Ohio — 14th District

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio - U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce didn’t need to seek out voters as he sipped a Michelob at last week’s Geauga County Veterans Sports Fest.

As festival goers chowed down on burgers and fries from an Amish food booth and were tempted by raffle tickets for prizes including guns and cash, they also sought out the South Russell Republican. A steady stream approached him to shake hands, discuss current events and express gratitude for help received over the years.

A biker in an Air Force cap thanked his office for untangling a birth-certificate problem that stalled his passport. A veteran’s widow hugged him. Several said they look forward to the weekly newsletter he sends constituents every Sunday.

“I read it to the other seniors in the mobile home park every week,” reported Chris Morrow of Middlefield. “If you need help he’s the man to call. He helped me when my husband first passed away. If they do term limits, we’re all in trouble if they get rid of him.”

After serving as Geauga County’s prosecutor for nearly 25 years, Joyce became the 14th District’s congressman in 2013. The district he represents covers Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula and Trumbull counties along with parts of Portage and Mahoning counties.

It hasn’t sent a Democrat to Congress since 1995 and rates R+10, reflecting long odds against a Democratic win. Few in either party consider Joyce in serious danger this fall.

In May, Joyce won around 70% of the GOP primary vote against a challenger who argued he wasn’t conservative enough. In November, he faces Democrat Maria Jukic, a former Euclid City Council member who is disappointed Joyce hasn’t done more to check what she sees as abuses of power by the Trump administration.

Absentee and early in-person voting begins Oct. 6. Election day is Nov. 3.

Jukic, whose name is pronounced “Yukich,” argues Joyce has become complacent. She said her priorities include saving Social Security, standing up against data centers and establishing protections from artificial intelligence.

She said she decided to run for Congress after federal agents killed Renee Goode in Minneapolis in January, and she felt U.S. constitutional rights were being violated and democratic norms were being attacked.

“I couldn’t believe that in our country we had masked, nameless, armed secret police killing American citizens on the streets,” said Jukic.

She spent 24 years in healthcare administration at Cleveland Clinic, most recently directing its arts and medicine program, before being laid off. She went to law school in her mid-30s after working in marketing and public relations at Euclid Hospital, and earlier worked in humanitarian aid, translating for foreign journalists in Croatia during the wars there.

She lives about a mile outside the district, and has pledged to move in if she wins.

“I’d like to live for one year in each of the counties to really get a sense of the different places,” she said.

Like Joyce, she’s been spending her time crisscrossing the six-county district, making the rounds of county fairs and campaign events. She’s an underdog, given that Joyce had $3.1 million in his campaign treasury at the end of June, while she had $33,693. She describes her campaign as a “grassroots” effort.

“I have a fire in the belly to represent people in this district, to make changes that’ll improve the lives of regular Americans, to stand up to what I think are abuses in our government,” Jukic said.

Joyce cites his record delivering federal money to the district as a reason he should be reelected. His post as a House Appropriations subcommittee chair helps secure spending-bill money for projects in his district, including $33.6 million to dredge Fairport Harbor. He also touts his work reauthorizing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and passing the IMPACTT Human Trafficking Act, which became law in 2024.

GovTrack, a nonpartisan legislative tracking service, found Joyce had six bills become law during the 2023-24 session, tied for third most in the House, and that he introduced more bills than any other Ohio delegation member that session.

Joyce also points to his work across the aisle, including with Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, saying he’s built a reputation as an “honest broker” in Congress. He co-chairs the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus and the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, working to expand opioid treatment access and keep the federal government from interfering with state marijuana legalization efforts.

“It’s been the honor of a lifetime to continue to represent this area where I grew up,” he said.

On the issues:

Rep. Dave Joyce:

Economy: Joyce said the economy has always been the top issue for his constituents. Grocery and gas costs weigh on everyone, and higher fertilizer costs have hit farmers hard. He expects prices will stabilize when U.S. military action ends in Iran, noting that high oil prices affect “not just the cost of gas in your car, but the cost of gas in every truck,” driving up prices across the board. He said people are frustrated because President Donald Trump promised fixes that haven’t come:

Data centers: Joyce says data center siting is primarily a state and local issue, but said public input is always needed so residents know upfront what rates they’ll pay and how much water a facility will consume. He said Congress should eventually set national guardrails on artificial intelligence, given that AI has started ‘blowing out of its own domain and going into other ones

Immigration and ICE: Joyce said the district hasn’t seen the kind of aggressive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics reported elsewhere. He said the H-2B visa program should be fixed to allow seasonal workers in landscaping, nurseries and roofing “to come here, do their work, and return to their home country during the winter.”

Maria Jukic:

Economy: Jukic said ending the Iran conflict and reversing tariffs she calls illegal should come first, and will reduce costs. She argues corporations have used inflation as an excuse to pad profits, and says she’d support a $15 hourly minimum wage.

Data centers: Jukic said hyperscale data centers are pushing their way into Ohio communities against the will of the people. She said Congress could rein them in by setting up environmental and consumer protections, as it has done for other industries.