YOUNGSTOWN — State Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus, a Stark County Republican, said he plans to run for the 6th Congressional District seat while a Democrat who lives out of the district became the first candidate to file nominating petitions for the position.

Rylan Zachary Finzer, a Bedford Heights Democrat, filed Tuesday with the Mahoning County Board of Elections for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson. All candidates seeking the 6th District position must file in Mahoning, the district’s most-populous county.

Johnson, R-Marietta, plans to resign in February or early March to become president of Youngstown State University.

Finzer used to live in Perry Township in Stark County and finished a distant last in a three-person race in 2019 for trustee in that township, receiving 10.6% of the vote.

Finzer currently resides in Bedford Heights in Cuyahoga County, outside of the 6th District. But congressional candidates aren’t required to live in the district they seek to represent – only in the state.

Finzer owns Finzer’s Finest, a marijuana dispensary in Bedford Heights.

The 6th District had an 18% advantage for Republicans based on voting trends in partisan statewide elections. Because of that, Democrats aren’t focused on this election.

Dec. 20 is the filing deadline for the March 19, 2024, primary.

Stoltzfus of Paris Township, a state House member first elected in 2018, said: “An official announcement is coming soon, but I am planning on running for the open 6th seat. After talking with my wife and family as well as conservative leaders at the local and federal level, I’m confident I have the support to win.”

Stoltzfus made national news in 2021 when he was one of two main sponsors who wanted to officially recognize June 14 as Donald J. Trump Day in Ohio in appreciation. In May 2020, two months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stoltzfus was one of two main sponsors of a bill seeking to strip the state’s health director of much authority. Both bills had one committee hearing each.

State Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, has filed a declaration of candidacy and created a campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission. Rulli, serving his second four-year term, met last week with Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Republican National Congressional Committee about his campaign.

Rulli has the endorsements of Tom McCabe, the Mahoning County Republican Party chairman, and Dave Johnson, his counterpart in Columbiana County.

Janet Weir Creighton, Stark County Republican Party chairwoman, is endorsing Stoltzfus, according to the Canton Repository.

Others are expected to seek the position.

Republican Kurt R. Hilderbrand of Poland, who has never held elected office, filed a statement of candidacy and created a campaign committee with the FEC on Monday.

State Rep. Ron Ferguson, a Republican from Wintersville in Jefferson County, said he is “still weighing his options.”

The 6th Congressional District includes all of Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Noble and Washington counties and portions of Stark and Tuscarawas counties. Mahoning, Columbiana and Stark in the upper part of the district are the population centers.

In the 2022 election, 30.4% of the votes came from Mahoning, the district’s most-populous county, with 16.3% from Stark and 12.6% from Columbiana.

Rulli’s state Senate district includes all of Mahoning and Columbiana counties along with Carroll County. Because of his election success in Mahoning and Columbiana, Rulli is considered the early favorite for the seat.

Christina Hagan, a Republican from Marlboro in Stark County who is a former state House member, said she won’t seek the congressional post.

Hagan said she has “the best job on Earth, raising her four children as well as running a national pro-life ministry.

“While I do recognize the need in Washington is serious, after much prayer and deliberation over where I might best honor God with how I utilize the gifts he has blessed me with, I know full well that my most important and meaningful work will happen right here in Ohio,” Hagan, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2018 and 2020, said.

“There are many opportunities to be present here and make life-changing differences for the future of our families and our state.”

Johnson, R-Marietta, a seven-term congressman, said he will resign in February or March for the YSU presidency despite vocal criticism from some alumni, faculty, students and donors to the confidential selection process and the appointment of a conservative sitting congressman.

World-renowned fashion designer Nanette Lepore, a YSU graduate, returned an honorary degree from the university she received in 2012 when she gave a commencement address, in protest of the Johnson hiring. Lepore is the sister of former state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, a former Democratic member of the Ohio House, and sister-in-law to Robert F. Hagan, a former longtime Democratic legislator.

Because a special primary and general election is needed to fill the vacancy Johnson’s departure will create, the district could be without a representative for several months.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, won’t schedule the special primary and general election until after Johnson’s official resignation.

The timing of Johnson’s resignation means a special primary for the remainder of his unexpired term can’t be held at the same time as the scheduled March 19, 2024, primary for the full two-year term starting in January 2025.

Though DeWine can schedule special elections at any time, he has planned previous ones for congressional vacancies during the same months as typical elections: May (during nonpresidential years), August and November.

There is the possibility of a special primary in May and a general election in August or an August primary and a November general election, though nothing has been determined.

Under the latter scenario, there would be two general elections for the seat in November: one for the full two-year term and one to fill Johnson’s unexpired term for about six weeks, depending on the certification of the results.

dskolnick@vindy.com