Voters in Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District decided tonight between two Democrats, one of whom has held the seat for more than a decade, to represent the party in one of the state’s few solidly blue districts.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, who has represented the Columbus-area district since 2013, is seeking another term and facing a primary challenge from engineer and health care researcher Joe Gerard, making his first bid for federal office.
The winner of the Democratic primary will advance to the November general election, where they’ll face Republican nominee Cleophus Dulaney, who is running unopposed in his party’s primary.
The 3rd District is one of just a handful in the Buckeye State drawn to favor Democrats and has remained securely blue through multiple rounds of redistricting. It is anchored entirely in Franklin County and includes large portions of the city of Columbus, making the Democratic primary a de facto contest for the seat.
Beatty, 76, first won election to Congress in 2012 after previously serving five terms in the Ohio House of Representatives. Her time in Washington has been focused on voting rights, financial equity and infrastructure, and she played a key role in legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Before elected office, Beatty served as senior vice president of outreach and engagement at Ohio State University.
Gerard, 26, is challenging the longtime incumbent from the left, emphasizing opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel and support for accessible health care and a data center moratorium, as core themes of his campaign. An Ohio State graduate, Gerard has worked as an engineer and health care researcher and has positioned his campaign as independent of corporate donors.
Polls closed today at 7:30 p.m., and results are expected to be finalized later this evening.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Joyce Beatty faces primary challenger. See live election results
Reporting by Emma Wozniak, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
