WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — Fayette County gets a Democrat in Congress. In a surprise upset, U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, a Columbus Republican, appears headed for defeat, with The Associated Press and CNN calling Ohio’s 15th Congressional District for Democratic newcomer Don Leonard.
Leonard led Carey 51.6% to 45.6% Tuesday night, 151,420 votes to 133,878, with 1,151 of the district’s 1,180 precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State. Libertarian Brennan Barrington had 2.8%, or 8,331 votes. The Scioto Valley Guardian projected Leonard the winner at 10:53 p.m., when the margin stood at 6 points with 98% of precincts counted.
The 15th District takes in all of Fayette, Highland, Pickaway, Madison and Miami counties, along with part of Clark County and the southern and western reaches of Franklin County, including a large share of Columbus. The seat has been in Republican hands since Carey won a November 2021 special election to replace Steve Stivers, who resigned from Congress earlier that year. Carey was reelected in 2022 and 2024.
Leonard’s margin of 17,542 votes is larger than what remains to be counted. Of the 29 precincts still out, 22 are in Highland County, where Carey was taking about three of every four votes. Even at that share, the outstanding Highland precincts would not produce enough votes to close the gap.
The result was built in Franklin County, where Leonard rolled up 122,350 votes to Carey’s 69,172, or 62.3% to 35.2%, with 882 of 889 precincts reporting. Every other county in the district voted for Carey, and the question was whether his rural margins could overcome Columbus. They could not.
In Fayette County, Carey carried all 25 precincts’ worth of returns with 6,357 votes, or 70.2%, to Leonard’s 2,390, or 26.4%. Barrington had 307 votes. The county’s full results, including the Washington Court House school income tax renewal and the county commissioner race, are in the Guardian’s Fayette County story.
Pickaway County went for Carey 14,408 to 6,863, or 65.5% to 31.2%, with all 46 precincts in. Highland County was giving Carey 8,196 votes, or 74.1%, to Leonard’s 2,528, or 22.9%, with 9 of 31 precincts reporting.
Carey also carried Madison County, 10,259 to 5,325; Miami County, 13,518 to 5,866; and the Clark County portion of the district, 5,984 to 3,049, all with every precinct reporting.
The flip comes on a night the Guardian also projected Democrat Amy Acton as Ohio’s next governor over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, and projected Democrats to win control of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Ohio’s own U.S. Senate race between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Jon Husted remained within two points late Tuesday with most of the vote counted.
Leonard, who had never held federal office, would take the seat in January. The results are unofficial until the Secretary of State certifies them later this month; the Fayette, Highland and Pickaway county boards of elections also will certify their local counts.
Live, county-by-county results for the 15th District are below and update automatically. Every Ohio race is on the Guardian’s live results map at https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/election-results-2026/, and every U.S. House and Senate race in the country is at https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/national-election-results-2026/.
Results are unofficial until certified by the Ohio Secretary of State. Source: Ohio Secretary of State election night reporting.
