Democrat Nouri enters race for Pennsylvania's 16th District representative

A challenger has entered the race for representative of Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district, which covers all of Lawrence and Mercer counties.

Democrat Preston Nouri is challenging Republican Mike Kelly for the seat.

Kelly has been the 16th District representative since 2011.

Nouri gave a speech at the Democratic headquarters in Sharon Wednesday, saying that in the last 13 years since Kelly took office, he hasn't seen any tangible investments in the area.

"When kids aren't able to move in down the street and opportunities are just not available and not accessible, then people are going to be looking for a real change in leadership," Nouri said. "What I can do is be able to bring money back to the district in a real way so people can actually have a future here."

Nouri has worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Department of State and currently works for the Pentagon.

He also founded a convenience store in Erie.