North Country congressional candidate Matt Doheny says improvement in the local economy “starts with repealing Obamacare.”

“The March unemployment report tells a sad story that North Country job recovery is lagging behind the rest of the state and nation,” the Watertown Republican said in a news release.

The candidate, noting the joblessness report in restating campaign themes, said eliminating the Affordable Care Act is key to “restoring a pro-growth economic climate.”

“It starts with repealing Obamacare. Obamacare taxes are impeding small business job growth. In addition, the medical device tax has been particularly onerous on manufacturers in the district.

“We need to reign in our nation's spending problem. Washington overreach means more federal jobs and more spending. This is a bipartisan problem and requires a bipartisan solution. We need to restrain domestic spending while shifting our focus away from the expensive and entangling foreign escapades which have drained our nation's coffers and cost too many lives.

“Finally, having just passed tax day, I know North Country families and businesses feel the weight of the tax burden on their shoulders. I have pledged to never vote to raise taxes and in Congress, I will fight for a simpler and fairer tax code.

“We need jobs and investment in the North Country, but that will only happen if we send elected officials to Washington who have real world experience and the commitment to pro-growth ideas,” Doheny said.

Doheny, who has run on the Republican and other ballot lines and lost in the last two North Country congressional races, faces a probable Republican primary challenge from Elise Stefanik of Willsboro, who entered the race before Rep. Bill Owens of Plattsburgh, who has held the seat for five years, announced he was not running again.

Running for the Democrats are Aaron Woolf of New York and Elizabethtown and Macomb town councilor Stephen Burke.