Emilia Sykes (D) and Madison Gesiotto Gilbert (R) are running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. Incumbent Rep. Tim Ryan (D) did not run for re-election but for U.S. Senate in Ohio.
Spectrum News‘ Taylor Popielarz wrote, “Tim Ryan’s decision to run for Senate created a rare open seat and a very competitive race.” After 2020 redistricting, the 13th District—which race forecasters rated as Solid Democratic in 2020—is more Republican in 2022. According to FiveThirtyEight, the new 13th District has an R+2 lean, while the old district was even, meaning neither party had an advantage.
Popielarz wrote, “The [old] 13th District included the Mahoning Valley for the last decade, stretching from Trumbull and Mahoning counties west to Summit County. […] The new 13th that emerged from redistricting is quite different. It includes half of Stark County and all of Summit County.”
Sykes has served in the Ohio House of Representatives since 2015 and served as minority leader from 2019 to 2021. Before being elected to the state house, Sykes worked as an administrative staff advisor at the Summit County Fiscal Office and as a law clerk at a U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Sykes said in a campaign ad, “The other side […] are hoping you’ll forget that I worked with both parties to raise pay, keep us safe, and cut taxes. And they definitely don’t want you to know that I have a plan to lower costs and keep more money in your pockets.”
Gilbert is a small business owner, attorney, and television commentator. She also worked on Donald Trump’s (R) 2016 presidential election campaign as a national surrogate, among other roles, and on Trump’s 2020 campaign as an advisory board member. In an interview with Spectrum News, Gilbert said, “I’m the only candidate in this race that’s talking about the common sense solutions on these issues when it comes to inflation, it comes to energy crisis, it comes to the prices from the gas pump to the grocery store.”
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. All 435 House districts are up for election. As of October 10, 2022, Democrats held a 220-212 majority in the U.S. House with three vacancies Republicans need to gain a net of six districts to win a majority in the chamber.
Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 50.7% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 47.9%.
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