Candidate filing closed Monday for the special election to succeed Republican Rep. Steve Stivers, whose resignation from Ohio’s 15th Congressional District took effect the previous day, and the Columbus Dispatch has a list of contenders here.
The party primaries will take place Aug. 3, while the general election will be Nov. 2; those dates also coincide with the special election for the heavily blue 11th District. The Republican nominee will be the clear favorite in this 56-42 Trump seat, a heavily gerrymandered constituency that includes the southern Columbus area as well as Athens. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown did carry the 15th District 50-48 in 2018, but that victory came as he was winning statewide by a solid 52-46 margin.
A total of 12 Republicans put their names forward for this special, including four sitting state legislators: state Sens. Stephanie Kunze and Bob Peterson, and state Reps. Jeff LaRe and Brian Stewart. The contest also includes another current elected official, Hilliard City Council member Omar Tarazi, as well as former Perry County Commissioner Thad Cooperrider and ex-state Rep. Ron Hood, who badly lost a race last year for the state Board of Education.
Five other candidates are also running for Team Red: businessman John Adams; Mike Carey, who serves as an executive at American Consolidated Natural Resources; nurse Eric Clark; golf club owner Thomas Hwang; and Ruth Edmonds, who is a former staffer at the state social conservative group Center for Christian Virtue. Another Republican, Fairfield County Commissioner Jeff Fix, had previously announced a bid, but he dropped out just before the filing deadline and endorsed LaRe.
There is no obvious frontrunner at this point in the race for the GOP nomination. Stivers has pledged to make an endorsement at some point, though, which could help his eventual choice stand out in this extremely crowded field.
The Democratic field is far smaller, with state Rep. Allison Russo only going up against an opponent named Greg Betts; Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano had filed paperwork with the FEC to run, but he didn’t go forward with a campaign.