U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan Wins Re-election In Ohio's 13th District

Updated: 12:30 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2020

Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan has been re-elected to Ohio’s 13th Congressional district for a fifth term, according to unofficial election results from the Associated Press.

Ryan defeated Republican challenger Christina Hagan, an Alliance resident who served in the Ohio House from 2011 to 2018 when she was term limited.

Chemist Michael Fricke from Kent ran on the Libertarian ticket.

As of 8:10 p.m. Tuesday, Ryan had won with 62.3 percent of the reported vote, according to AP. Hagan picked up 35.6 percent of votes so far and Fricke received slightly more than 2 percent.

Ryan has held the seat since 2013, but has served in Congress since 2003. He was previously the representative for Ohio’s 17 ^th Congressional District, after defeating his former boss, Democrat Rep. Jim Traficant, until district lines were redrawn. In 2019, he also was a candidate in the Democratic presidential primary, but dropped out of that race in October 2019 and focused his efforts on re-election to his U.S. House seat.

Bipartisan support helped secure his re-election, Ryan said Tuesday night, after the race was called.

“A lot of the people who may not agree with me on all of my issues, federal issues, or how I vote, they recognize that I’m from Niles, my wife’s from Struthers, my kids go to school here, and that we’re doing the job here locally… and that, I think, made the difference for a lot of people," Ryan said.

He called the race against Hagan "tough," and his team had to work extra hard but it gave him an opportunity to emphasize projects he has worked on during his time in Washington that benefit the local economy and more, he said.

In a statement Tuesday night, Hagan said despite losing, she is proud to have given voters a "true alternative choice" for the district.

“It has been the highest honor to campaign throughout the 13th District over the past year discussing with people of all walks of life the issues most important to them and their families," she said in the written statement.

She also congratulated Ryan on a "hard-fought" campaign.

The 13th Congressional District stretches through the Mahoning Valley, encompassing parts of Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage, Stark and Summit counties. The area is historically Democratic, but had a strong showing for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

During the campaign, Ryan touted his experience working with companies set to create thousands of new jobs in the Mahoning Valley, such as LG Chem and electric truck startup Lordstown Motors, following the closure of the General Motors Lordstown plant in 2019.

LG Chem plans to open a facility adjacent to the former GM plant in Lordstown to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

During the campaign, Ryan emphasized he wants not only build back the area’s economy, but transform it by securing funds for emerging industries like engineering and technology.

Ryan criticized Hagan for residing outside the 13th District. Hagan – who secured a coveted Trump endorsement in the race against Ryan – lives near the border of the district line, she said, and represented a large slice of the district when she served in the Ohio Statehouse.

Hagan's residence may have been a key factor in her loss, Ryan said Tuesday night.

“I mean, it killed her," he said. "It wasn’t just that she didn’t live in the district, it was that she didn’t live in the district she ran for two years ago, and now she’s running in another district she doesn’t live in, so she really was just kind of job shopping."

Most of the money raised for Hagan's campaign, Ryan said, came from outside the district as well, such as dark money groups and Super PACs.

In 2018, Hagan ran for Ohio’s 16th Congressional District seat in, losing in the Republican primary to current Rep. Anthony Gonzalez.