WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new effort is underway to give the Midwest a louder voice on Capitol Hill.

What You Need To Know

  • Several of Ohio’s members of Congress helped launched a new caucus focused on the Midwest on Wednesday

  • The “Heartland Caucus” will aim to raise the Midwest’s influence on Capitol Hill

  • Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has long advocated for it, hopes the group can help direct more funding to the Great Lakes
  • Kaptur and other Midwestern Democrats often point out that most members of leadership in Congress hail from the coasts 

On Wednesday, several Ohio lawmakers helped launch what’s being called the “Heartland Caucus.” It’s a group of House Democrats from Midwestern states who hope unifying will raise their collective voice in Congress.

“We have to speak louder and more forcefully,” said Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat and the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress.

It’s still fairly common in the halls of Congress to hear people refer to the Midwest as “flyover country,” so the group is hoping to change that by formally organizing.

“During my tenure here, the leadership has largely come from the coasts. And you can look at the leadership today, versus just a couple years ago, and you can see who’s missing. We’re generally missing in this part of the country,” Kaptur, D-Ohio’s 9th District, said at Wednesday’s launch event, which she helped organize.

Besides Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the leaders of both parties in the House and Senate are from New York or California.

Last November, a POLITICO reporter tweeted a map that Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell put together showing where in the country her party’s House and committee leadership hails from. It was an effort to show how the middle of the country is being left out.

At Wednesday’s press conference, freshman Ohio Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio’s 13th District, echoed those concerns.

“For too long, Ohio has been left out and behind in the national conversation,” she said.

Members hope the new caucus will elevate issues like providing adequate funding to the Great Lakes.

Earlier this month, Kaptur explained to Spectrum News that cities like Toledo and Cleveland are struggling to keep the lakes clean and functional because taxpayer dollars are getting funneled elsewhere.

“The burden on those cities for environmental investment is huge. And it amounts to billions of dollars,” Kaptur said. “They don’t have the money for that. So what happens is they float bonds and then they have to pay interest on that forever, right? What we need to do is lift that burden.”

Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio’s 3rd District, said during Wednesday’s event that advocating for the Heartland does not mean going against the rest of the party, especially since the new caucus will also have to figure out how to negotiate with the new Republican majority in the House.

“We stand strong with our Democratic colleagues, whether from the East or the West or South. So this is about unity and not about divide,” she said. “It’s about recognition.”