| Ohio's 6th congressional district | |
|---|---|
.svg)  Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023 | |
| Representative | |
| Distribution |
|
| Population (2024) | 775,304[2] |
| Median household income | $60,716[2] |
| Ethnicity |
|
| Cook PVI | R+16[3] |
Ohio's 6th congressional district is aU.S. congressional district which is represented byRepresentativeMichael Rulli of theRepublican Party. Rulli was elected to the seat after he defeatedDemocrat Michael Kripchak in the June 11, 2024special election, caused by the resignation of incumbentBill Johnson (R) on January 21, 2024.
This district runs along the eastern side of the state, borderingWest Virginia andPennsylvania. It stretches fromMarietta through severalOhio River industrial towns all the way to the city ofYoungstown.[4]
WhenBob McEwen was first elected in1980, the sixth district of Ohio consisted ofAdams,Brown,Clinton,Fayette,Highland,Pickaway,Pike,Scioto andRoss counties plusClermont County outside the city ofLoveland,Harrison Township inVinton County and theWarren County townships ofClearcreek,Deerfield,Hamilton,Harlan,Massie,Salem andWayne.[5] At that time,The Washington Post described the sixth district as "a fail-safe Republican district".[6]
TheOhio General Assembly redrew the sixth district following the results of the1980 United States census. The boundaries from 1983 to 1987 included all ofAdams,Clinton,Fayette,Highland,Hocking,Jackson,Pike,Ross,Scioto,Vinton andWarren counties, plusWaterloo andYork townships inAthens County;Wayne Township inClermont County;Concord,Jasper,Marion,Perry,Union andWayne townships inFayette County; andWashington Township and the cities ofMiamisburg andWest Carrollton inMontgomery County.[7]
Beginning with the100th Congress in 1987, adjustments were made by the legislature to the boundaries; reapportionment betweencensuses is unusual in American politics. A small part of the Montgomery County territory was detached, as were parts of Fayette County inWashington Court House inUnion Township and the townships ofJasper andMarion. Part ofBrown County was added,Jackson andEagle Townships. These were the boundaries for the rest of McEwen's service in Congress.[8]
The district was largely rural and agricultural with no large cities. One of the major industries was theUnited States Department of Energy's PortsmouthGaseous Diffusion Plant atPiketon, which manufactureduranium fornuclear weapons. The district was 97 per centwhite with a median household income of $21,761.[9]
In 1992, the district was altered significantly to accommodate Ohio's loss of two House seats in redistricting. The state legislature anticipated thatClarence Miller of the neighboring Tenth District would retire, and thus combined the southern end of his district (which included Athens, Gallipolis, and Ironton) with most of the area previously represented by McEwen. Although the district did not include Miller's hometown of Lancaster, Miller decided not to retire and instead challenged McEwen in the Sixth District primary in 1992. The campaign was bitter, and McEwen eked out only a narrow victory. In November, McEwen was upset by DemocratTed Strickland, a prison psychologist. Strickland himself was defeated in 1994 by Republican Frank Cremeans, but won the seat back in 1996.
For 2002 the district was shifted dramatically eastward. At the same time, it effectively ended the career ofJames Traficant in the neighboring 17th District by placing his hometown ofPoland into the 6th. Traficant opted to run in his old district and lost. The district currently includes all ofBelmont,Carroll,Columbiana,Gallia,Guernsey,Jackson,Jefferson,Lawrence,Meigs,Monroe,Noble andWashington counties, and portions ofAthens,Mahoning,Muskingum,Scioto andTuscarawas counties.
In 2010, RepublicanBill Johnson defeated incumbent DemocratCharles Wilson, returning the seat to Republicans for the first time since 1997. Following the2010 United States census, the bounds of the sixth district were changed again as Ohio lost two seats in Congress.[10]
In recent years and like much of coal country, the district has swung decidedly toward theRepublican Party at local, state and national levels. After being a dead heat in presidential elections in2000,2004 and2008, it swung hard toDonald Trump in2016; Trump carried it with 69 percent of the vote overHillary Clinton, his best showing in the state; the district swung to the right by 30 percent, more than any other in the nation. Trump won it almost as easily overJoe Biden in2020, with 72 percent of the vote, again his best showing in Ohio.
For the118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties, townships, and municipalities:[11]
Belmont County(16)
Carroll County(21)
Harrison County(25)
Jefferson County(32)
Mahoning County(28)
Monroe County(28)
Noble County(21)
Stark County(24)
The following chart shows historic election results.
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | Cleona Searles: 30,903 | √Charles C. Kearns (Incumbent): 38,044 | — |
| 1922 | William N. Gableman: 28,939 | √Charles C. Kearns (Incumbent): 32,416 | — |
| 1924 | Edward N. Kennedy:[a] 29,283 | √Charles C. Kearns (Incumbent): 33,064 | — |
| 1926 | Edward H. Kennedy:[a] 24,730 | √Charles C. Kearns (Incumbent): 27,688 | — |
| 1928 | George D. Nye: 33,020 | √Charles C. Kearns (Incumbent): 43,519 | — |
| 1930 | √James G. Polk: 37,158 | Charles C. Kearns (Incumbent): 33,300 | — |
| 1932 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 50,913 | Mack Sauer: 39,668 | — |
| 1934 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 42,340 | Albert L. Daniels: 38,538 | Mark A. Crawford: 312 |
| 1936 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 54,904 | Emory F. Smith: 45,733 | — |
| 1938 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 43,646 | Emory F. Smith: 42,847 | — |
| 1940 | √Jacob E. Davis: 52,769 | Chester P. Fitch: 48,257 | — |
| 1942 | Jacob E. Davis (Incumbent): 31,793 | √Edward O. McCowen: 33,171 | — |
| 1944 | John W. Bush: 42,167 | √Edward O. McCowen (Incumbent): 45,284 | — |
| 1946 | Franklin E. Smith: 33,013 | √Edward O. McCowen (Incumbent): 39,992 | — |
| 1948 | √James G. Polk: 46,944 | Edward O. McCowen (Incumbent): 41,402 | — |
| 1950 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 40,335 | Edward O. McCowen: 38,996 | — |
| 1952 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 67,220 | Leo Blackburn: 66,896 | — |
| 1954 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 54,044 | Leo Blackburn: 49,531 | — |
| 1956 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 72,229 | Albert L. Daniels: 60,300 | — |
| 1958 | √James G. Polk (Incumbent): 76,566 | Elmer S. Barrett: 46,924 | — |
| 1960 | Franklin E. Smith: 65,045 | √Bill Harsha: 80,124 | — |
| 1960 s[b] | Gladys E. Davis: 61,713 | √Ward Miller: 76,520 | — |
| 1962 | Jerry C. Rasor: 47,737 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 72,743 | — |
| 1964 | Franklin E. Smith: 57,223 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 86,015 | — |
| 1966 | Ottie W. Reno: 35,345 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 74,847 | — |
| 1968 | Kenneth L. Kirby: 40,964 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 107,289 | — |
| 1970 | Raymond H. Stevens: 39,265 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 82,772 | — |
| 1972 | — | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 128,394 | — |
| 1974 | Lloyd Allan Wood: 42,316 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 93,400 | — |
| 1976 | Ted Strickland: 67,067 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 107,064 | — |
| 1978 | Ted Strickland: 46,313 | √Bill Harsha (Incumbent): 85,592 | — |
| 1980 | Ted Strickland: 84,235 | √Bob McEwen: 101,288 | — |
| 1982 | Lynn Alan Grimshaw: 63,435 | √Bob McEwen (Incumbent): 92,135 | — |
| 1984 | Bob Smith: 52,727 | √Bob McEwen (Incumbent): 150,101 | — |
| 1986 | Gordon R. Roberts: 42,155 | √Bob McEwen (Incumbent): 106,354 | Amos Seeley: 2,829 |
| 1988 | Gordon R. Roberts: 52,635 | √Bob McEwen (Incumbent): 152,235 | — |
| 1990 | Ray Mitchell: 47,415 | √Bob McEwen (Incumbent): 117,220 | — |
| 1992 | √Ted Strickland: 122,720 | Bob McEwen (Incumbent):[c] 119,252 | — |
| 1994 | Ted Strickland (Incumbent): 87,861 | √Frank Cremeans: 91,263 | — |
| 1996 | √Ted Strickland: 118,003 | Frank Cremeans (Incumbent): 111,907 | — |
| 1998 | √Ted Strickland (Incumbent): 102,852 | Nancy P. Hollister: 77,711 | — |
| 2000 | √Ted Strickland (Incumbent): 138,849 | Mike Azinger: 96,966 | Kenneth R. MacCutcheon (L): 4,759 |
| 2002 | √Ted Strickland (Incumbent): 113,972 | Mike Halleck: 77,643 | — |
| 2004 | √Ted Strickland (Incumbent): 223,884 | None | John Stephen Luchansky (Write-in): 145 |
| 2006 | √Charles A. Wilson Jr.: 131,322 | Chuck Blasdel: 80,705 | — |
| 2008 | √Charles A. Wilson Jr. (Incumbent): 176,330 | Richard Stobbs: 92,968 | Dennis Spisak (G): 13,812 |
| 2010 | Charles A. Wilson Jr. (Incumbent): 91,039 | √Bill Johnson: 101,580 | Richard Cadle (C): 4,963 Martin Elass (L): 4,424 |
| 2012[12] | Charles A. Wilson Jr.: 144,444 | √Bill Johnson (Incumbent): 164,536 | |
| 2014 | Jennifer Garrison: 73,561 | √Bill Johnson (Incumbent): 111,026 | Dennis Lambert (G): 6,065 |
| 2016 | Michael L. Lorentz: 88,780 | √Bill Johnson (Incumbent): 213,975 | |
| 2018 | Shawna Roberts: 76,716 | √Bill Johnson (Incumbent): 172,774 | — |
| 2020 | Shawna Roberts: 85,661 | √Bill Johnson (Incumbent): 249,130 | |
| 2022 | Louis Lyras: 90,500 | √Bill Johnson (Incumbent): 189,883 | |
| 2024 s | Michael Kripchak: 27,062 | √Michael Rulli: 32,627 |
| Year | Office | Results[13] |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | President | Obama 53% - 45% |
| 2012 | President | Obama 52% - 48% |
| 2016 | President | Trump 60% - 36% |
| Senate | Portman 60% - 35% | |
| 2018 | Senate | Renacci 51% - 49% |
| Governor | DeWine 56% - 41% | |
| Secretary of State | LaRose 56% - 41% | |
| Treasurer | Sprague 57% - 43% | |
| Auditor | Faber 53% - 43% | |
| Attorney General | Yost 58% - 42% | |
| 2020 | President | Trump 64% - 35% |
| 2022 | Senate | Vance 62% - 38% |
| Governor | DeWine 72% - 28% | |
| Secretary of State | LaRose 68% - 31% | |
| Treasurer | Sprague 67% - 33% | |
| Auditor | Faber 67% - 33% | |
| Attorney General | Yost 70% - 30% | |
| 2024 | President | Trump 66% - 33% |
| Senate | Moreno 60% - 37% |
| Year | Office | Results[14] |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | President | Obama 52% - 46% |
| 2012 | President | Obama 51% - 49% |
| 2016 | President | Trump 61% - 35% |
| Senate | Portman 61% - 33% | |
| 2018 | Senate | Renacci 52% - 48% |
| Governor | DeWine 56% - 40% | |
| Attorney General | Yost 58% - 42% | |
| 2020 | President | Trump 64% - 34% |
| 2022 | Senate | Vance 63% - 37% |
| Governor | DeWine 73% - 27% | |
| Secretary of State | LaRose 69% - 30% | |
| Treasurer | Sprague 68% - 32% | |
| Auditor | Faber 68% - 32% | |
| Attorney General | Yost 70% - 30% | |
| 2024 | President | Trump 67% - 32% |
| Senate | Moreno 60% - 36% |
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