WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 2020 election may be over, but some members of Congress are still actively campaigning for leadership positions on Capitol Hill.

Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur is running to become chair of one of the most powerful committees in the U.S. House of Representatives.

For the last 38 years, Kaptur (D, 9th Congressional District) has represented the Toledo area in Congress.

She’s the longest-serving woman in House history and the longest-serving member of Ohio’s congressional delegation.

But her list of achievements and milestones does not include something she really wants: to be chair of the House Appropriations Committee, an influential panel that determines how the entire federal government is funded each year.

So throughout 2020, Kaptur has been quietly campaigning on Capitol Hill against two other Democratic congresswomen, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

“I believe that what I offer is a depth of experience the other two gentlewomen don’t have,” Kaptur said in an interview Tuesday.

Kaptur has served on the appropriations committee since 1991, making her the longest-serving current Democrat, with years more experience than her competitors.

She currently chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water and has served on all but one of the other 11 subcommittees.

This isn’t Kaptur’s first time running for the big chair. Back in 2012, she lost to Congresswoman Nita Lowey of New York, who’s retiring this year.

Kaptur said she felt it was because Lowey had raised a lot of money for House Democrats that cycle, but reporting from the race indicates Kaptur’s more conservative views on abortion at the time may have played a role.

Since then, Kaptur told me her views have evolved and align more with the Democratic Party.

“I think I have been advantaged as a member of Congress, because I have heard stories of what has happened to women, including some members of Congress in their own lives, that I think has moved my own views on the issue,” Kaptur said.

With the coronavirus still surging and the economy still struggling, Kaptur is campaigning on a platform of rebooting the country through the appropriations process, targeting federal dollars to America’s diverse communities, and restoring the ability for members of Congress to fight for money to go specifically to their districts.

Kaptur is hoping her Ohio roots and ability to work across the aisle will play in her favor.

“I am the only candidate from the heartland,” Kaptur said. "And our leadership has no one from the heartland, none of our exclusive committee chairs are from the heartland, and yet that was the most competitive part of the country in this recent election. And I just think, to be a national party, we have to be inclusive.”

House Democrats are expected to vote on committee leadership after Thanksgiving.

Kaptur’s supporters include Ohio’s three other Democrats in the House, who wrote in a letter that Kaptur’s “experience is the most representative of the broad-ranging interests of our Caucus.”

She’s also gotten some members of the influential Progressive Caucus backing her, who wrote in a separate letter that Kaptur “embodies the pragmatism we need to practically achieve our goals while still maintaining her unapologetic progressivism.”

Lastly, Congressman Dave Joyce (R, 14th Congressional District), the only Ohio Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, told me he would be “very pleased” if Kaptur became chair and that she’s been a “tremendous advocate for the Great Lakes and all things Ohio.”