Stark County Republican legislator Reggie Stoltzfus to run for Congress to replace Johnson

Stark County State Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus is jumping into the race to succeed Bill Johnson as congressman for the 6th Congressional District.

"After talking with my wife and family as well as conservative leaders at the local and federal level, I'm confident I have the support to win," he wrote in a text message Friday.

Stoltzfus, R-Paris Township, may have some catching up to do.

State Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, in Columbiana County filed paperwork Nov. 29 with the Federal Election Commission and established a campaign organization. He already has a press spokesman. And he visited Washington, D.C., recently to meet with Republican congressional leaders, the Morning Journal reported. His spokesman confirmed the visit and declined to comment on Stoltzfus entering the race.

Rulli has scheduled a press conference to officially announce his candidacy Monday morning at Mahoning County GOP Headquarters in Boardman, his campaign said.

The deadline to file a nominating petition for congressman for the 2025 to 2026 term is 4 p.m. Dec. 20. The party primaries will be March 19 with the winners facing off in the general election in November. It's not clear when Gov. Mike DeWine will schedule a special election to select someone to serve the rest of Johnson's term.

On Nov. 21, Johnson, R-Marietta, announced that after serving since 2011 he was stepping down from representing the 6th District in Congress by March 31 to become president of Youngstown State University. The 6th includes all or parts of 11 counties from Mahoning to Washington County. It also includes eastern Stark County and nearly all of Perry Township.

Related: Ohio's Bill Johnson to leave Congress to become president of Youngstown State

Creighton endorses Stoltzfus

Janet Weir Creighton, Stark County Republican chairman, enthusiastically endorsed Stoltzfus.

"Stark County wants a congressman. Reggie has been a solid representative of the 50th District. He is a business owner, strong in his conservative family values and dedicated to his beliefs. Reggie is a fighter for the county and wll serve us along with the other parts of the district. He has a proven track record and is results driven," Creighton wrote in a text message.

Stoltzfus, a former Paris Township trustee, owns Dutchcraft Tress & Component in Paris Township. He has been a state representative since 2019.

If Stoltzfus is elected congressman, he would be the first Republican congressman from Stark County since the late 36-year congressman Ralph Regula retired in 2009.

Rulli is in his second four-year term as a state senator for Mahoning, Columbiana and Carroll counties. The GOP county chairmen for those three counties have endorsed him.

Other candidates to replace Bill Johnson?

No candidate as of Friday had filed a petition to be the 6th District's congressman.

When asked in a text message if she planned to run for Congress for a third time, former State Rep. Christina Hagan, who ran unsuccessfully in 2018 and 2020 and has four young children, indicated she was not going to run.

The Marlboro Township resident late Friday sent a picture of her 8-month-old.

Hagan wrote that after much prayer and deliberation, "I know full well that my most important and meaningful work will happen right here in Ohio. ... Unless I get some overwhelming shift of calling in the next several days, I will likely be keeping my service close to home. I don’t want to miss these precious years with our young family."

Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, who was the Republican nominee for congressman for the 13th District in 2022, could not be reached for comment.

State Rep. Ron Ferguson, R-Wintersville in Jefferson County, is also considering seeking the 6th District seat, the Morning Journal reported. A message seeking comment was sent to his campaign email address.

On the Democratic side, Louis Lyras of Mahoning County, who was the Democratic nominee for the 6th District contest against Johnson in 2022, said he was not running.

Rylan Zachary Finzer, 29, a former Perry Township resident who now lives in Bedford Heights, said he will file to run for the seat as a Democrat and on a platform of increasing the number of high-paying jobs. Finzer said he's owner of a medical marijuana startup based in Cuyahoga County, and he will move back to Perry Township in the 6th District early next year.

Perry Township's John L. Matthews, a 65-year-old Republican, has taken out a nominating petition. He indicated in a text message he would file as a congressional candidate and declined to comment further.

Eastern Ohio GOP chairs tout Rulli

Columbiana County GOP Chairman Dave Johnson wants to avoid a costly, contentious primary for the 6th District seat.

He said Rulli is the obvious candidate to prevail because he's a "household name" in the core of the district. He defeated prominent Democrats John Boccieri in 2018 and Robert Hagan in 2022 in elections for his senate seat. And deep-pocketed donors have lined up behind him, he said.

Like many district residents, Rulli is concerned about inflation, energy independence to keep down energy costs, opposing the Democrats' "green agenda," the "open border" and supports the oil and gas industry including fracking, Johnson said.

“Michael is a very civil decent type of guy. He’s not a bomb thrower. He’s very level headed. He’s very bright and he’s very focused," Johnson said.

Stoltzfus' Ohio House district is "one little small piece" of the 6th Congressional District "so nobody knows Reggie Stoltzfus," Johnson said before Stoltzfus' announcement.

“Reggie's a great guy," Johnson said. “I would urge him to wait and look at other opportunities.”

Rulli, a married father of two, was a member of the Leetonia School Board. He also is operations manager for the two Rulli Brothers grocery stores in Mahoning County.

Tom McCabe, the Mahoning County Republican chairman, said because the Mahoning Valley makes up much of the 6th District, it makes sense for the congressman for the district to come from that region.

He cited Rulli's opposition to House Bill 6 in 2019 that then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder got passed to benefit FirstEnergy in return for bribes from the company. Householder was sentenced this year in federal court to 20 years in prison. McCabe said Rulli has worked to promote the electrical vehicle industry in the Lordstown area.

“He has electatibility that no one else has," said McCabe. "Michael Rulli, he’s a hard worker. He’s a hard campaigner. and it just made sense that Michael Rulli would be our candidate.”

Patricia Oyer, the Carroll County Republican chair, said before Stoltzfus announced he was running she endorsed Rulli because of his conservative values, integrity, honesty, keeping in touch regularly with officials in her county and work helping her county in Columbus.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @rwangREP.

Correction: Tom McCabe is the chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party. An earlier version of this article misspelled his name.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County Republican lawmaker Reggie Stoltzfus to run for Congress