District: OH-13
Cook Political Ranking: Lean Democratic
Performance Voter Index: D+1
Rep. Sykes has been the U.S. House Representative for Ohio’s 13th congressional district since 2022. Sykes is the first Black woman to represent this congressional district. Before Congress, Sykes served as a State Representative for Ohio’s 34th legislative district from 2014 to 2021; from 2019 until 2021, she served as the minority leader of the chamber.

Ohio’s 13th district is located in the northeast region of Ohio and includes Akron, the fifth-largest city in the state. Ohio Republicans recently redrew this district, and it has become slightly more Democratic. Under the lines in the new map, Ohio’s 13th District is still based in Akron, but has shifted a couple of points to the left by now, including the college town of Kent. Before 2022, Representative Tim Ryan represented the district; after serving OH-13 for a decade, he vacated his seat for a U.S. Senate bid. While a Democrat has represented the seat since the late 1970s, redistricting following the 2020 Census added a conservative county and some towns to the district, presenting Republicans with a competitive opportunity. In 2024, Ohio was also home to a highly contentious U.S. Senate race, making the state a hotspot for outside money, including in Sykes’s race. In the 2024 race, Rep. Sykes faced off and ultimately defeated the GOP challenger and former Republican State Senator Kevin Coughlin by 2.2 points (8,542 votes). During the 2024 cycle, Sykes raised $5.3 million, and her opponent, Coughlin, raised $1.6 million. More than a dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups together spent more than $16 million in this race.