Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) will run against fellow Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur next year.

He will file the paperwork on Wednesday afternoon, he announced.

{mosads}Redistricting erased two House seats in Ohio, pushing the two incumbents into a single district. The new district contains areas of Kucinich’s Cleveland base and Kaptur’s Toledo base.

After publicly shopping for a district in Washington state and mulling a challenge to Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Kucinich decided enough of his base was intact to mount a primary challenge against Kaptur, who is the longest-serving female in the House. The new district contains more of Kaptur’s territory.

She steered clear of attacking Kucinich in an interview with The Hill
last week and is reportedly spending four to five hours on the phone
with voters per day.

“My ability to reach consensus and to work with a broad range of
interests toward achieving very specific goals for our region and for
the country,” Kaptur said of what would differentiate her from Kucinich.

Earlier this month Joe Cimperman, a Cleveland city councilman who challenged Kucinich in 2008, told The Hill both lawmakers are war horses with loyal supporters in the redrawn district.

“These guys don’t slouch. They’re working on Sundays. They’re constantly out there,” he said.

The winner of the heavily Democratic district may face Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (R), better known as Joe the Plumber, in the general election. Read a full breakdown of the race here.

— Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

— This story was updated at 11:43 a.m.