Rep. Emilia Sykes truly has superb skill in the political realm. You don’t rise to Minority Leader in a large state like Ohio and get elected to Congress from a highly competitive seat without it. You can say it’s in her blood, as the Sykes family has served Akron for over 40 years now. Yet young Emilia Sykes resisted the family legacy.
Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, 30, of Akron is starting the fifth year of a job she didn’t plan to be doing.
“I was absolutely, unequivocally not going to be an elected official,” Sykes said.
Politics is the Sykes family business. Both her parents have been state lawmakers and city councilmembers – her mother Barbara was the first African American woman to serve on Akron City Council when Emilia was born.
But Emilia Sykes said she had other plans.
She’d gone south, earning a master’s and a law degree at the University of Florida. But then in 2014 her dad, then-Rep. Vernon Sykes, was being forced out of the Ohio House because of term limits – and she was concerned about those who’d lined up to replace him.
“This is not good for my community because, you know, these are the people who raised me. They raised my sister, and I've relied on them and they've shown me so much. And there's no way I could not have taken that responsibility,” Sykes said.
Her ascent to Minority Leader was swift once she was elected, but it took a contested election for Speaker for the previous leader to step down.
Sykes became assistant minority whip in 2016, and was picked as assistant minority leader in November [2018]. But then came the vote for Speaker on January 7 [2019] – when 26 Democrats aligned with 26 Republicans to elect Larry Householder.
That led to the resignation of Minority Leader Fred Strahorn, who’d led the Democratic caucus since 2014. Strahorn had voted to retain Speaker Ryan Smith, while the majority of the Democratic caucus, including Sykes, backed Householder.
Sykes says she’d been working with the caucus and both candidates for speaker during the behind-the-scenes Republican leadership battle. And she said once Strahorn stepped aside, she had no reservations in announcing she wanted the job.
Now, that long streak of serving the Akron community is at risk. Biden barely won her district in 2020, and the GOP thinks they have the right candidate to flip this district. Sykes is talented, but the question is whether or not that talent is enough to win again in November.
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Emilia Sykes for Ohio-13
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What’s the Big Idea?
THIS DISTRICT IS A TOSSUP, with an R+1 PVI
This district has been anchored primarily in northeastern Ohio throughout the decades. It has been given many different numbers, but the geography has remained consistent. In 2010 redistricting, the Akron area was largely merged with the Youngstown area when Ohio lost seats due to reapportionment. The district was intended to be a Democratic vote sink that Rep. Tim Ryan would easily win to discourage him from running statewide. Obama easily won the old 13th district both times, as northeastern Ohio by Cleveland has been a source of Democratic strength for ages.
What is different now is that this area has been trending away from the Democratic Party in recent elections. Combining Akron with some Cleveland suburbs and the Canton area has created a true toss-up swing seat. Biden very narrowly carried this district 50.7% to 47.9% during the 2020 election. Rep. Emilia Sykes also narrowly won this open seat in 2022, winning by a 52.7% to 47.3% margin. Sykes isn’t out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 13th district.
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Akron, Akron, Akron: This city is the core of the Democratic vote in the district, and Emilia Sykes is from the city. It is absolutely critical that every voter that can be found in the city turns out and votes. There are a lot of Black voters in this portion of the district, but turnout has been a problem in the past.
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Canton: The other rich source of votes comes from the city of Canton on the southern fringes of the district. Sykes will need to win over the city of Canton to stay in Congress as the representative from the 13th district.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
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Suburbs of Akron: these areas were blue when Obama was winning the state of Ohio, but the suburbs have shifted rapidly to the right during the Trump era. There are a couple of Cleveland suburbs that are still blue, but the goal is to stem the bleeding in these areas.
- Stark County other than Canton: this is deep red territory now, and the challenger Kevin Coughlin will likely run up the score in the county. Sykes will need to hold the line at the Biden margins in these areas if she is to remain in Congress.
Who is Rep. Emilia Sykes?
Rep. Emilia Sykes is from the influential Sykes family, which has been an institution in Akron politics for over 40 years now. Both her mother and her father were in the Ohio state legislature until they were termed out, and Rep. Emilia Sykes followed in their footsteps in 2014 and won a seat in the state legislature. She was chosen as Minority Leader in 2019 before finally running for Congress in 2022. It took Rep. Tim Ryan running for the vacant Senate seat for there to be an opening for her in the US House. She cleared the field in the primary and won the tight general election.
A combination of her Congressional page and her issues page was used to create this list.
- Abortion Rights Ally. Sykes has been particularly strong on women’s health issues. In fact, she earned the Emily’s List 2020 Rising Star Award. She introduced a bill in the Ohio state house that would exempt feminine hygiene products from the sales tax. She would vote to codify Roe, and would also vote to protect birth control, contraception, and IVF. Emily’s List, Reproductive Freedom for All, and Planned Parenthood have all endorsed her re-election campaign.
- Health Care Helper. Sykes’ first bill in the House, the Mental Health Improvement Act, was passed as a part of a larger bill. She would work to pass legislation that would cap the cost of insulin and other life-saving drugs. Finally, as evidenced by her co-sponsoring H.R. 959, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, she is working to root out the racial inequities in health care.
- Public Safety Problem Solver. Sykes has been working extremely hard on supporting survivors of domestic violence while in the House. She introduced legislation that allows divorcees to access Social Security if domestic violence was the reason for divorce. She also helped introduce the Stop Electronic Stalking Act and the Safer Homes and Families Act to help those suffering from domestic abuse.
- Gun Safety Champion. Tying in with the measures above, Sykes knows the gun safety and domestic violence are linked. She has signed onto legislation that promotes safe storage of firearms, and pushed for more gun safety legislation to pass through Congress. Giffords PAC and Brady PAC, both strong gun safety advocate organizations, have endorsed her.
- Labor Leader. Sykes consistently has advocated against free trade deals which have hollowed out the Rust Belt and manufacturing. Another deal she questions is the acquisition of US Steel by a foreign company. She also has stood for workers while in the halls of Congress. She will be a vote for the PRO Act and other pro-worker legislation. She also helped introduce the Fair Warning Act, which is meant to give workers more warning for impending layoffs.
- Education Advocate. Sykes has co-sponsored the EDUCATORS for America Act and the American Teacher Act to provide students, educators, and schools with the resources they need to support a robust education. She is working on legislation to lower the costs of college and lowering the student loan debt burden. The NEA has endorsed her campaign.
- Defending Democracy. Sykes is a strong supporter of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. She wants to hold those who attack our democracy, such as the assailants on 1/6, accountable for their actions. No pro-democracy groups have endorsed her campaign as of writing this article.
Who is Kevin Coughlin?
Kevin Coughlin has a record of winning tough elections. He started out in the Ohio state legislature in the mid 1990’s, winning a seat in the Ohio House. He leveled up to the Ohio Senate in 2001, and stayed there until he was term-limited in 2011. He currently runs a small business called Lexington Companies, which focuses on marketing and consulting.
A combination of the DCCC opposition file and Coughlin’s issues page was used for the following list.
- Forced Birth Maniac. In the Ohio legislature, Coughlin signed onto or voted for every abortion restriction placed in front of him. This includes voting against health care coverage for abortions and voting against access to medication abortions such as mifepristone. Like other Republicans, he has scrubbed any mentions of his record on abortions from his issues page.
- Repealing the Welfare State. Coughlin supports cuts to both Medicare and Social Security. He supported turning Medicare into a voucher program and supported the deep cuts in the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act (AKA the Paul Ryan plan). He also introduced a bill to repeal the ACA in Ohio before it was slated to take effect.
- Shady Lobbying. Coughlin joined a lobbying firm almost immediately after leaving the state legislature. He lobbied for the very groups he wrote legislation for favoring their interests. This primarily involved advocating for landlords over tenants rights.
- Immigration Hardliner. Coughlin parrots the usual lies about cartels and terrorists pouring over the “open Biden border”. He is an advocate for Trump’s border wall and for ‘closing loopholes that allow illegal immigrant criminals to escape justice’. He even would deny any illegal immigrant a pathway to citizenship — perhaps even the DACA recipients.
- Dismantling Education. Coughlin is on board with the (conservative) parent’s rights movement to veto anything objectionable in the school curriculum. He also was responsible for authoring the bill for “scholarships” (vouchers by another name) for students while in the Ohio state legislature. No doubt he would advance voucher schemes if he makes it to Congress.
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Tax Cut Terror. Coughlin claims he will hold the line against any possible tax increase. Worse, Coughlin hasn’t met a tax cut he doesn't like. He would likely favor permanently extending the disastrous Trump tax cut package, as the pattern in the Ohio legislature was him voting for income tax cuts as well as repeal of the estate tax.
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Debt and Deficit Peacock. Coughlin rails against the “Biden inflation spending” like the Inflation Reduction Act (which lowered the deficit) while also advocating for a Balanced Budget amendment. Such an amendment would require drastic tax increases or a shuttering of most government programs.
How Can You Help?
Rep. Emilia Sykes may be a talented politician, but that doesn’t mean she can get re-elected without your help. Between the necessary evil of fundraising, the never-ending need for volunteers, and the battle to get noticed on social media, there are plenty of ways to help out her campaign. Just choose the way that best fits your budget and time!
Sykes definitely has an advantage when it comes to fundraising right now. She raised $816k during the Q1 reporting period, which shows she can haul in a large sum as well as show she is taking the race seriously. This quarter ended with her having $1.65M in cash to spend as well. Kevin Coughlin is struggling with fundraising so far, but he still has time to turn it around. Coughlin only raised $141k in the first three months of this year, and he spent most of it leaving him with just $72k. No doubt dark money will intervene in this race, meaning Sykes isn’t out of the woods yet!
In a marginal district in which Biden barely won, every vote counts. To find those votes, it takes an army of volunteers to go knocking on doors, send out texts and make phone calls, and do all sorts of other jobs for the campaign. Helping Rep. Emilia Sykes also helps out Sen. Sherrod Brown, who must win this district by quite a bit if he is to win statewide. If you are in northeastern Ohio, join the campaign today!
If you cannot donate, and choose not to volunteer, then an easy way of helping out is to boost Rep. Emilia Sykes on social media. Since she is an incumbent, there are both her official accounts and her campaign accounts in need of a boost. Outside of Ohio, she isn’t a household name, which means that there is a ton of growth potential for her!
Sykes has 3.1k Twitter followers for her official Congressional account, which is about where the average freshman legislator is in terms of a following. She posts quite frequently on the account, and the feed is a combination of her advocacy for issues and legislative successes. Quite a few local projects have gained funds through her efforts, and she celebrated that success in March after the funding bills passed.
Sykes only has 1.6k followers for her official Congressional Facebook account, which is about where most freshmen legislators are in terms of numbers. It seems that much the same content is posted between the two social media platforms. Here, the Sykes family is being honored in Akron for their service during Black History Month.
Sykes also has accounts meant for her campaigns. Her campaign Twitter account has 23.8k followers, which is quite good for an account that doesn’t post very much. It was difficult to find a post that was worthy of being shared here, but I found one that affirms her strength on domestic violence issues.
Sykes has 6.4k followers on her campaign Facebook account, which is also pretty good for a freshman legislator. It seems that the content between the two popular social media platforms is the same once again. In this post, she “celebrates” Equal Pay Day, which is the amount of extra time it takes women to earn what a man does in one year.
Help spread the word today by following Rep. Emilia Sykes and boosting her accomplishments and her campaign in the critical realm of social media.
Rep. Emilia Sykes may come from a family of politicians, but her genuine concern for her constituents and especially for victims of domestic violence stands out. She is continuing the legacy of her parents in helping the Akron community, and I hope that service continues beyond 2024. Daily Kos Elections lists her as the 19th most vulnerable seat to flipping to the GOP this fall, so she will have to use all of her talents to avoid defeat.
Kevin Coughlin may **not** have a MAGA voting record, and he can also claim that he has what it takes to win in a swing seat — even if it has been a while since he has been in an election. What he cannot run from is his previously established record in the Ohio state legislature, which is filled with votes that the talented Sykes will make sure to highlight to the voting public in her district.
Sykes has gone far and achieved much in her political career. It would be a shame if that career is cut short. The question is whether or not her talent is enough to win a swing seat in a bitterly contested election.
Emilia Sykes for Ohio-13
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