Michael Rulli will win the Republican primaries for the regular election and the special election in Ohio’s 6th Congressional District, CNN projects, putting the state senator in pole position to succeed former GOP Rep. Bill Johnson.
Earlier this year, Johnson vacated the deep-red seat, which stretches along Ohio’s eastern border with West Virginia and Pennsylvania, to take a job as president of Youngstown State University.
Rulli, a state senator from the Youngstown area, had the endorsement of former Ohio GOP Chairwoman Jane Timken, Ohio Rep. David Joyce, who represents a neighboring district, and the US Chamber of Commerce.
He will be the heavy favorite against Democrat Michael Kripchak in both the June 11 special election and the November general election for the 6th District, which former President Donald Trump would have carried under its current lines by 28 points in 2020. Kripchak won both Democratic primary contests Tuesday.
The winner of the June special election will serve out the remainder of Johnson’s term through January 2025.
Republicans are eager to fill the seat given their narrow margin in the chamber, which has at times made it difficult to advance legislative priorities.
Ohio’s 2nd District
Rulli isn’t the only Ohio Republican seen as likely heading to Congress after winning a primary Tuesday in a deep-red seat.
Businessman David Taylor will win the GOP nomination in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, CNN projects, putting him on a glide path to succeed retiring Republican Brad Wenstrup in the southern Ohio seat.
Wenstrup, who was first elected in 2012, announced his retirement last fall, citing the “frantic pace of Washington” that has kept him away from his family back home.
Among the 10 Republicans Taylor bested in the primary Tuesday was Derek Myers, a former local journalist whose campaign sent out a prepared concession statement hours before any election results had been released.
Myers said later that his campaign had prepared two statements, one in case he lost and a second if he won, and the former was “sent in error as it was being loaded into the media distribution portal, as a draft.”
Myers officially conceded the race about an hour and half after polls closed.
Source: www.cnn.com