The 10th Congressional District includes all of Montgomery and Greene counties, and after redistricting last year covers northeast Butler County including Middletown.
Knickerbocker has served in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve and works as a neuro-oncology nurse practitioner at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, according to a press release her campaign released. She has also worked for the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson, according to the announcement.
Her LinkedIn page shows that she worked as a family nurse practitioner at Five Rivers Family Health Center in Dayton in 2022. A page at the Wexner website says she was a major, or O-4, in the Air Force before joining Wexner.
In a video announcing her candidacy, Knickerbocker did not mention Turner. Instead, she took aim at high costs, particularly high health care costs.
“I see the real cost when the health care system fails my patients, and when I almost died from childbirth, the system even failed me,” she said in the video. “I see people lose their life savings because health care costs are too high. The system cares more about making money than keeping people healthy.”
Democrats nationally have latched on to affordability as a fighting issue in this year’s mid-term congressional elections, reports have indicated. CNN and others report “anxiety” among congressional Republicans on the issue of health care costs, the central issue over which last year’s record-setting lapse in federal government funding was fought.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week issued a statement noting that Turner and Rep. Mike Carey, R-Columbus (whose district includes parts of southern Clark and northern Miami counties), voted against a legislative measure that would have extended tax credits for the Affordable Care Act.
In a 230-to-196 vote, 17 Republicans joined Democrats in favor of the measure.
“The economy is broken. People here are working twice as hard and getting half as much. Prices keep going up, insurance premiums are skyrocketing, and utility bills are through the roof,” Knickerbocker said in her release and video. “These things didn’t happen by accident. They’re the result of choices made by corrupt politicians in Washington who pass bills that make us poorer and sicker and then try to tell us they’re big and beautiful.”
Various shots in the video show Knickerbocker jogging on a recreation trail and exercising with battle ropes.
Turner, 66, announced Monday that he will seek reelection, seeking to continue a congressional career that began in 2003.
“I do think this is a time for making certain we have a voice of strong and experienced leadership, with everything that’s happening in Washington, especially the vulnerabilities and threats that we have to our federal workforce and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” Turner said at a press conference at the Montgomery County Board of Elections Monday, where he submitted a candidacy petition form.
Knickerbocker’s Linked-in page says she received a bachelor’s degree at Azusa Pacific University and a master’s degree from Ohio State University.
A message with questions was sent to a spokesman for Knickerbocker’s campaign.
In April the DCCC identified the district as a “district in play” — a Republican-held district viewed as competitive.
Turner has never lost a congressional race. The Cook Political Report has rated the district as a “solid R,” meaning a Republican candidate has a strong advantage here.
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