Republican congressman Dave Taylor has won reelection in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District, according to an Associated Press projection, holding onto the southern Ohio seat he first captured two years ago. Taylor was facing Democratic challenger Jen Mazzuckelli in a district long considered one of the most reliably conservative in the state.
According to WLWT, the Associated Press projects Taylor as the winner, with polls in Ohio having closed at 7:30 p.m. The station reported Taylor's opponent as Democrat Jen Mazzuckello, though other outlets covering the race spell her surname differently. The New York Times results page, for instance, lists her as Jen Mazzuckelli and reported that Republican incumbent David J. Taylor won the Second District, noting the race was called by the Associated Press.
Vote totals reported by WOWK show Taylor capturing 61.18 percent of the vote to Mazzuckelli's 38.82 percent after the Associated Press called the race in his favor. The station's report also noted Taylor's stated priorities going forward, including expanding broadband access, supporting data center development, and giving families more educational power.
A Seat Taylor First Won in 2024
Taylor won Ohio's 2nd Congressional District race in 2024, replacing Congressman Brad Wenstrup, who had represented the district continuously since 2013 before announcing he would not seek reelection. The district stretches along the southern part of Ohio from the suburbs of Cincinnati to the West Virginia border and is one of the most conservative in the state, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index as cited by WVXU.
Both candidates emerged from contested primaries earlier this year. Per the same station's reporting, Mazzuckelli won the Democratic Party's May primary over fellow first-time candidate Todd Wilson, while Taylor, of Amelia, beat challenger Bob Carr in the Republican primary. WVXU had identified the two as the general-election matchup, describing Taylor as the Republican incumbent and Mazzuckelli as his Democratic challenger.
Taylor's Committee Record Heading Into a Second Term
Taylor's legislative portfolio includes seats on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Agriculture Committee, according to WVXU, which also noted he co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Rural Broadband Caucus. Those assignments track with the priorities he has outlined for his next term, including the broadband expansion and data center support highlighted in WOWK's report.
The New York Times noted its forecast was drawing on results from two counties where vote reporting was close to finished at the time of its update, and its results map compared the reported areas against their margins in the 2024 presidential election. No certified vote count, final margin, or turnout figure from the Ohio Secretary of State was available in the coverage reviewed.
