If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Or in the case of a Democratic candidate in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, try, try, try, try, try again.
For the fifth time in a row, Democrat Vanessa Enoch will challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Warren Davidson in the 8th District, which stretches from the Ohio River just west of Cincinnati, up through the northern suburbs in Butler County and the farmlands in Darke County.
Enoch faces long odds in a Republican stronghold
Enoch won the Democratic primary, which the Associated Press called in her favor after early voting results showed her with 74% of the vote over her Democratic opponent. While she easily dispatched a fellow Democrat, she faces long, if not impossible, odds in the staunchly Republican district.
Enoch, 56, of West Chester, has run against Davidson five times, never garnering more than 37% of the vote, which she did during her fourth try against him in 2024.
Enoch said ‘we’ve made a lot of progress’
She remained confident after her victory on primary night. She pointed out her last election had her strongest showing.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the course of the years I’ve run,” Enoch told The Enquirer. “We’ve reached more voters. We’ve changed voters’ minds, and we’ve made headway.”
While Republican lawmakers redrew the district boundaries, the 8th Congressional District remains majority Republican, with 58% of the district Republican, according to composite data compiled by Dave’s Redistricting.
Still, Enoch described the Butler County Democratic Party as growing. She said her campaigns over the years have helped the cause.
“We’ve talked to voters and got our message out there,” Enoch said.
Who is Davidson?
Davidson, 56, of Troy has served in congress since 2016 when he won a special election to replace former Speaker of the House John Boehner, who had stepped down. Davidson early on positioned himself as an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump.
While that’s played well among the Republicans in his district, Davidson has criticized the president on occasion. In April, Davidson called an AI-generated picture depicting Trump as a Jesus-like healer “madness” and “troubling.”
Who is Enoch?
Enoch owns a Cincinnati-based management consulting firm and, according to her website, has previously worked as a chemical dependency counselor, paralegal supervisor, business analyst and more.
She told The Enquirer she will have a different strategy during this election.
What is that different strategy?
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a strategy,” Enoch said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: In Ohio congressional district, primary sets up a re-re-re-re-match
Reporting by Scott Wartman, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
