Ted Strickland launches U.S. Senate bid

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September 2012. Strickland on Wednesday announced that he will seek Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman's seat in 2016.

(J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press)

WILMINGTON, Ohio -- Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland confirmed Wednesday that he will run for U.S. Senate next year, offering Democrats a candidate with statewide name-recognition in their bid to unseat Republican incumbent Rob Portman.

"I'm running for the United States Senate in 2016 because I am determined to restore the American Dream for working people in this country," Strickland said in an emailed statement. "I believe in the American Dream because I've lived it."

Strickland is attempting a political comeback at age 73 -- he will be 75 on Election Day 2016 -- and five years after he lost his gubernatorial re-election bid to John Kasich by a slim margin. In his announcement, he played up his Appalachian roots, which in 2006 helped propel him from the U.S. House to the governor's chair.

"I grew up in rural Scioto County as the eighth of nine children, and was the first person in my family to go to college," Strickland said. "My father was a proud steelworker and my hard-working mother devoted her life to raising our family."

In his statement, Strickland emphasized "living-wage jobs," infrastructure projects, college affordability and fair trade as core priorities of his campaign.

Portman took several shots at Strickland in his own emailed statement, in which the senator welcomed the Democrat "back to Ohio" and into the race. And his re-election team launched a website characterizing Strickland as a political retread. (Strickland's campaign already has a website up, too.)

"I'll continue fighting every day to expand opportunities for all Ohioans, working with both parties to reduce barriers to job growth and to create better paying jobs," Portman said. "Ohio families deserve a senator who will fight for their future and they can't afford to go backward with Gov. Strickland."

Strickland's decision ends months of speculation about his plans. He passed on a rematch with Kasich last year. But his party's statewide ticket collapsed under the failures of gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald, and Strickland quickly emerged as a candidate who could buy time for the Democratic bench to mature.

Yet Strickland might have to fend off one of those young up-and-comers to win his party's nomination. Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, 30, declared his candidacy for the Senate seat last month and is off to a fast fundraising start. In strategy memos, his team plays up his youth -- as subtle a knock on Strickland as it is on the incumbent Portman, who will be 60 in November 2016.

Many Democrats believe Sittenfeld will ultimately stand down and clear the primary field for Strickland. But Sittenfeld is not signaling that -- at least not now.

"I'm in this race to offer new ideas for strengthening the middle class, growing educational opportunity, increasing wages, promoting a clean energy future, and ensuring a secure retirement for our seniors -- all things that Rob Portman has failed to do during his quarter of a century in Washington," Sittenfeld said Wednesday. "As I have said before, I admire Ted Strickland, but my focus is not on who is or isn't in the primary, it's on the principles and the people I'm fighting for."

Portman's Republican allies have shown more concern about a campaign against Strickland. For weeks they have hammered the former governor for his work with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning Washington think tank that Strickland resigned from this month, signaling his likely entry into the Senate race.

"Ted failed Ohio," said Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges. "When he was Governor the state lost 350,000 jobs, he drained our state's rainy day fund and created a massive budget hole. Then when he left office he went to Washington, D.C., and became a lobbyist for the liberal special interests, putting their needs above Ohio's. The voters know that Ted failed Ohio and then he cashed out and left the state."

Borges and his team were ready for Wednesday's announcement. They went live with TedFailedOhio.com, another website bashing Strickland's career in politics.