PAINESVILLE — Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce won re-election Tuesday in Ohio’s 14th Congressional District, defeating Democratic challenger Maria Jukic to secure another term representing the state’s far northeastern corner.
The Associated Press called the race for Joyce with more than 96 percent of precincts reporting. In the AP’s unofficial tabulation, Joyce had 179,467 votes to 146,651 for Jukic. CNN also declared Joyce the winner, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Joyce, of Bainbridge Township, has held the seat since January 2013. The 14th District covers Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake and Trumbull counties along with parts of Portage and Mahoning counties, stretching along Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line, the Beacon Journal reported.
Jukic, an attorney and former Euclid City Council member, won a contested Democratic primary in May but could not close the gap in a district that has backed Republicans comfortably in recent cycles. Joyce won re-election in 2024 with 63.4 percent of the vote, according to Ballotpedia’s compiled results, though Tuesday’s margin was noticeably narrower.
Both candidates came through contested primaries — Joyce defeated former Trumbull County Commissioner Niki Frenchko on the Republican side — and the general-election campaign centered on health care, jobs and wages in a district that mixes Lake Erie shoreline communities, manufacturing towns in the Mahoning Valley and rural townships.
Joyce’s win helps Republicans hold their ground in Northeast Ohio on a night when Democrats projected gains nationally, including a projected Democratic takeover of the U.S. House, according to CNN and Decision Desk HQ.
All results from Tuesday remain unofficial until county boards of elections certify them, which must happen within 21 days of the election. Joyce’s new term begins when the next Congress convenes in January.