Democrat Rep. Joyce Beatty wins sixth term in U.S. House in Ohio's 3rd district

As they have every two years since 2012, voters in Columbus’ 3rd congressional district have once again sent U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty to Capitol Hill.

Beatty, a five-term Democratic congresswoman from Jefferson Township, was reelected Tuesday to a sixth term in the U.S. House. Final unofficial election results showed that she had 70% of the vote against Republican challenger Lee Stahley, who had received 29% of the vote.

"I am grateful for the support of the people of the 3rd Congressional District," Beatty said in a statement sent to The Dispatch. "I look forward to returning to Congress to fight for the people."

Beatty has represented Ohio's 3rd Congressional district, one of the most-deeply blue districts in Ohio, since she was first elected to the open seat in 2012. Before that, she was a senior vice president at Ohio State University and spent five terms in the Ohio House, where she was the first woman to lead her party caucus.

Related Joyce Beatty article:What to know about Joyce Beatty, opponent Lee Stahley in Ohio's 3rd Congressional District

As a congresswoman, Beatty chairs the Congressional Black Caucus and serves on several committees, caucuses and task forces. Among them, Beatty is a member of both the Committee on Financial Services and also the Joint Economic Committee, and she chairs the Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee.

In her past term, she was part of the push to pass in the House the Investment and Jobs Act, the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which President Joe Biden signed into law in November 2021.

Stahley, an instructing licensed optician for the Ohio State's College of Optometry, has previously served on Whitehall City Council and is a member of the Franklin County GOP central committee.

The Republican ran on a platform that included health insurance reforms, limited federal government intervention, investments in public safety and policing, and term limits for elected officials.

Stahley's campaign congratulated Beatty in an email to The Dispatch Tuesday.

Beatty had previously told The Dispatch that her plans for another term include codifying Roe v. Wade to reinstate abortion rights nationwide, protecting Social Security and Medicare, passing universal pre-k to make all Ohio children eligible for public preschool, and restoring monthly payments through the expanded Child Tax Credit.

Beatty has also this year vowed to push for action on police reform at the federal level after Donovan Lewis, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a Columbus police officer.

elagatta@dispatch.com

@EricLagatta

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Democrat Rep. Joyce Beatty reelected in Ohio's 3rd District