Ohio Women in the U.S. Congress
Ohio Women in the U.S. Senate
Source: National Library of Medicine
The first women to ever run for U.S. Senate in Ohio were Bernadine Healy and Mary Boyle in 1994. Healy had never run for public office but was nationally known for her contributions to the field of medicine and her fight for women’s health equity. After serving as the chair of the Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and head of the American Heart Association, in 1991, she was appointed by President George H.W. Bush as the first woman director of the National Institutes of Health, where she mandated that any NIH-funded medical trials must include women. Healy decided to run for U.S. Senate in 1994, coming in second in a field of four in the Republican primary.
Mary Boyle was a former Ohio House Member and Cuyahoga County Commissioner with a long career of public service. She lost the 1994 Democratic primary to Joel Hyatt, the son-in-law and former campaign manager of the retiring Republican Senator Howard Metzenbaum. Boyle ran again in 1998 for Ohio’s other U.S. Senate seat, vacated by retiring Democratic Senator John Glenn. She was unopposed in the Democratic primary, making her the first – and only – woman to ever be nominated by one of the two major parties. In early 1998, while Glenn was still in the U.S. Senate, he began training for a mission to return to space on the Shuttle Discovery that would launch in November. Because he felt astronauts should not get involved in politics, Glenn refused to even endorse Boyle. She lost the general election to Republican George Voinovich.
There would not be a woman running for U.S. Senate again until 2010, when Jennifer Brunner lost the Democratic primary to Lee Fisher. Brunner would go on to be elected to the Ohio State Supreme Court in 2020.
Ohio Women in the U.S. House of Representatives
Served 1940-69
First female representative from Ohio
Photo: Cleveland Public Library
Served 1977-93
One of the youngest women elected to Congress
Photo: Clerk of the U.S. House
Served 7 months in 1982
Completed term of her deceased husband
Photo: Clerk of the U.S. House
Served 1983-present
Currently the most senior woman in the U.S. House
Photo: Office of Rep. Kaptur
Served 1993-2009
Became the highest-ranking woman in U.S. House leadership
Photo: Ohio Congressional Archives
Served 1999-2008
First Black woman to serve in the U.S. House from Ohio
Photo: Clerk of the U.S. House
Served 2005-2013
First woman to represent Cincinnati
Photo: Clerk of the U.S. House
Served 2007-2013
Youngest woman ever elected to Ohio House
Photo: Clerk of the U.S. House
Served 2008-2021
Created the Congressional Rock and Roll Caucus
Photo: Office of Rep. Fudge
Served 2009-11
Played a major role in 2010 Wall Street reform
Photo: Clerk of the U.S. House
Served 2013-present
First female minority leader in Ohio House
Photo: Office of Rep. Beatty
Served 2021-present
First Black woman Chair of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party
Photo: Office of Rep. Brown
Emilia Sykes
Served 2023-present
Served 4 terms in the Ohio House in a seat held by her parents for over three decades.
Photo: Office of Rep. Sykes