At least one Department of Energy nuclear cleanup property, the Portsmouth Site, is assured of replacing a seasoned lawmaker in November’s midterm election, with Sen. Portman (R-Ohio) not seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) , the incumbent from Ohio’s 13th congressional district, is running against J.D. Vance, the GOP nominee who is a lawyer and author of a bestselling memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ to succeed Portman in the U.S. Senate.
When he sought the Republican nomination for the Senate seat, Vance sought and received the backing of former President Donald Trump, after once being a critic of Trump.
Ryan’s 13th district is concentrated mostly in northeastern Ohio serving cities such as Akron and Youngstown, but since becoming a Senate candidate Ryan has devoted much attention to issues surrounding the Portsmouth Site in Pike County in southern Ohio.
A one-time staffer for former U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) — a colorful and controversial lawmaker— Ryan was first elected to the House in November 2012. In 2020 Ryan unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, which was won by President Joe Biden.
Since first being elected to the Senate in 2010, Portman has been known as an ardent supporter of cleanup at the former Portsmouth gaseous diffusion plant. Earlier this year, he was one of several current and former lawmakers targeted for sanctions by Russia following that country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Ryan’s seat in the House will be filled by either Democrat Emilia Sykes, a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, or Republican Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, an attorney and television commentator who worked on the campaigns of Donald Trump for president in 2016 and 2020, according to the Ballotpedia website.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) a physician who represents the state’s second congressional district, which includes DOE’s Portsmouth Site, is up for re-election in November against Democrat Samantha Meadows, a Southern Ohio native and advanced emergency medical technician, according to her campaign website
