There are 16 people running as Democrats and Republicans for Congress in Southwest Ohio. The Enquirer dug into them all.
The Enquirer discovered bankruptcies, convictions and unpaid taxes. No serious offenses were found in the backgrounds of local Republican candidates, though several had minor violations, like speeding tickets.
The primary election is May 5.
Here’s what to know.
Damon Lynch IV faced misdemeanor charges in Xenia
Cincinnati Democrat Damon Lynch IV was charged with possession of a controlled substance in 2004 and disorderly conduct in 2007 in Xenia Municipal Court.
Lynch is running in Ohio’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Cincinnati, parts of Hamilton County, and Warren and Clinton counties.
Lynch told The Enquirer the first charge was a “misdiagnosed charge” and he was charged with something that he shouldn’t have been. Lynch said the case was dismissed or thrown out. Court records say that he was found guilty and given a $150 fine.
Lynch said he has “no idea” what the circumstances of the disorderly conduct were.
“I don’t remember what that was about,” he said.
Lynch also had a default judgment in Hamilton County in 2024. The judge ruled in favor of Discover Bank and found that Lynch owed over $12,000 with interest.
”I’m just a poor working man in America trying to make it,” Lynch said in response to questions about the judgment.
Candidate responds to driving offense, eviction
Jen Mazzuckelli is a Democrat running for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Clermont County and stretches east to the Ohio-West Virginia border. The conservative, rural district has been represented by Republican Rep. Dave Taylor since 2025.
According to Clermont County court records, Mazzuckelli pleaded guilty to reckless operation while driving, a misdemeanor, in March 2026. In an email to The Enquirer, Mazzuckelli said she was pulled over for speeding and failed a sobriety test. She said she failed the test because she has balance issues due to her multiple sclerosis.
Mazzuckelli said she was taking prescribed medication for nerve pain at the time but was not impaired while driving. She said she does not drink or abuse drugs.
She was sentenced to community service and one year of supervision by the court’s probation department, during which she can’t use drugs, marijuana or alcohol.
Court records also show Mazzuckelli was evicted from her home in 2020. In an email to The Enquirer, she said she fell behind on rent after losing financial support from her ex-husband and wasn’t eligible for COVID-19 relief programs.
The eviction opened her eyes to the “severe lack of affordable housing in this area,” she wrote, one issue that drove her to run for office.
Congressional hopeful had unpaid taxes, bankruptcy
From 2017 to 2019, Todd Wilson, a Democrat running for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, owed more than $88,000 in federal taxes, county records show. He said those delinquencies were related to payroll expenses and incorrectly filed paperwork for the Athens County restaurant he owned with his wife.
All of those taxes were paid off by 2020, county records show. The restaurant closed in 2024.
In 2002, while living in Florida, Wilson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. He said he wasn’t able to find a full-time job, and his family got behind on mortgage and car payments.
“We got to the point where we couldn’t make it,” he told The Enquirer.
Wilson called the bankruptcy a “learning experience” that he’d take to Washington. He said many Ohio families are working paycheck to paycheck or declaring bankruptcy due to overwhelming medical expenses.
If elected, he said he’d support policies that help the “working class be able to survive on what they make, because a lot of people aren’t right now.”
West Chester Democrat explains default judgments
Madaris Grant, a Democrat running in Ohio’s 8th congressional district, had default judgments on payments in 2020 and 2021 in Butler County. Court records show Grant owed over $9,000 to Citibank in 2020 and over $3,000 to Midland Credit Management in 2021.
Grant said he hired a law firm to negotiate debt from a business that went under. He said the loan became a default judgment when he stopped making payments because people don’t generally make payments on loans while they’re being negotiated.
Dayton Democrat has history of lawsuits, controversies
Ohio’s 10th Congressional District is new to Greater Cincinnati voters. In redrawn Congressional maps that are being used for this election, the district includes Middletown and Trenton in Butler County. It covers the Dayton area and is represented by Republican Rep. Mike Turner.
Turner is running for reelection unopposed. But there’s a crowded Democratic primary with five candidates vying for a chance to run against him in November. One of them has a long history of controversies and lawsuits.
In 1996, candidate David Esrati was charged with criminal trespassing after wearing a black mask to a Dayton City Commission meeting, in what he told reporters was a protest against new rules about citizens’ participation in the meetings. Those chargers were dismissed and Esrati ended up winning a $100,000 settlement from the city. A judge said the city infringed upon his right to free speech.
In 2018, he sued the Dayton Metro Library after a security guard made him leave for taking photos of patrons without their permission. Esrati sued the library and won a roughly $39,000 settlement, according to a court document he posted on his blog.
Montgomery County declined to endorse him in 2022 due to his past controversial comments. The party has no endorsements listed on its website for the current election.
Last year, Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Mike Foley requested a protection order against Esrati, who Foley said threatened his life.
Foley faced charges of misusing his office for political purposes. Esrati filed legal paperwork to challenge Foley’s right to remain in office but accidentally included a transcript from a call he had with a lawyer at the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, WKEF-TV, a Dayton TV station, reported. Foley, in a press release, said threats against his life were made during that call.
Esrati told the Dayton Daily News his comments about Foley were a joke. Foley dropped his protection order request and pleaded guilty in December to soliciting campaign contributions from his staff, a misdemeanor.
In an email to The Enquirer, Esrati suggested Foley used the situation as a publicity stunt.
Victoria Moorwood covers Cincinnati’s suburban counties. Find her on X and TikTok.
Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@enquirer.com, @ee_glynn on X and @eringlynn on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Enquirer background-checked every local congressional candidate. What we found
Reporting by Victoria Moorwood and Erin Glynn, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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