Ohio’s top elections official rejects GOP challenge to Democratic congresswoman’s residency

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI The Associated Press

FILE - Rep.-elect Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, joins other newly-elected members of the House of Representatives as they arrive at the Capitol for an orientation program in Washington, Nov. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/J. Scott Applewhite]

Ohio’s top elections official has rejected a Republican challenge over the legal residency of one of the state’s Democratic members of Congress.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose made the decision late last week, saying the complainant brought by a political activist did not provide “clear and convincing” proof that Rep. Emilia Sykes had relocated from Akron to her husband’s home in Columbus.

The decision was left to LaRose after the Summit County Board of Elections tied 2-2 along party lines on Oct. 24 on whether the challenge should be taken up. The residency challenge came in the days before the election because her husband, Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce, had listed Sykes as a member of his household in Columbus.

Sykes called the allegation that she doesn’t maintain residence in Akron “a deeply offensive lie.” The couple has said they maintain separate residences, and Boyce subsequently filed an affidavit with the Ohio Ethics Commission to clarify that his wife lives in Akron.

Ohio law does not require members of Congress to live in their districts.

Sykes, 38, was allowed to cast her ballot for the November elections in Akron while she waited for a decision in the case. She defeated Republican Kevin Coughlin to win her second term in a district centered on that city, where she comes from a family steeped in state politics. Her father, Vernon Sykes, is a sitting state senator and her mother, Barbara, is a former state lawmaker and statewide candidate.

In a letter sent Friday to the county elections board, LaRose noted that Sykes provided evidence that she lives at her Akron address and that Boyce had filed the clarifying affidavit.