STEUBENVLLE — The area’s state representative and its congressional representative will face primary challenges in Ohio’s May 5 primary, according to filing information from the Jefferson County Board of Elections and the secretary of state’s office.

Incumbent State Rep. Ron Ferguson of Wintersville will face a Republican primary challenge from former state Sen. Frank Hoagland of Adena. Ferguson has held the seat since the 2020 election. Hoagland represented the area in the state Senate from 2017 until he retired from the position in 2023.

Charrie L. Foglio of Toronto is the only Democrat who filed for the seat.

U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, who currently represents Ohio’s 6th Congressional District, has attracted numerous challengers.

A Republican from Salem, Rulli will face a GOP primary challenge from Jullie Kelley of Monroe. Rulli was elected in June 2024 to an unexpired term and then to a full term five months later. He is seeking his second, full two-year term in November.

Kelley ran in 2023 for a trustee position in her Carroll County township, finishing last with 9 percent of the vote.

Six Democrats filed nominating petitions in the 6th District for the May 5 primary.

They are: Sean Connolly of Canfield, Malcolm Ritchie of Dover, Adrian Vitus of Poland, Brent Hanni of Youngstown, Charles DiPalma of Steubenville and Elizabeth Kirtley of New Philadelphia.

Hanni has spent the past two months as head fiscal officer at the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts. Before that, he was senior executive catering chef at Kent State University for nearly four years.

Hanni said: “No one in Washington, D.C., can relate to the problems people face every day in the 6th District. Congress has completely dropped the ball with the American Dream and as a result, working families are suffering.”

Connolly owns a tattoo business in Canfield. With redistricting, Connolly’s Canfield home is being moved with this election from the 6th District to the 14th. But state law doesn’t require him to live in the district.

Vitus worked as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development before cuts were made by the Department of Government Efficiency.

Ritchie is a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and a retired locomotive engineer.

DiPalma unsuccessfully ran for an Ohio House seat in 2022, getting 28.7 percent of the vote.

Little is known about Kirtley, who states she is a writer on her Facebook page.

The candidates need at least 50 valid signatures to qualify for the May 5 primary election.

May 4 is the filing deadline for candidates who want to run as independents for the congressional seat, or any office for which a primary election must be held.

Because of redistricting, the 6th District boundaries will see changes with this election.

The district lost a portion of Mahoning County and added more of Stark County. That change will make Stark the district’s most-populous county with this election, displacing Mahoning, which is now the second most-populous.

All of Tuscarawas County is being included in the district compared to only a portion currently. The district is gaining portions of Wayne and Holmes counties and will lose Monroe, Noble and Washington counties.

The district will keep all of Columbiana, Jefferson, Carroll, Belmont and Harrison counties.

With the November election, the 6th District will favor Republicans 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results between 2016 and 2024, according to the redistricting commission. The current district favors Republicans 59.1 percent to 40.9 percent for Democrats based on partisan statewide voting results between 2014 and 2022.

In Jefferson County, incumbent Republican county Commissioner Eric Timmons of Steubenville is the only Republican who has filed for the Jan. 1 seat. Democrat Brent Nemeth of Rayland has filed on the Democratic side.

Incumbent E.J. Conn of Bloomingdale was the only Republican to file for the county auditor’s spot. No Democrat filed for the position.

Two Democrats filed for Jefferson County Common Pleas Court judge. Incumbent Michelle Garcia Miller of Rayland filed for the Jan. 1 seat, while Michael D. Bednar of Wintersville filed for the Feb. 9 seat. No Republican candidate filed for either seat.

Several issues around the county have been filed.

Voters in Steubenville will be asked to renew the city’s two income tax issues — the 0.7 percent, five-year income tax that generates money for street improvements and equipment, parks and recreation, capital improvements and the general fund, and the 0.3 percent, five-year income tax that generates money that goes toward salaries of municipal employees and street improvements.

Other issues, all renewals, include:

• Amsterdam’s 3-mill, five-year property tax for recreation expenses;

• The Edison Local School District’s 1.85-mill, five-year property tax for current expenses;

• Rayland’s 4-mill, five-year property tax for current expenses;

• Richmond’s 1-mill, five-year property tax for current expenses;

• Tiltonsville’s 4.9-mill, five-year property tax for police protection; and

• Tiltonsville’s 3-mill, five-year property tax for current expenses.

Candidates and issues will be certified by the board of elections on Feb. 17. Feb. 23 is the deadline for write-in candidates for the May 5 primary to file their declarations of intent.

The deadline to register to vote in the primary is April 6, with early, in-person voting scheduled to start on April 7.