Ohio's 6th congressional district

Ohio's 6th congressional district
Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023
Representative	Vacant
Distribution	57.32% rural[1] 42.68% urban
Population (2022)	778,876[2]
Median household income	$57,817[2]
Ethnicity	85.6% White 6.3% Black 4.0% Two or more races 3.2% Hispanic 0.5% Asian 0.5% other
Cook PVI	R+16[3]

Ohio's 6th congressional district was represented by Representative Bill Johnson (R-OH) until his resignation in 2024. This district runs along the eastern side of the state, bordering West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It stretches from Marietta through several Ohio River industrial towns all the way to the city of Youngstown.^[4]

When Robert McEwen was first elected in 1980, the Sixth District of Ohio consisted of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Pickaway, Pike, Scioto, and Ross Counties plus Clermont County outside the city of Loveland, Harrison Township in Vinton County and the Warren County townships of Clearcreek, Deerfield, Hamilton, Harlan, Massie, Salem, and Wayne.^[5] At that time, The Washington Post described the Sixth as "a fail-safe Republican district."^[6]

The Ohio General Assembly redrew the Sixth District following the results of the 1980 United States census. The boundaries from 1983 to 1987 included all of Adams, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Hocking, Jackson, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton and Warren Counties, plus Waterloo and York Townships in Athens County; Wayne Township in Clermont County; Concord, Jasper, Marion, Perry, Union, and Wayne Townships in Fayette County; and Washington Township and the Cities of Miamisburg and West Carrollton in Montgomery County.^[7]

Beginning with the 100th Congress in 1987, adjustments were made by the legislature to the boundaries; reapportionment between censuses is unusual in American politics. A small part of the Montgomery County territory was detached, as were parts of Fayette County in Washington Court House in Union Township and the townships of Jasper and Marion. Part of Brown County was added, Jackson and Eagle Townships. These were the boundaries for the rest of McEwen's service in Congress.^[8]

The district was largely rural and agricultural with no large cities. One of the major industries was the

In 1992, the district was altered significantly to accommodate Ohio's loss of two House seats in redistricting. The state legislature anticipated that Clarence Miller of the neighboring Tenth District would retire, and thus combined the southern end of his district (which included Athens, Gallipolis, and Ironton) with most of the area previously represented by McEwen. Although the district did not include Miller's hometown of Lancaster, Miller decided not to retire and instead challenged McEwen in the Sixth District primary in 1992. The campaign was bitter, and McEwen eked out only a narrow victory. In November, McEwen was upset by Democrat Ted Strickland, a prison psychologist. Strickland himself was defeated in 1994 by Republican Frank Cremeans, but won the seat back in 1996.

For 2002 the district was shifted dramatically eastward. At the same time, it effectively ended the career of James Traficant in the neighboring 17th District by placing his hometown of Poland into the 6th. Traficant opted to run in his old district and lost. The district currently includes all of Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Gallia, Guernsey, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties, and portions of Athens, Mahoning, Muskingum, Scioto and Tuscarawas counties.

In 2010, Republican Bill Johnson defeated incumbent Democrat Charles Wilson, returning the seat to Republicans for the first time since 1997. Following the 2010 United States census, the bounds of the sixth district were changed again as Ohio lost two seats in Congress.^[10]

In recent years and like much of coal country, the district has swung decidedly toward the Republican Party at local, state and national levels. After being a dead heat in presidential elections in 2000, 2004 and 2008, it swung hard to Donald Trump in 2016; Trump carried it with 69 percent of the vote over Hillary Clinton, his best showing in the state; the district swung to the right by 30 percent, more than any other in the nation. Trump won it almost as easily over Joe Biden in 2020, with 72 percent of the vote, again his best showing in Ohio.

List of members representing the district

Member	Party	Year(s)	Cong ress	Electoral history
District established March 4, 1813
Vacant		March 4, 1813 – April 20, 1813	13th	Member-elect John Stark Edwards died before commencement of term.
Reasin Beall (Wooster)	Democratic-Republican	April 20, 1813 – June 7, 1814		Elected to finish Edwards's term . Resigned.
Vacant		June 7, 1814 – October 11, 1814
David Clendenin (Youngstown)	Democratic-Republican	October 11, 1814 – March 3, 1817	13th 14th	Elected to finish Beall's term. Also elected the same day in 1814 to the next term. Lost re-election.
Peter Hitchcock (Burton )	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819	15th	Elected in 1816. Lost re-election.
John Sloane (Wooster)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823	16th 17th	Elected in 1816. Re-elected in 1818. Re-elected in 1820. Redistricted to the 12th district.
Duncan McArthur (Chillicothe)	Democratic-Republican	March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825	18th	Elected in 1822. Lost re-election.
John Thomson (Chillicothe)	Jacksonian	March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1827	19th	Elected in 1824. Lost re-election.
William Creighton Jr. (Chillicothe)	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1827 – ????, 1828	20th	U.S. District Court for the District of Ohio .
Vacant		????, 1828 – December 19, 1828
Francis Swaine Muhlenberg (Circleville)	Anti-Jacksonian	December 19, 1828 – March 3, 1829		Elected to finish Creighton's term. Was not elected to the next term.
William Creighton Jr. (Chillicothe)	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1833	21st 22nd	Re-elected in 1830. [data missing ]
Samuel Finley Vinton (Gallipolis )	Anti-Jacksonian	March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835	23rd 24th	Re-elected in 1834. [data missing ]
	Whig	March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837
Calvary Morris (Athens)	Whig	March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843	25th 26th 27th	Re-elected in 1840. [data missing ]
Henry St. John (McCutchenville)	Democratic	March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1847	28th 29th	Re-elected in 1844. [data missing ]
Lower Sandusky )	Democratic	March 4, 1847 – March 20, 1849	30th 31st	Re-elected in 1848 . Died.
Vacant		March 20, 1849 – December 3, 1849	31st
Amos E. Wood (Woodville)	Democratic	December 3, 1849 – November 19, 1850		Elected to finish Dickinson's term . Died.
Vacant		November 19, 1850 – January 7, 1851
John Bell (Fremont)	Whig	January 7, 1851 – March 3, 1851		Elected to finish Wood's term. [data missing ]
Frederick W. Green (Tiffin)	Democratic	March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853	32nd	Elected in 1850. Redistricted to the 9th district .
Andrew Ellison (Georgetown)	Democratic	March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1855	33rd	Elected in 1852. [data missing ]
Jonas R. Emrie (Hillsboro)	Opposition	March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857	34th	Elected in 1854. [data missing ]
Joseph R. Cockerill (West Union)	Democratic	March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1859	35th	Elected in 1856. [data missing ]
William Howard (Batavia)	Democratic	March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861	36th	Elected in 1858. [data missing]
Chilton A. White (Georgetown)	Democratic	March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1865	37th 38th	Re-elected in 1862. [data missing ]
Reader W. Clarke (Batavia)	Republican	March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1869	39th 40th	Re-elected in 1866. [data missing ]
John Armstrong Smith (Hillsboro)	Republican	March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1873	41st 42nd	Re-elected in 1870. [data missing ]
Isaac R. Sherwood (Bryan)	Republican	March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875	43rd	Elected in 1872. [data missing ]
Frank H. Hurd (Toledo)	Democratic	March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877	44th	Elected in 1874. [data missing ]
Jacob Dolson Cox (Toledo)	Republican	March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879	45th	Elected in 1876. [data missing ]
William D. Hill (Defiance)	Democratic	March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881	46th	Elected in 1878. [data missing ]
James M. Ritchie (Toledo)	Republican	March 3, 1881 – March 3, 1883	47th	Elected in 1880. [data missing ]
William D. Hill (Defiance)	Democratic	March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887	48th 49th	Re-elected in 1884. [data missing ]
Melvin M. Boothman (Bryan)	Republican	March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891	50th 51st	Re-elected in 1888. [data missing ]
Dennis D. Donovan (Deshler)	Democratic	March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893	52nd	Elected in 1890. Redistricted to the 5th district .
George W. Hulick (Batavia)	Republican	March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897	53rd 54th	Re-elected in 1894. [data missing ]
Seth W. Brown (Lebanon)	Republican	March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1901	55th 56th	Re-elected in 1898. [data missing ]
Charles Q. Hildebrant (Wilmington)	Republican	March 4, 1901 – March 3, 1905	57th 58th	Re-elected in 1902. [data missing ]
Thomas E. Scroggy (Xenia)	Republican	March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1907	59th	Elected in 1904. [data missing ]
Matthew Denver (Wilmington)	Democratic	March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1913	60th 61st 62nd	Re-elected in 1910. [data missing ]
Simeon D. Fess (Yellow Springs)	Republican	March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915	63rd	Elected in 1912. Redistricted to the 7th district .
Charles Cyrus Kearns (Amelia)	Republican	March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1931	64th 65th 66th 67th 68th 69th 70th 71st	Re-elected in 1928 . Lost re-election.
James G. Polk (Highland)	Democratic	March 3, 1931 – January 3, 1941	72nd 73rd 74th 75th 76th	Re-elected in 1938 . Retired.
Jacob E. Davis (Waverly)	Democratic	January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	77th	Elected in 1940 . Lost re-election.
Edward Oscar McCowen (Wheelersburg)	Republican	January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1949	78th 79th 80th	Re-elected in 1946 . Lost re-election.
James G. Polk (Highland)	Democratic	January 3, 1949 – April 28, 1959	81st 82nd 83rd 84th 85th 86th	Re-elected in 1958 . Died.
Vacant		April 28, 1959 – November 8, 1960	86th
Ward Miller (Portsmouth)	Republican	November 8, 1960 – January 3, 1961		Elected to finish Polk's term . Was not a candidate for the next term.
Bill Harsha (Portsmouth)	Republican	January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1981	87th 88th 89th 90th 91st 92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th	Re-elected in 1978 . Retired.
Bob McEwen (Hillsboro)	Republican	January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993	97th 98th 99th 100th 101st 102nd	Re-elected in 1990 . Lost re-election.
Ted Strickland (Lucasville)	Democratic	January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995	103rd	Elected in 1992 . Lost re-election.
Frank Cremeans (Gallipolis)	Republican	January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1997	104th	Elected in 1994 . Lost re-election.
Ted Strickland (Lucasville)	Democratic	January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2007	105th 106th 107th 108th 109th	Governor of Ohio .
Charlie Wilson (St. Clairsville)	Democratic	January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011	110th 111th	Elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Lost re-election.
Bill Johnson (Marietta)	Republican	January 3, 2011 – January 21, 2024	112th 113th 114th 115th 116th 117th 118th	Elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022. Resigned to become president of Youngstown State University.
Vacant		January 21, 2024 – present	118th	New member to be elected in 2024 to finish the term.

Recent election results

The following chart shows historic election results.

Election results from statewide races

Election results from presidential races:

Historical district boundaries

See also

• Ohio's congressional districts
• List of United States congressional districts

Notes