Joyce Beatty
Official portrait,119th Congress
Chair of theCongressional Black Caucus
In office January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Karen Bass
Succeeded by	Steven Horsford
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Mike Turner (redistricted)
Minority Leader of theOhio House of Representatives
In office January 15, 2006 – January 5, 2009
Preceded by	Chris Redfern
Succeeded by	William G. Batchelder
Member of theOhio House of Representatives from the 27th district
In office May 31, 1999 – December 31, 2008
Preceded by	Otto Beatty Jr.
Succeeded by	W. Carlton Weddington
Personal details
Born	Joyce Marie Birdsong (1950-03-12)March 12, 1950 (age 75) Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	John Hannah ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 1990)​ Otto Beatty Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1992; died 2021)​
Children	2
Education	Central State University (BA) Wright State University (MS) University of Cincinnati
Signature
Website	House website Campaign website
Beatty's voice Beatty onBlack History Month. Recorded February 1, 2023

Joyce Marie Beatty (/ˈbeɪti/BAY-tee; néeBirdsong, March 12, 1950) is an American politician serving as theU.S. representative forOhio's 3rd congressional district since 2013, and as chair of theCongressional Black Caucus from 2021 to 2023. A member of theDemocratic Party, Beatty represented the 27th district in theOhio House of Representatives from 1999 to 2008, serving for a time asminority leader. She was also previously the senior vice-president for outreach and engagement atOhio State University.

In 2012, Beatty ran in the newly redrawnOhio's 3rd congressional district, based inColumbus, and won the Democratic primary, defeating former U.S. representativeMary Jo Kilroy.^[1] She went on to defeat Republican Chris Long in thegeneral election.^[2] Beatty was married toOtto Beatty Jr., who was also a former Ohio state representative.

Beatty was born on March 12, 1950, inDayton, Ohio.^[3] She has aBachelor of Arts in speech fromCentral State University, anMaster of Science incounseling psychology fromWright State University in 1975,^[4] and has studied at the doctoral level at theUniversity of Cincinnati. Beatty served as the Montgomery County health and human services director responsible for administering the county's health levy and area public nursing homes, including Stillwater Nursing Home. In 2003, she received anhonorary doctorate from theOhio Dominican University. Beatty served as a delegate forJohn Kerry on theOhio delegation to the2004 Democratic National Convention inBoston.^[5]

Beatty was married to attorney and former state representativeOtto Beatty Jr. She has been a national spokesperson for theAmerican Heart Association. She served on theColumbus American Heart Association Board, Ohio Democratic Committee, Women's Fund,NAACP, andDelta Sigma Theta sorority. In addition, she was a legislative chair ofThe Links and a chair of the Columbus Urban League Board. She won the 2002 YWCA Woman of Achievement Award, the Ohio Health Speaking of Women Health Award, NAACP Freedom Award, Woman of Courage Award, and the Urban League Leadership Recognition Award, and the Dayton NAACP 2019 Leadership Award.^[6]

In 1999, longtime state representativeOtto Beatty Jr. of Ohio's 21st House district decided to resign early to begin an opportunity in the private sector. His wife, Joyce Beatty, was appointed to his seat. She won a full term in 2000 with 82% of the vote.^[7][8] After redistricting, she decided to run in the newly redrawn Ohio's 27th House district and was reelected in 2002 with 82% of the vote.^[9] In 2004, she was reelected to a third term unopposed.^[10] In 2006, she was reelected to a fourth term with 87% of the vote.^[11]Term limits kept Beatty from seeking another term in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

AfterChris Redfern left to become chair of theOhio Democratic Party, Beatty was named minority leader. She served in that capacity during theOhio 127th General Assembly. She was the first female Democratic House leader in Ohio history.^[12]

On March 6, 2012, Beatty defeated former congresswomanMary Jo Kilroy, Columbus city councilwomanPriscilla Tyson, and state representativeTed Celeste 38%–35%-15%-12% to win the Ohio 3rd congressional district Democratic primary.^[1] She received early support from the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus,Columbus MayorMichael B. Coleman, and various other Central Ohio political figures, including RepresentativeTracy Maxwell Heard and former representativeW. Carlton Weddington.^[13]

Starting in late 2019 and into early 2020, Beatty was campaigning for her fifth term as the representative of Ohio's 3rd congressional district. She faced her first primary challenge since she was elected in 2012,^[14] withThe Columbus Dispatch writing that the "winner of the Democratic primary almost certainly will go to Washington representing the heavily Democratic district." At the end of 2019, it was reported she had $1.7 million in her campaign account.^[15] In February 2020, she was criticized for accepting campaign contributions from financial servicesPACs while also overseeing theHouse Financial Services Committee.^[15][14][16] According toOpenSecrets, at the time, Beatty had raised $5.1 million as a candidate for the U.S. and Ohio Houses, of which $1.5 million was from the finance, insurance and real estate industries. In her defense, she argued she had a "record of grilling bank executives who come before her committee and that much of the money from those PACs came from lower-level employees," and that while Congress needed campaign finance reform, the PAC contributions were "legal under current rules".^[16]

In March 2020,The Intercept reported that Beatty and her husband sold one of their Columbus properties in 2013^[17][18] "to a developer while Otto Beatty sat on the zoning board that approved the sale", leading to accusations of gentrification and "money in politics" by Beatty's political opposition. Beatty called the criticism a "distortion" of her husband's record. Otto Beatty, in an interview withThe Dispatch, said his wife had nothing to do with the property's pricing: it had been sold when Otto Beatty was on the Downtown Commission, which "reviewed a request to demolish the existing structures on the property and replace them with a high-rise apartment building". Arguing at the time in favor of demolition and redevelopment, Otto Beatty noted he did not take part in the final vote.^[18]

On April 28, 2020, Beatty won the Democratic primary, defeating challenger Morgan Harper, a self-describedprogressive. Harper, who had been backed by theSunrise Movement, a group that backed RepresentativeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lost with 32% of the vote to Beatty's 68%.^[19][20] Beatty defeated Republican nominee Mark Richardson with 71% of the vote.^[21]

Between 2013 and 2020, five of the 88 bills Beatty sponsored became law, all wrapped into broader bills.^[16] In 2020, she noted she had "helped to secure" local funding for the revitalization of parts of Dayton and research atOhio State.^[16]

On June 21, 2013, theNational Journal published an article, "Nearly One in Five Members of Congress Gets Paid Twice", that reported that Beatty's state pension of $253,323 is the highest, and, combined with her congressional salary, was greater than President Obama's total government compensation.^[22]

Beatty supported both thefirst andsecond impeachments ofDonald Trump.^[23][24][25]

On July 15, 2021, Beatty was one of nine protesters theUnited States Capitol Police arrested for illegally demonstrating in theHart Senate Office Building.^[26] She and approximately 20 othervoting rights protesters sought to push theSenate to support theFor the People andJohn Lewis Voting Rights Acts. After multiple warnings from the police, Beatty was arrested for violating aWashington, D.C. law against "crowding, obstructing, or incommoding".^[27]

On June 12, 2025, Beatty was one of the four Democrats who did not vote on the $9 billion spending cuts put forward by theDepartment of Government Efficiency; house Republicans passed the rescission package by 2 votes.^[28]

• Committee on Financial Services (113th Congress – present)
  • Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, Chair
  • Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Joint Economic Committee (116th Congress – present)

• Black Maternal Health Caucus^[29]
• Congressional Black Caucus^[30]
• Congressional Equality Caucus^[31]
• Medicare for All Caucus
• Congressional Coalition on Adoption^[32]
• Rare Disease Caucus^[33]

Beatty ispro-choice.^[34]

At one point, Beatty opposed legalizingcannabis for recreational use,^[34] but in December 2020, she voted for the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884), which would remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act, provide a pathway for expungements and resentencing for marijuana convictions, and create a community reinvestment fund to help create an equitable cannabis industry.^[35]

Beatty voted for a defense bill that included $1.3 billion for fencing at the US-Mexico border.^[36]

Beatty opposes decreasing corporate taxes to support economic growth.^[34]

Beatty supports "parts of" theGreen New Deal.^[14]

Beatty voted to provideIsrael with support following theOctober 7 attacks.^[37][38]

Beatty supported theAffordable Care Act (Obamacare) and opposed its repeal. In 2019, she introduced the End Price Gouging For Insulin Act bill, which would lower insulin prices nationwide. Beatty's father was diabetic, as was her husband. She has supported efforts in Ohio byHearcel Craig andBeth Liston to regulate insulin prices.^[39] In 2019 she supported "some of" the "health-care fixes that focus on smaller changes to the Affordable Care Act rather than a complete overhaul of the system."^[14] In March 2020, she voted with a majority of U.S. representatives for a $8.3 billion bill to combatCOVID-19.^[18]

• List of African-American United States representatives
• Women in the United States House of Representatives

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• Congresswoman Joyce Beatty official U.S. House website
• Joyce Beatty for Congress

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