Former Democratic Cleveland mayor, congressman and longshot presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich filed paperwork at the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday that indicates he’s running as an independent for the congressional seat held by Rocky River Republican Rep. Max Miller.

Kucinich has previously run for office as a Democrat. He missed the December deadline to run in the Democratic primary for the seat that encompasses western and southern Cuyahoga County, Medina and Wayne counties, and northern Holmes County, but the filing deadline for independents to seek the seat isn’t until March.


Kucinich served as Cleveland’s mayor from 1977 to 1979, and represented a western Cuyahoga County-based congressional district from 1997 until a Republican-led redistricting plan forced him into the same district as Toledo Democrat Marcy Kaptur, who defeated him in a 2012 Democratic primary.

He sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008, and until October served as campaign manager for the independent presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy, Jr.. Since leaving Congress, he has made unsuccessful runs for Ohio governor and Cleveland mayor.