Taylor

A relatively recent transplant to Marietta is challenging the incumbent U.S. House of Representatives member in the newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District.

The new district stretches Clermont County in southwestern Ohio east to Washington County, encompassing Athens, Morgan, Meigs, Hocking, Adams, Brown, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton counties, plus a portion of Perry County.

Rep. David Taylor, R-Ohio, was elected to the seat in 2024, succeeding retiring GOP Rep. Brad Wenstrup. Taylor, 56, is a former assistant prosecutor who ran a family-owned concrete business in Clermont County from 1999 to 2024.

His opponent in Tuesday’s Republican primary is 78-year-old Bob Carr, a historic preservationist with a diverse background who moved to Marietta about three years ago.

Taylor said he hadn’t really considered going into politics until Wenstrup’s retirement opened the seat and the new Congressional map promised to place multiple Appalachian counties in the district.

Carr

“I saw this as an opportunity to make sure somebody was on the ballot that understood the challenges of Appalachia,” he said. “As long as there’s progress being made, I’m happy to continue.”

He cited passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill or Working Families Tax Cut Act, which eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and doubled and made permanent the death tax exemption, an important element for family-owned farms, he said. Policy updates in the farm bill recently passed by the House will be positive for the 2nd District, he said.

Last year, Taylor said, he helped secure almost $17 million in funding for projects in the district, primarily dealing with water and sewer infrastructure.

Taylor said he sponsored three pieces of legislation, one of which passed the House, focusing on broadband connectivity. He said he’s also concerned about health care funding, noting a change in regulations over the last decade has led to money meant for rural hospitals being diverted to larger, urban facilities.

Taylor said his legal background has helped him understand how to read and interpret statutes. And being an assistant prosecutor involved “a ton of negotiation, and, believe me, Congress is a ton of negotiation,” he said.

Running a family-owned business that is responsible for the salaries that support other families also provided vital experience, Taylor said.

“You don’t forget those kinds of things,” he said.

Although this is an off-year election, Taylor said he encourages people to get out and vote.

“Apathy at voting time is what creates a lot of problems in the United States,” he said.

Carr said his primary motivation for running is “because the politicians won’t help save the Harmar Bridge.” That’s nothing new for Carr, who said he’s helped save a lighthouse in Mackinac Island, Mich., and a former state hospital in Traverse City, Mich., among other efforts.

“I’ve saved planes, trains, automobiles,” he said. “I can do it (save the bridge) because I’ve done it.”

Efforts to rehabilitate the bridge’s swing span are underway, with the nonprofit Historic Harmar Bridge Company recently presenting the City of Marietta with a $50,000 check to cover the local match of a $1 million grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Carr said he settled in Marietta after his wife of 54 years, Karen, suffered a stroke and they had to find a more traditional living situation than the motor home in which they resided. He’d visited Marietta College about 10 years ago and said he decided to move here because of the historical significance of the area.

“And I thought it was pretty. And I wanted to be near a college,” Carr said.

Growing up in multiple foster homes, Carr has lived and worked around the country in a variety of fields, from agriculture to running a home for runaways and answering the overnight hotline.

“When the phone rings, you’ve got 10 seconds to change someone’s life,” he said

He also served as the host of a radio show, “Reality Politics,” in Michigan for about 18 months.

Carr said he learned politics from Victor V. Veysey, a Republican who won a primarily Democratic district in California in the 1970s. He also spent four years working in various capacities around the federal government in Washington, D.C., including the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Nixon administration and in the office of Rep. Burt Talcott, R-Calif.

Carr made a run for Congress himself in the 1990s in Michigan, losing in the general election to Rep. Bart Stupak in 1996. Carr said he got to know Stupak on the campaign trail and didn’t feel like he had a shot at defeating the popular incumbent.

“It’s sort of hard to run when you know you’re not going to win,” he said. “(But) I learned how to campaign. There’s a real science to it.”

If he pulls off the upset of this incumbent and wins in the general election, Carr said he wants to offer a 24-hour, staffed hotline and a weekly radio show into which people can call.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.