COLUMBUS, Ohio — Democratic newcomer Don Leonard has upset Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, with the Associated Press and CNN calling the race for Leonard on election night, the Columbus Dispatch reported. With more than 95 percent of the vote in, Leonard held about 52 percent to Carey’s roughly 45 percent, according to unofficial results cited by the Dispatch, with Libertarian Brennan Barrington taking nearly 3 percent.
The result is one of the night’s biggest surprises in Ohio. Carey, a former coal lobbyist from Columbus, had won the seat handily in three previous elections by 13 points or more, and outside experts had rated the 15th District as likely Republican, the Dispatch reported. Leonard, a former Ohio State University professor of city and regional planning, bet instead that voters in the district were unhappy with Republicans this cycle — a gamble that paid off as Democrats surged across the state.
Leonard’s campaign told the Dispatch he was delivering his acceptance speech in Hilliard on election night. In remarks reported by the Dispatch, Leonard said voters “didn’t fall for the scare tactics” from Carey’s campaign. “Instead, [voters] chose to stand up and make it clear that we deserve better,” Leonard said, in comments the Dispatch reported from his election-night speech. Carey’s campaign did not respond to a Dispatch phone call seeking comment on election night.
The 15th District brings together parts of Columbus and suburbs including Dublin, Hilliard and Grove City with rural counties such as Fayette and Miami, according to the Dispatch. Both sides treated the seat as competitive late in the race: political action committees on the right and the left put more than $6.5 million into advertising in the contest in recent months, the Dispatch reported.
The flip was part of a broader Democratic wave in Ohio’s congressional delegation. The Dispatch reported that longtime Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Dayton was losing to Democratic challenger Kristina Knickerbocker, and that Republican Rep. Max Miller conceded to Democrat Brian Poindexter in northeastern Ohio. Should those results hold, the Dispatch noted, Democrats would hold eight of Ohio’s 15 House seats — a striking outcome in the first election under the congressional map Ohio’s Republican-controlled redistricting commission approved in October 2025.
Columbus’ other House race ended as expected: CNN and NBC called the 3rd District for Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty early on election night, the Dispatch reported, after Beatty took about 82 percent of the early vote in unofficial Franklin County results against Republican Cleophus Dulaney.
All results remain unofficial until county boards of elections certify them later this month, and outstanding absentee and provisional ballots will be added to the totals before certification. Leonard is set to take office in January when the new Congress convenes, giving the Columbus area a Democratic representative in a district Republicans had held comfortably for years.