning the sale of military-style weapons, and passing red flag laws to keep guns away from violent criminals.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

A few of my top priorities are increasing access to healthcare, improving infrastructure investment, reducing gun violence, addressing climate change, strengthening public education, protecting women's healthcare, protecting our seniors and entitlements, criminal justice reform, and solving the opioid crisis.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

I always recommend Mountains beyond Mountains by Paul Farmer. At its core, the book is about making the impossible possible and the principle that all lives have equal value. It resonates with me and the work I have pursued in my life. I am especially inspired by its message of how to bring new approaches to address old problems and to build a diverses coalition of stakeholders (patients, clinicians, government leaders, private sector, NGOs, etc.) to solve complex problems. This has been something I have taken to heart in my entire professional career in public health.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I feel very strongly that all elected officials must be willing to work with their colleagues regardless of political affiliation to get results for their constituents. We must put people over politics and focus on improving the lives of the people we represent over political gamesmanship.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I have spent my entire career finding solutions to complex problems in public health. As healthcare continues to be a dominant public policy issue, we need more leaders who understand the nuance of public health policy and know how to find workable solutions to these tough problems.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Bottom line, elected officials have an obligation to help others - to represent all of their constituents, not simply the ones that voted for them. We need more leaders willing to pursue solutions and bring people together as Americans across party and other lines. We must all work with integrity to improve the lives of those in our district and shape public policy that will improve the nation.

What legacy would you like to leave?

When my time in elected office is over, I would like for my legacy to be that I was a tireless advocate for my community - a problem solver who was unafraid to tackle big issues such as healthcare reform and infrastructure spending.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

After graduating from Indiana University, my first job was working as for then Sen. Evan Bayh (IN) for two years. For the first two months, I answered phones in the front office and greeted all the visitors to the offices. I then was promoted to work as a Legislative Correspondent with a focus on health care issues. I was responsible for researching healthcare legislation for the Senator and also drafting responses to constituents who reached out on healthcare issues. As in all jobs, I also took on a bunch of other responsibilities wherever needed/valuable - like giving Capitol tours to visiting constituents, staffing the weekly "Hoosier Hospitality" meet and greet, helping to organize (and reserve field space) for the office softball team, drafting memos with voting recommendations, and coordinating with colleagues in other Senate offices to help refine and advance bills on common priorities.

I learned a ton working for Senator Bayh - and loved the opportunity to understand how our federal government works. I also developed a deep respect for his thoughtful and values-driven leadership style that put people over politics. At the same time, I was disappointed by the slow pace of results in Congress. I saw firsthand how only a small fraction of the most promising bills each year would advance; the vast majority would never move forward.

As an action-oriented person, my two years in Congress informed my decision to pursue an MBA, particularly to hone my skills in management, finance and negotiation. I resolved that I would always stay involved in public service in my personal time, but also wanted to pursue a career in healthcare that would allow me to flip between the public and private sectors. I believed (and still do) that there is a lot to learn from both sectors, and especially the intersection of them.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

"It's Quiet Uptown" from the Hamilton Broadway soundtrack.

It's a beautiful song by Lin-Manuel Miranda about love, loss, marriage and forgiveness... about how we all suffer unimaginable hardship in our lives... and yet find a way through with love. It's my go-to song to calm myself on days when I feel stressed or pulled in too many directions. And I love the message of forgiveness. It reminds me that we are all doing our best and to always give others the benefit of the doubt because you don't know what they are going through.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Over Thanksgiving in 2010, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. In my early thirties, I felt invincible and on top of the world. To have my life turned upside down so quickly is a feeling of vulnerability I won't ever forget.

In that moment, everything changed. I realized that all my big plans for the future - getting married, starting a family, building my career - weren't in my control any more. And might not be even be possible. I felt helpless. And completely vulnerable. I discovered that the problems I thought were problems the day before were no longer relevant. All that mattered now was two things:

- Could I access the treatment?
- And would it work on my body?

I was lucky. I was lucky that I had insurance that allowed me to get the chemo that I needed without risking bankruptcy or lifelong debt. I was lucky to have a job that was flexible to work around chemo sessions. I was lucky to have a network of friends and family whose love and support carried me through this difficult time. And I was especially lucky to be in the percent of patients who responded to treatment.

Now, nine years out, I can happily report that I am cancer-free. And that I got to go back to my big plans after all. John and I got married a year after I finished chemo, and we now have two wonderful children, Josie and Peter, who are 6 and 4 (and who are running around somewhere here).

But I've never forgotten what it feels like to be vulnerable. And that's a huge part of why I'm running. Health care is a human right. It's not okay to play politics with people's lives.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

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Footnotes

[show]

Ohio's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Jon Husted (R)

Bernie Moreno (R)

Representatives

District 1

Greg Landsman (D)

District 2

David Taylor (R)

District 3

Joyce Beatty (D)

District 4

Jim Jordan (R)

District 5

Bob Latta (R)

District 6

Michael Rulli (R)

District 7

Max Miller (R)

District 8

Warren Davidson (R)

District 9

Marcy Kaptur (D)

District 10

Michael Turner (R)

District 11

Shontel Brown (D)

District 12

Troy Balderson (R)

District 13

Emilia Sykes (D)

District 14

David Joyce (R)

District 15

Mike Carey (R)

Republican Party (12)

Democratic Party (5)

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Kate Schroder

Contents

Elections

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. House Ohio District 1

Campaign themes

2020

Candidate Conversations

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

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