Incumbent Steve Chabot (R) and Greg Landsman (D) are running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Ohio’s 1st Congressional District.
The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Scott Wartman wrote, “a change in district boundaries through redistricting has given Democrats a slight edge in numbers for what had been a reliably Republican district over the last decade.” Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 53.5% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 45.0%. According to Cleveland.com’s Sabrina Eaton, “The new configuration of the district Chabot represents includes all of Cincinnati, its eastern Hamilton County suburbs and all of Warren County.”
Chabot was first elected to represent the 1st Congressional District in 1994. He lost his 2008 re-election bid but was elected again in 2010. Chabot said, “Nancy Pelosi’s policies, along with the Biden administration, have done a lot of damage to the country. We need to fix that damage. We need to reverse a lot of things.” Chabot said his top goals are “improving the economy and reducing inflation and keeping taxes as low as possible.” Chabot said, “I actually reach out to Democrats, even though I’m a Republican and a conservative Republican at that. The best way to get things done in Congress is to reach across the aisle. And when I offer legislation, I almost always get a Democrat to be a lead sponsor with me.”
Landsman is a member of the Cincinnati City Council, a position to which he was first elected in 2017. Before joining the city council, Landsman was the executive director of the StrivePartnership. Landsman said, “the opportunity in this election is not just to have somebody who’s going to vote to protect our democracy, who’s going to end this chaos, who’s going to codify Roe, but somebody who’s going to not just vote with them and for their interests, but also who’s there all the time, in their neighborhoods, working on their issues.” Landsman has campaigned on reducing inflation and raising the minimum wage, strengthening labor union laws, and supporting the “codification of the rights afforded by Roe v. Wade on the federal level.”
In a campaign ad, Chabot said Landsman “not only worked for Nancy Pelosi, he supports more of her tax-and-spend agenda.” Landsman said, “we can no longer be represented by someone who voted against relief checks for families, voted against rebuilding the Brent Spence Bridge, voted against funding to reopen schools and support for frontline workers, and voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election.”
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. All 435 districts in the House are up for election. As of September 20, 2022, Democrats hold a 221-212 advantage in the U.S. House with two vacancies.