The Most Important Thing About Ohio's 1st District Race Happened Before a Single Vote Was Cast

When people ask me who is going to win Ohio's 1st Congressional District, I tell them to stop looking at the candidates for a second and look at the map. Because the most consequential decision in this race was not made by a voter. It was made at a commission table in Columbus.

A seat redrawn to flip

Greg Landsman flipped this Cincinnati-area district in 2022, beating a long-time Republican incumbent, and then won re-election in 2024 by nearly ten points. Under Ohio's 2018 redistricting amendment, the map he won on expired early because it lacked bipartisan support. The Ohio Redistricting Commission approved a new map in October 2025. That map removed part of Democratic Cincinnati, kept Warren County, and added deep-red Clinton County. In plain terms, the seat got harder for a Democrat to hold. That is the entire reason this is now considered competitive.

Two candidates, told fairly

Landsman is a former public school teacher and Cincinnati councilman who now brands himself as an anti-establishment economic populist. His November 2025 manifesto, The Great American Comeback, lays out a ten-bill agenda modeled on the 1994 Republican Contract with America, and it criticizes both parties. His signature recent bill, the No Harm Data Centers Act, would make Big Tech pay the full energy cost of its data centers and ban non-disclosure agreements with elected officials.

Eric Conroy is a first-time candidate with a serious national-security resume: Air Force Academy, the Air Force, and the CIA. He runs on border security, energy independence, a strong defense posture, and a Trump-aligned agenda. He won his primary with a Trump endorsement.

Where the story gets interesting

On Israel and Iran, these two largely agree. Landsman supported strikes on Iran's nuclear program, the very position that fueled a primary challenge from his left. Conroy is also a pro-Israel hawk. The sharpest disagreement in this district played out inside the Democratic primary, not across party lines. Both men also claim the mantle of protecting Social Security, Medicare, and veterans.

The standard I would hold them to

This is a district where the data-center fight, rising energy bills, and the property-tax squeeze are all landing on the same kitchen table. Whoever wins owes those families a plan, not a culture war. I have my view on this race, and I am open about it. But my job is to give you both candidates in full and let you decide. That is what political solutions without political bias means to me.

I broke all of this down in the latest episode of Purple Political Breakdown Ohio Edition: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/greg-landsman-vs-eric-conroy-everything-you-need-to/id1626987640?i=1000770353056