Two candidates are running in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District in the November general election this year: Incumbent David Taylor, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Jen Mazzuckelli.
Voters in the Southern Ohio district will cast their ballots in this race and a number of others Nov. 3.
A political newcomer, Mazzuckelli won the Democratic Party's May primary over fellow first-time candidate Todd Wilson. Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. David Taylor of Amelia beat his challenger Bob Carr in the Republican primary.
The district — stretching along the southern part of Ohio from the suburbs of Cincinnati to the West Virginia border — is one of the most conservative in Ohio, the Cook Partisan Voting Index reports.
Learn more about Taylor and Mazzuckelli below. Candidates were given the same survey questions with a limit of 300 words for each. Responses have been edited lightly for grammar and style.
David Taylor
Campaign website: DaveTaylorforCongress.com
Biography (provided by the candidate)
A born and raised Ohioan, Dave Taylor serves as the U.S. Representative for Ohio’s Second Congressional District. A conservative businessman and former prosecutor, Dave brings a results-driven perspective to Capitol Hill.
After graduating from Amelia High School, Dave earned his degree from Miami University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Dayton School of Law. He began his legal career as an assistant prosecutor in Clermont County, holding violent offenders and drug traffickers accountable. Later, he returned to his family's small business, eventually serving as President and managing two dozen local employees.
In Congress, Dave sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, focusing on modernizing rural roads, bridges, and utilities. As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, he works to advance policies that protect local farmers, ranchers, and producers. He also co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Rural Broadband Caucus, leading efforts to expand high-speed internet access across rural Appalachia.
Through every legislative initiative, Dave remains steadfast in his commitment to delivering practical results for southern Ohio's families and hard-working communities.
What, if anything, needs to be done at the federal level to address concerns about the environmental, financial and quality-of-life impacts of data centers?
Decisions regarding data centers should primarily be made at the local level. As a former small-business owner, I support pro-growth initiatives that power the modern economy, but they must be transparent to the community they serve and clearly demonstrate how the project would be beneficial to that community. At the federal level, our primary focus should be ensuring energy grid reliability, protecting American energy independence, and promoting clean, affordable domestic energy production without imposing heavy-handed federal red tape on local communities.
Immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration have often moved beyond people suspected or convicted of serious violent crimes. Do you support this approach? Why or why not?
Securing our national border and restoring the rule of law are essential to protecting our communities and preserving national sovereignty. Every nation must enforce its laws consistently, and supporting our federal law enforcement personnel in carrying out statutory mandates is a key part of maintaining public safety. While addressing violent crime and public safety threats is always a primary focus, maintaining effective, comprehensive border security and ensuring our immigration system is respected across the board is critical. I sponsored legislation so that those who are here legally or illegally and commit financial crimes against Americans, like fraud, are automatically deported when they are convicted.
What steps would you take to address high inflation and other cost of living concerns?
To combat inflation and ease the financial burden on working families, Washington must stop the excessive federal spending that drove up costs in the first place. We need to unleash American energy production, cut unnecessary federal regulation, and extend pro-growth tax cuts that allow small businesses to hire, invest, and expand. In Congress, I voted to give the average family a $2,200 tax cut, and will continue to support efforts that lower costs on Ohio families. I am also proud of my vote to cut taxes on overtime and tips and expand the child tax credit.
What is your stance on the Trump administration’s approach to Iran and what do you think the U.S. should aim to get out of the conflict?
The administration's approach emphasizes maximum pressure, peace through strength, and decisive defense of American personnel, allies, and freedom of navigation. Our overarching goal should be preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities — where there is broad bipartisan agreement — curbing its support for regional proxy groups, and securing long-term stability in the Middle East. By projecting strength and maintaining strong diplomatic and economic leverage, the United States can protect its national security interests without dragging the country into endless, unnecessary overseas conflicts.
What legislation would you introduce to improve our roads, bridges and transit, and how would you fund it?
Modernizing our national infrastructure — particularly in rural communities — is vital for agricultural supply chains, small businesses, and manufacturing. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I support legislation that streamlines federal permitting processes, eliminates bureaucratic waste, and directs funds efficiently to critical roads, bridges, and freight networks. Funding should prioritize traditional core infrastructure projects rather than costly green mandates. We can fund these vital upgrades by reprioritizing existing federal dollars, leveraging public-private partnerships, and ensuring tax dollars are spent responsibly to improve safety, reduce congestion, and support local economic growth.
How can the federal government better support the rural and small-city communities that make up this district, many of which have seen the decline of their industrial and agricultural economies?
Our rural and small-town communities are the backbone of America, but for too long they have been overlooked by Washington. We can best support these regions by strengthening American manufacturing, revitalizing domestic agriculture, and expanding critical rural broadband access so local businesses can compete globally. As Co-Chair of the Rural Broadband Caucus and a member of the House Agriculture Committee, I am dedicated to passing a strong Farm Bill, reducing tax burdens on local employers, and rolling back federal regulations that stifle regional energy and manufacturing jobs. Returning power to local families and small business owners will ensure our small towns remain vibrant places to live, work, and raise a family.
Jen Mazzuckelli
Campaign website: jen4oh2.com
Biography (provided by the candidate)
Education: Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science - Illinois College
Master of Arts in Teaching, Secondary Integrated Language Arts, Miami U.
Whether it was professionally as a Human Resources professional and as a High School English teacher or personally as a volunteer in her children’s school activities and in her community, Jen Mazzuckelli has built her life around service. As a member of Congress she will bring that commitment to service with her to Washington.
Unlike previous and current representatives of Ohio’s 2nd district, Jen understands the stresses of juggling expenses because she lives it. Rather than address the increasing housing, energy, health care, and food costs our elected representatives have pushed for and supported policies that make our lives harder — not easier. Meanwhile they continue to live comfortably, the extremely wealthy grow their wealth exponentially, and we continue to struggle.
What, if anything, needs to be done at the federal level to address concerns about the environmental, financial and quality-of-life impacts of data centers?
Virtually every county in District 2 is facing a future with data centers. Unlike my opponent, I believe that whether a data center should be constructed in a particular county is a decision that should be made solely by the relevant local government with full transparency and inclusion of the people that will be affected by it.
Having said that, Congress’ primary job is to serve as the custodian of the country and to ensure the prosperity of the country and the people who live in it.
Neither our country nor our people can prosper if we are not healthy. And whether it’s from decommissioned coal plants, nuclear plants, data centers, or injection wells — District 2 is facing very serious current and potential environmental and health problems that need to be addressed yesterday and each local area needs federal support to make sure that happens.
As a member of Congress I will push for robust environmental and consumer protections. Since agency rules can be changed, ignored, and/or de-prioritized based on the ideologies and priorities of each presidential administration it is important that Congress pass clear, unambiguous legislation that will provide robust environmental and consumer protections. Breaking up monopolies, regulating environmental pollutants, and protecting public lands should be a priority of Congress and is a priority that I will pursue.
Immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration have often moved beyond people suspected or convicted of serious violent crimes. Do you support this approach? Why or why not?
Instead of developing sound policies and legislation designed to promote basic human rights, economic prosperity, and national security, our politicians have been using the topic of immigration as a campaign platform and have to create fear, anger, and resentment. During the Cold War the fear was Russian sleeper cells. After the Berlin Wall came down we were warned about the hordes of pregnant women coming across the border to have “anchor babies.” After 9/11 we were told to fear Al Qaeda and the sleeper cells. And now the warning is “Birthright Tourism” and Muslims who want to destroy our way of life. Despite all of the rhetoric Congress has failed to pass serious minded immigration reform.
The end result is an immigration pickleball match between the executive and judicial branches.
There have been problems with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since it was created due to the haphazard way it was created. Congress has the responsibility to not only provide specific parameters regarding how ICE should conduct its immigration enforcement, an independent body that would provide oversight and enforcement of ICE officers when they overstep their authority, AND to ensure that both Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration enforcement have the resources they need to prevent bad actors from entering the country.
It is the job of Congress to legislate immigration policy — not the president — and Congress has failed to do its job. Congress needs to reform our immigration system and laws so that they both reflect modern issues. And while Congress is working on immigration reform it needs to insist that the executive branch faithfully execute current immigration law rather than attempt to create new legislation via executive order. The president does not have the right to cancel legal pathways to citizenship without Congress. Being in the country unlawfully is not a criminal offense, it is a civil offense. And no law enforcement agency in this country has the right to treat any one in this country, (criminal or not, citizen or not) inhumanely.
What steps would you take to address high inflation and other cost of living concerns?
It will take time to solve the high cost of living in this country. Probably longer than two short years. We will need to end the global trade war and reign-in the unlawful tariffs. We also need to work to end the war in Iran. Reducing inflation and the cost of living is to work to end the illegal tariffs and war.
But reducing costs is also going to require robust regulations to breakup existing
monopolies and to end business practices that favor large corporations over small businesses and consumers. We cannot have a healthy free market economy without those reforms and regulations.
What is your stance on the Trump administration’s approach to Iran and what do you think the U.S. should aim to get out of the conflict?
The president ignored all experts who cautioned him against entering into a war with Iran and now we have created a quagmire. I have heard concerns that we may not be able to end this conflict earlier than 2028. Congress needs to conduct a series of non-partisan hearings, both secure and public, with a wide range of foreign policy experts so that we can a) find a way to safely extricate ourselves from conflicts in the Middle East and b) develop sound foreign policies going forward. While priorities may change from administration to administration, our country’s underlying foreign policies should not be able to swing like a pendulum.
I have no idea what we should have as an outcome for this conflict in Iran because the reality is that war only breeds resentment and enemies. Pursuing a future without nuclear weapons in the Middle East requires robust and sane diplomacy. It will never be achieved via warfare.
What legislation would you introduce to improve our roads, bridges and transit, and how would you fund it?
See below.
How can the federal government better support the rural and small-city communities that make up this district, many of which have seen the decline of their industrial and agricultural economies?
I put these two questions together because I believe that the solution is the same. I believe that we need a National Human and Physical Infrastructure Bank.
With a national bank that is solely devoted to strengthening and developing our infrastructure, we would be able to ensure our roads and bridges are safe and secure as well as our information technology and the human infrastructure needed to make our small and rural areas able to thrive.
We need to start thinking of infrastructure in a more holistic manner. Our infrastructure is our roads and bridges. But it’s also our power grid and our information systems. Hospitals, grocery stores, child care and transportation are also important aspects of our infrastructure.
This is not my area of expertise, but it is my understanding that a National Infrastructure Bank would not only help us make a robust investment in our national infrastructure (which would also support job creation), it would also help us get out of debt.