Alaina Shearer says her career in networking has prepared her for the tough business of politics.
"Building that amazing organization has been a warm-up lap for political campaigns," she says.
Shearer, 40, became well-known in Central Ohio business circles when the Delaware native launched Women in Digital, a networking organization that recently changed its name to Together Digital.
Now she’s trying her hand at public service by entering the campaign for Ohio's 12th Congressional district.
It'll be a steep uphill climb for Shearer, a Liberty Township Democrat who's trying to flip a heavily-Republican district that’s been represented by the GOP for 88 of the past 100 years.
Democrat Danny O'Connor nearly won an upset victory in the 12th district in a special election last year, but Republican Troy Balderson beat him in that August race and in a repeat matchup in the November general election.
"When you get to know me, and you will over the course of the next year, you'll see there a couple things I specialize in. And one of them is doing the impossible," Shearer says. "When people tell me that it’s not possible, it actually makes it somehow more possible in my mind."
When asked if she has the fundraising network necessary to fuel an upset victory, she says "absolutely."
Shearer says the issue most important to her is health care. She supports keeping the Affordable Care Act in place and says going to a "Medicare for all" - style system is impractical.
She’s also running on a platform of expanding paid family leave.
When it comes to the impeachment of President Trump, Shearer says she support the ongoing inquiry and wants the Trump administration to cooperate, but her final decision on impeachment "depends on what we continue to find."
