Ohio’s Congressional delegation will remain dominated by 12 Republicans with 4 Democrats. One district where Democrats thought they had a chance to turn the district blue remained with the incumbent.
In the 14 th District covering the northeast corner of the state, Republican incumbent Dave Joyce won by 11 percentage points. He delivered a short victory statement via Twitter, thanking his supporters.
I am truly honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve #OH14. Thank you to my supporters and volunteers for your endless dedication throughout this race!
— Just Dave (@DaveJoyceOH14) November 7, 2018
Democratic newcomer Betsy Rader also thanked her supporters and noted the uphill climb a Democrat had in the district that Donald Trump won by 11 points.
“We’ve been gerrymandered. We’ve had voter purges. We’ve had dark money on the other side, and all of that is designed to demoralize us. It’s all designed to make us give up the fight,” said Rader. “So they win when we quit and that’s why we’re not going to quit.”
One of Rader’s supporters hugged her and said “2016 . . .18 … It just keeps repeating.” And then laughed sadly.
In her concession speech, Rader looked ahead.
“Democracy dies in darkness and we must continue to shine a light. We have to lead the way for this to become a government for the people and by the people again. We have to lead the way and never, never, never give up.”
Rader ran a campaign calling for getting money out of politics and for offering people an option to buy into Medicaid for healthcare.