Ohio's 13th Congressional District election, 2024

	2026 → ← 2022
Ohio's 13th Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: December 20, 2023
	Primary: March 19, 2024; General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
	Poll times: 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Voting in Ohio
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Lean Democratic; DDHQ and The Hill: Likely Democratic; Inside Elections: Lean Democratic; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	Ohio's 13th Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th; Ohio elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Ohio 2024 elections

U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Congressional special elections • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • State ballot measures • Local ballot measures • Municipal • Recalls • All other local • How to run for office

Incumbent Emilia Sykes (D) defeated Kevin Coughlin (R) in the general election for Ohio's 13th Congressional District on November 5, 2024.^[1]^[2]

The University of Virginia's Kyle Kondik wrote the district was "one of the most competitively drawn districts in the whole country. It's one of a relative handful of true swing seats across the country.”^[3]

Sykes was first elected in 2022, winning 52.7% to 47.3%. Before her election, she served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023 and was minority leader from 2019 to 2021.^[4] Sykes ran on her record in Congress, which she said benefited the district. The New York Times's Robert Jimison wrote: "At stop after stop, Ms. Sykes highlighted her role in helping to secure nearly $15 million in federal funding for projects in the district through earmarks ... and laid out plans to seek more federal dollars during this year's appropriations process."^[5] Sykes campaigned on her constituent services, which she said "is the best incumbent protection plan that exists, because this is my job performance."^[5]

In his responses to Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, Coughlin said, "I'm a small business owner and former State Senator running to put responsible leadership to work for you in the United States Congress." Coughlin said he was running because "I feel like I'm more in line with the views and the concerns of the 13th congressional district than the person that is there now, and I have a record that shows that I will be able to do something about it."^[6] The National Republican Congressional Committee listed Coughlin as one of 26 candidates that the group supported as part of its Young Guns program for candidates in competitive districts.^[7]

Both candidates faced criticisms saying that they were out of touch with the district. Former Ohio Republican Party chair Robert Paduchik wrote that Sykes "aligns closely with the most radical elements of the Washington Democrats and has increasingly embraced extreme positions that do not resonate with the commonsense voters of the district."^[8] Democrats criticized Coughlin over issues such as Social Security and abortion, saying he was out of touch with the district's voters. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Suzan DelBene (D) said that Coughlin "spent his career as a lobbyist and self-serving politician, supporting efforts to ban abortion, gut Social Security and Medicare, and repeal the Affordable Care Act. His out-of-touch agenda would threaten the fundamental freedoms Ohioans have fought hard to protect."^[9]

Based on third-quarter reports filed with the Federal Election Commission before the election, Sykes raised $4.9 million and spent $4.7 million, and Coughlin raised $1.4 million and spent $990,133. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here.

As of October 30, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with one rating it Likely Democratic and three rating it Lean Democratic.

The outcome of this race affected the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. All 435 House districts were up for election.

At the time of the election, Republicans held a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.^[10] As a result of the election, Republicans retained control of the U.S. House, winning 220 seats to Democrats' 215.^[11] To read more about the 2024 U.S. House elections, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 52.7%-47.3%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 50.7%-47.9%.^[12]

Ohio's 13th was one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) targeted in 2024. To read about NRCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of NRCC targeted districts, click here.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Ohio District 13

Incumbent Emilia Sykes defeated Kevin Coughlin in the general election for U.S. House Ohio District 13 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Emilia Sykes (D)	51.1	197,466
	Kevin Coughlin (R)	48.9	188,924

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 386,390
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Liam Walker (George Wallace Party)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 13

Incumbent Emilia Sykes advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 13 on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Emilia Sykes	100.0	41,257

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,257
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 13

Kevin Coughlin defeated Chris Banweg and Richard Morckel in the Republican primary for U.S. House Ohio District 13 on March 19, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kevin Coughlin	65.0	39,378
	Chris Banweg	27.6	16,703
	Richard Morckel	7.4	4,496

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 60,577
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Gregory Wheeler (R)
Madison Gesiotto Gilbert (R)

Voting information

See also: Voting in Ohio

Election information in Ohio: Nov. 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Oct. 7, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Oct. 7, 2024
Online: Oct. 7, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

Yes

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: Oct. 29, 2024
By mail: Received by Oct. 29, 2024
Online: Oct. 29, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Nov. 4, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Oct. 8, 2024 to Nov. 3, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (EST)

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Emilia Sykes

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office:

United States House of Representatives - Ohio District 13 (Assumed office: 2023)
Ohio House of Representatives District 34 (2015-2023)

Biography: Sykes received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Kent State University, a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida, and a master's in public health from the University of Florida. She previously worked as an administrative staff advisor at the Summit County Fiscal Office and as a law clerk for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Sykes said she had a bipartisan record in Congress: “Not only am I getting support from Democrats, I get it from Republicans and independents alike... That is something that I'm very proud of and worked very hard to show...”

Sykes' website said she supported expanding tax credits for families: "Emilia is fighting to put more money in the pockets of Northeast Ohio families through her legislation, the Lower Your Taxes Act, to expand the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits."

Sykes supported keeping abortion legal in Ohio: "We gave people in this state an opportunity to speak up for themselves and they spoke loud and clear, and I'm happy to stand with them every step of the way."

Show sources

Sources: Spectrum News, "Republicans aim to unseat Ohio Democrat Emilia Sykes in a swing district, August 8, 2024, Emilia Sykes 2024 campaign website, "Issues," accessed August 13, 2024, Akron Beacon Journal, "Rep. Emilia Sykes, Kevin Coughlin share views on abortion policy as Congress race heats up," July 21, 2024; United States Congress Biographical Directory, "Sykes, Emilia Strong," accessed August 8, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Ohio District 13 in 2024.

Kevin Coughlin

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office:

Ohio State Senator (2001-2011)
Ohio House of Representatives (1997-2000)

Submitted Biography: "I'm a small business owner and former State Senator running to put responsible leadership to work for you in the United States Congress."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Fiscal responsibility

End the immigration crisis

Create prosperity by attacking inflation and fixing the economy

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Ohio District 13 in 2024.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Expand all | Collapse all

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/KevinCoughlin2023.jpg

Kevin Coughlin (R)

Fiscal responsibility

End the immigration crisis

Create prosperity by attacking inflation and fixing the economy

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Kevin Coughlin (R)

Bringing our federal government and its spending under control; working with local and state governments to fight crime and drug trafficking; ending the immigration crisis and creating a system that works for everyone; standing up to China.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Kevin Coughlin (R)

The Iran Hostage crisis and the election of Ronald Reagan, followed by the freeing of the hostages. I was 10 when Reagan was elected.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Kevin Coughlin (R)

When I was 15, I was a cook at the BK Rootbeer Drive-In in Cuyahoga Falls for about a year.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Kevin Coughlin (R)

Summit County Republican Party Chairman Bryan C. Williams

Campaign ads

Emilia Sykes

View more ads here:

Kevin Coughlin

View more ads here:

Facebook

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[13]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[14]^[15]^[16]

Race ratings: Ohio's 13th Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Toss-up	Toss-up
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Tilt Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Toss-up	Toss-up
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

Kevin Coughlin

Election spending

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Emilia Sykes	Democratic Party	$5,332,291	$5,260,290	$122,679	As of December 31, 2024
Chris Banweg	Republican Party	$310,152	$310,152	$0	As of March 31, 2024
Kevin Coughlin	Republican Party	$1,662,607	$1,605,989	$56,618	As of December 31, 2024
Richard Morckel	Republican Party	$3,039	$3,039	$0	As of March 31, 2024
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[17]^[18]^[19]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Emilia Sykes Kevin Coughlin	OpenSecrets Federal Election Commission

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Ohio.

Ohio U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	15	15	2	61	30	6	8	46.7%	4	30.8%
2022	15	15	1	67	30	8	10	60.0%	6	42.9%
2020	16	16	0	67	32	11	11	68.8%	10	62.5%
2018	16	16	2	82	32	12	11	71.9%	8	57.1%
2016	16	16	1	59	32	5	5	31.3%	4	26.7%
2014	16	16	0	47	32	6	6	37.5%	5	31.3%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Ohio in 2024. Information below was calculated on 2/12/2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Seventy candidates filed to run for Ohio's 15 U.S. House districts, including 28 Democrats and 42 Republicans. That was 4.7 candidates per district, the most since 2018.

In 2022, the first election after the number of Congressional districts in Ohio decreased from 16 to 15 following the 2020 census, 4.5 candidates ran. In 2020, when the state still had 16 Congressional districts, 4.2 candidates filed per district. In 2018, 5.1 candidates filed.

The total number of candidates who ran for the U.S. House in 2024 was also higher than any other year this decade besides 2018, when 82 candidates ran.

Two districts—the 2nd and the 6th—were open, meaning no incumbents filed to run. That was more than in 2022, when only one district was open, and 2020, when none were.

Rep. Bill Johnson (R), the incumbent in the 6th District, resigned on Jan. 21 to assume the presidency of Youngstown State University. A special election to fill Johnson’s seat took place place on June 11.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R), the incumbent in the 2nd district, retired from public office. Eleven candidates—one Democrat and 10 Republicans—ran to replace Wenstrup, the most candidates who ran for a district in 2024.

Fourteen primaries—six Democratic and eight Republican—were contested. That was the fewest contested primaries since 2016, when 10 were. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 17 primaries were contested.

Three incumbents faced primary challengers, a decade-low. The three incumbents—Reps. Bob Latta (5th), Warren Davidson (8th), and David Joyce (14th)—were Republican.

Democratic and Republican candidates filed to run in all districts, meaning none were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+1. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 1 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Ohio's 13th the 222nd most Republican district nationally.^[20]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Ohio's 13th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
50.7%	47.9%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[21] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
49.4	49.1	R+0.3

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Ohio, 2020

Ohio presidential election results (1900-2020)

12 Democratic wins
19 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	R	R	R	D	R	R	D	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	D	D	R	R

See also: Party control of Ohio state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Ohio's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Ohio
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	0	5	5
Republican	2	10	12
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	15	17

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Ohio's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Ohio, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Richard Michael DeWine
Lieutenant Governor	Jon Husted
Secretary of State	Frank LaRose
Attorney General	Dave Yost

State legislature

Ohio State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	7
	Republican Party	26
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		33

Ohio House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	31
	Republican Party	66
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		99

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Ohio Party Control: 1992-2024
No Democratic trifectas • Twenty-six years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Election context

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Ohio in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Ohio, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Ohio	U.S. House	Major party	50	$85.00	12/20/2023	Source
Ohio	U.S. House	Minor party	25	$85.00	3/18/2024	Source
Ohio	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	1% of the vote cast for governor in the district in the last election	$85.00	3/18/2024	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.