Candidates for Ohio congressional seat begin filing for run
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Candidates have started filing for the U.S. House of Representatives 6th District.
The seat will become vacant upon the resignation of Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, to become the new president of Youngstown State University. Johnson plans to resign in February or early March.
Rylan Zachary Finzer, a Bedford Heights Democrat who lives out of the district, became the first candidate to file nominating petitions on Tuesday with the Mahoning County Board of Elections. All candidates seeking the 6th District office must file in Mahoning, the district's most-populous county.
Finzer used to live in Perry Township in Stark County and finished a distant last in a three-person race in 2019 for trustee in that township, receiving 10.6% of the vote. He lives in Cuyahoga County, outside of the 6th District, but congressional candidates aren't required to live in the district they seek to represent, only in the state.
Finzer owns Finzer's Finest, a marijuana dispensary in Bedford Heights.
Ohio Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus, a Stark County Republican, said he plans to run for the federal seat. Stoltzfus, of Paris Township, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, was first elected in 2018.
"An official announcement is coming soon, but I am planning on running for the open 6th seat," he said. "After talking with my wife and family as well as conservative leaders at the local and federal level, I'm confident I have the support to win."
Stoltzfus made national news in 2021 when he was one of two main sponsors who wanted to officially recognize June 14 as Donald J. Trump Day in Ohio. In May 2020, two months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stoltzfus was one of two sponsors of a bill seeking to strip the state health director of much authority.
Each bill had one committee hearing.
State Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, has filed a declaration of candidacy and created a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission. Rulli, serving his second four-year term, met last week with Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Republican National Congressional Committee about his campaign.
Rulli has the endorsements of Tom McCabe, the Mahoning County Republican Party chairman, and Dave Johnson, his counterpart in Columbiana County.
Republican Kurt R. Hilderbrand of Poland, who has never held elected office, filed a statement of candidacy and created a campaign committee with the FEC on Monday.
State Rep. Ron Ferguson, a Republican from Wintersville in Jefferson County, said he is "still weighing his options."
The 6th District includes all of Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Mahoning, Columbiana and Stark in the upper part of the district are the population centers.
In the 2022 election, 30.4% of the votes came from Mahoning, the district's most-populous county, with 16.3% from Stark and 12.6% from Columbiana.
Rulli's state Senate district includes all of Mahoning and Columbiana counties along with Carroll County. Because of his election success in Mahoning and Columbiana, Rulli is considered the early favorite for the seat.
Johnson is a seven-term congressman.
Gov. Mike DeWine will not schedule a special primary and general election until after Johnson's resignation. The timing of Johnson's resignation means a special primary for the remainder of his unexpired term can't be held at the same time as the scheduled March 19 primary for the full two-year term starting in January 2025.
Though DeWine can schedule special elections at any time, he has planned previous ones for congressional vacancies during the same months as regular elections: May during non-presidential years, August and November.
Possible are a special primary in May and a general election in August or an August primary and a November general election. Under the latter scenario, two general elections for the seat will be held in November: one for the full two-year term and one to fill Johnson's unexpired term for about six weeks, depending on the certification of the results.