The 14th Congressional District is relatively competitive on paper, but that’s not the reality.

The district favors Republicans by about 9.7% based on statewide partisan voting results during the past decade. Before redistricting in 2022, the district favored Republicans by 9.4% for the previous decade.

Yet, the closest a Democrat ever got to a Republican was in 2018 when Betsy Rader lost to U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge, by 10.4%.

Joyce’s other victories were lopsided.

Joyce won by 23.4% in 2022, 20.2% in 2020, 25.2% in 2016, 30.3% in 2014 and 15.3% in 2012, his first year running for the congressional seat.

So there is no indication that Brian Bob Kenderes, the Democratic nominee in the 14th District in the Nov. 5 election, will do any better.

Kenderes was the only Democrat in the district to file for the seat.

The district includes all of Trumbull, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties and all but two communities in Portage County.

Kenderes hasn’t campaigned, hasn’t filed a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission — meaning he hasn’t raised at least $5,000 — and Trumbull County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alberini told me Kenderes has never reached out to his party. Trumbull County is the district’s second most-populous county.

The topper, though, is Kenderes pleaded guilty to a felony related to election fraud. The specific conviction is for filing a false voter registration.

The irony is there was no reason for Kenderes to file the false voter registration.

Kenderes will be sentenced July 25 by Judge Patrick J. Condon in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

His maximum sentence is one year in prison, a $2,500 fine and two years of probation, according to a written guilty plea he signed June 25.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office on March 22 charged Kenderes with the felony.

The sheriff’s office accused Kenderes of living in Strongsville, but filing his voter registration and nominating petitions with the Lake County Board of Elections stating he lives in Mentor.

Mentor is in Lake County, the district’s most-populous county, while Strongsville is in Cuyahoga County, which isn’t in the district.

However, a congressional candidate only needs to live in Ohio and not in the district to seek that office. There was no reason for Kenderes to use an address in the 14th District.

Several congressional candidates in Ohio have run from outside the district seat they sought. It’s not the best look for a candidate, but it’s perfectly legal.

Kenderes filed three nominating petitions with signatures to get on the ballot with the Lake elections board dated Dec. 15, 16 and 19 stating he lives at 8930 Doral Drive in Mentor, as well as a voter registration form on Dec. 15 with the board with that same Mentor address.

After the elections board sent a letter to Kenderes at the Mentor address acknowledging his new registration, his brother and sister-in-law, who live there, informed the board that Kenderes does not reside there and never has, according to the sheriff’s office complaint.

The couple, Joseph and Jill Kenderes, said the candidate has lived at 9049 Prospect Road in Strongsville since 2017. The family dynamics must be something else.

The board forwarded the information to the county prosecutor’s office, which then sent it to the sheriff’s office for investigation.

Kenderes “refused to speak with detectives regarding the investigation,” the complaint states.

On documents Kenderes signed when the case was initially heard in Painesville Municipal Court, he listed the Strongsville address on a not guilty plea dated April 23 — he wasn’t permitted to plead guilty to a felony in a municipal court — and used a Garfield Heights address of 4882 E. 97th St. on an April 23 financial disclosure form to show he is indigent. Garfield Heights is in Cuyahoga County.

Kenderes still has time to withdraw from the race.

The deadline for Democrats to replace him is Aug. 12.

It’s embarrassing for Democrats to have a felon, convicted while a candidate for an election-related crime, on the ballot.

But it’s not like the party is going to win with another candidate.

Alberini said he wants Kenderes to withdraw. As for replacing him, Alberini wants a strong candidate who can fund a campaign though he acknowledges that is highly unlikely.

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick.