Two residents of Berea invited Matthew Diemer, a Democrat running for the United States House of Representatives for Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, to Café Ah-Roma on April 13 for a meet and greet with members of the community.

Diemer is set to face off against Republican incumbent U.S. Representative Max Miller and independent candidate Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic U.S. House Representative who previously represented some of the district. Ohio’s 7th Congressional District covers Southern and Western Cuyahoga County, all of Medina and Wayne Counties and a sliver of Northern Holmes County.

Patricia Bradley, a Berea resident who organized the meet and greet, said she wanted him to come out to Café Ah-Roma because of the students in the area.

“Here we have all these young people, right?” Bradley said. “Right here in Berea. That was absolutely our hope [to attract students], especially because Matt is also very young.”

(Courtesy of Matthew Diemer)

While Diemer said that he was not sure if he interacted with any students at the event, he wanted to be out in the community since it signals the way he wants to represent his constituents.

“I want to make sure that we’re working with the people in the community because they know their communities better than we do,” Diemer said. “I’ll go to Washington, represent them there and see what we can do together.”

Diemer said he hopes to work with local community leaders throughout his time in office.

“When I get into office, I really want to work with the mayors, city council members and everybody here to make sure that we are building up Northeast Ohio,” Diemer said.

While Bradley said that she has never strongly supported many political candidates, her and fellow Berea resident, Sharon Groh-Wargo, wanted to invite Diemer out after hearing his story.

“He impressed us immediately with both his background and the history he knows,” Bradley said.

While Diemer grew up in the Cleveland area, he attended college at the University of Hawaii, before he went to China and Taiwan for 17 years where he started a business.

“It gives me a very big perspective about people,” Diemer said. “I think that’s important because it’s very easy to make a lot of people the bad guy and here in politics, it’s like your neighbor.”

Bradley said that while Diemer’s story is what drew in their support, they also stand by his support of reproductive rights and other Democratic policies.

Diemer said that his main policy goal is to “make congress work again.”

“We need people to go into congress that want to make congress work again,” Diemer said. “Congress has a 12 percent approval rating right now. They’re not passing bills.”