When Chelsea Clinton stopped in Pittsburgh on Oct. 14 to stump for her mother, another woman running on the federal ticket shared the stage with her, if only for a few moments – Erin McClelland, Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.

Using the theme of “mom,” McClelland railed against her opponent, incumbent Republican Rep. Keith Rothfus.

“When people like my opponent don’t want to get out there and fight and make the tough decisions and instead go out and shut down the government, this nation needs a mom to come out and say, ‘Don’t make me come up there,’” she said, referring to Rothfus’ vote against ending the government shutdown in 2013.

McClelland also took jabs at Trump, telling women in the audience to chase their dreams and that they are more than sexual objects.

“When our Republican nominee for the United States president tells us that it is our obligation to have one half of this country hate the other [half], this country needs a mom to come out there and say, ‘That’s not the way you were raised,’” she said to loud cheers.

She also kept with her “mom” theme when she introduced Chelsea Clinton as “a bada– mom.”

But McClelland faces an uphill battle to become the “mom” who keeps the nation in line. Rothfus took the 12th District from a Democratic incumbent on the Tea Party wave in 2012, the same year the district was redrawn from holding the Southwestern corner of the state to its current boundaries. The district sprawls from Beaver Falls to Johnstown.

“Basically, what the Republicans did was make it a district they could more likely win,” said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College, and director of its political polls. “It was significantly gerrymandered; let’s be honest.”

According to the Cook Political Report, Pennsylvania’s 12th District is marked as “Solid Republican.”

McClelland challenged Rothfus once before in 2014, when she lost by a margin of 59.2 percent to 40.7 percent.

As of the Sept. 30 Federal Elections Commission filing, Rothfus is operating with $1.2 million more in campaign contributions.

“This [race] is below the radar. It’s below, below, below the radar,” Madonna said. “I’m being honest, I get asked a lot about districts, but not about the 12th. In the past, it was one district I used to get calls about. … Here’s the other thing, it’s a district that Trump will do well in. It has a lot of white working class voters.”

Rothfus supports Trump. After the leaked “Access Hollywood” tape, Rothfus tweeted on Oct. 7 that Trump’s comments were “vile.” Just three days later, he introduced Trump at a rally at Ambridge High School in Beaver County.

But McClelland is not letting the race’s reality dampen her energy.

“We’re doing really well with women, Rockefeller [liberal] Republicans and working class people who are really tired of the establishment,” McClelland said.

McClelland is counting on women and millennials for support.

“I want to say to all the millennials out there, you are the majority. Get out there. Tell the world this is what we want,” McClelland told the Globe. “This is especially true for young women. Women are 52 percent of this country. They can stop what’s happening with Donald Trump, with sexism, with some of the most ridiculous policies I’ve seen.”

Rothfus’ office did not respond to inquiries from the Globe.