GOP Wins OH Special Election, Expands House Majority

(Joe Maiorana / AP)

Republican state Sen. Michael Rulli won a special election Tuesday in Ohio’s sixth congressional district for the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Bill Johnson, widening the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House.

Newsmax and DecisionDeskHQ called the race for Rulli, 55, who defeated Democrat Michael Kripchak to fill the remainder of Johnson’s unexpired term. Rulli and Kripchak will face off again in the Nov. 5 general election for a full two-year congressional term that begins in January.

Republicans now have 219 seats in the House comapred to 213 for Democrats.

Rulli was leading 54.6% to 45.4% with 87% of the precincts reporting. Johnson had represented the district, which covers much of eastern Ohio, since 2010 and Tuesday’s race was closer than many predicted.

Johnson won his last four elections by more than 30 percentage points. Former President Donald Trump also carried the district by roughly 30 percentage points in 2020. Turnout for special elections usually is lower than for general elections, so the margin in November could be wider.

Rulli, a second-term state senator, is from Salem in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley, where he directs operations for his family’s 100-year-old chain of grocery stores.

Kripchak, 42, of Youngstown, served in the U.S. Air Force, and has done stints as an actor and in interactive telecommunications. He currently works at a local restaurant.

Johnson resigned in January after 13 years in Congress to take a position as president of Youngstown State University. His seat has sat empty since then.

The sprawling district runs through 11 counties along the Ohio River and includes the city of East Palestine, the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical spill in February 2023. It leans 58.7% Republican, according to Dave’s Redistricting App, a political mapmaking website.