COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance and Ohio Republicans are targeting U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes' House seat as the state redistricting process begins.
With a slim Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, policymakers on each side of the aisle are already planning how to increase — or maintain — their seats.
"It is incredibly important for Democrats to make sure that I am successful here in Ohio's 13th, because if not, that means we're gonna have to find another seat elsewhere," Sykes told us in an interview Tuesday.
Ohio's congressional mapmaking process is set to begin soon, and one of the seats most at risk is Sykes'. Elected first in 2023, the Akron Democrat represents District 13, which is all of Summit County, most of Stark and a slim part of Portage.
"This has been a target for two cycles already, and a third is not surprising," she said.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission (ORC) is controlled by state GOP leaders, and a preview of the changes they could make was highlighted by Vance in a speech in Canton Monday, promoting what the Republicans call the "Big Beautiful Bill."
RELATED: VIDEO: JD Vance touts Trump's Big Beautiful Bill at Canton steel plant
"Emilia Sykes is not here today, and you know why she's not here today? Because she's not celebrating no taxes on tips. She's not celebrating no taxes on overtime," Vance said during his speech.
Vance name-dropped her while saying that people on each side of the aisle should work together on legislation, and that the Oval Office is always open for bipartisanship.
"Emilia, why not work hard with us to make the legislation better if you disagreed with it?" he said during the speech.
According to Sykes, she wasn't invited to the event. We reached out to Vance's team for confirmation.
She did agree that she was staunchly against the legislation, since she says it will only cause more harm.
"The reconciliation bill is going to add to the deficit, take away food from hungry kids, encourage joblessness, increase our energy costs, and none of those things are popular," she said.
Currently, there are 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats representing Ohio in the U.S. House, while both senators are Republicans. Senator Bernie Moreno’s team told us Tuesday that he believes Ohio should be 12-3, or 80% Republican, reflecting the makeup of the state.
In 2024, Moreno beat longtime Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown 50-46%.
President Donald Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris 55%-44% in 2024 in Ohio. The entire Ohio General Assembly, 132 members between the House and the Senate, is 71% Republican. Each executive office in Ohio also has an elected Republican at the top.
In a close race during the 2024 cycle, Sykes beat former state lawmaker Kevin Coughlin 51.11-48.89%.
Vance also targeted Democrat U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of the Toledo area for not supporting the GOP mega bill, one that cuts Medicaid while codifying tax cuts and providing some incentives to businesses. Kaptur narrowly beat former state lawmaker Derek Merrin 48.27-47.63% in 2024.
"Anybody who voted against it, I think they ought to pay a penalty because they voted against all those great things for the people of Akron and the people of northeastern Ohio," Vance said. "Marcy's, I guess her district is in Northwestern Ohio, but you've got a lot of manufacturing and a lot of energy workers in Northwestern Ohio that would have benefited from her yes vote."
The other seat Republicans have started to go after is that of U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman of Cincinnati. However, Landsman beat lawyer Orlando Sonza 54-45%.
The two remaining Democratic seats are in absolute blue strongholds. U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, of Cleveland, won with 78% of the vote in 2024, and U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, of Columbus, won with 70%.
But both parties agree that the redistricting process has been “messy” in Ohio.
Sykes mentioned how the bipartisan Ohio Supreme Court struck down the commission’s maps seven times in 2022 for unfairly benefiting Republicans.
"Even after they did everything they could to get the results that they wanted, they could not outrun me," Sykes said. "I've been able to defeat them twice, and I'll continue to work hard for my constituents and do it again."
"So you're not worried about this upcoming election?" I asked.
"No, I don't worry about what Republicans do."
The ORC is made up of seven spots. Two will always go to Republicans and two to Democrats in the Statehouse. The three remaining seats include the governor, secretary of state and auditor. The congresswoman was originally on the ORC in 2021, as she served as the House minority leader at that time.
Learn more about the Redistricting issues of 2022 and the attempt to change who is in charge of mapmaking in 2024, one that failed.
By law, state legislators must have a congressional map by the end of November. Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said in June that initial district drafting is happening in August. Other Republicans told us conversations have already begun.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
