COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes was re-elected to a second term representing a northeast Ohio district targeted by Republicans, but fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur’s race remained too early to call announced Wednesday.

Sykes, 38, defeated Republican Kevin Coughlin in a district centered on her native Akron, where she comes from a family steeped in state politics. Her father, Vern, is a sitting state senator and her mother, Barbara, is a former state legislator and statewide candidate.

“I want to congratulate Congresswoman Sykes on her re-election,” Coughlin tweeted Wednesday morning. “Even if the outcome isn’t what we hoped for, the values ​​that motivated this campaign – safety, security and affordability – will still motivate us to create change.” »

Sykes is still awaiting a decisive decision on whether an 11-hour challenge to his residency will take place.

A political activist challenged her residency days before the election on the grounds that her husband, Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce, had listed Sykes as a member of his house in Columbus. Sykes called the allegation that she does not reside in Akron a “deeply offensive lie.”

The Summit County Board of Elections tied 2-2 along party lines on October 24 on whether the challenge should be met. Council members had 14 days to communicate details of their disagreement to Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who, by law, “shall decide the matter summarily.”

Kaptur, 78, had a slight lead over Ohio state Rep. Derek Merrin and declared victory based on his lead in the vote count in the early hours of Wednesday, but The Associated Press has not called this race. Absentee, overseas and military ballots have until Saturday to be returned.

Kaptur entered the election cycle among the country’s most vulnerable incumbent MPs. His race for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District attracted some $23 million in spending, as challenger Derek Merrina state representative for his fourth term, garnered the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson and Donald Trumpthe former and future president.

Her campaign billed her as overcoming “millions of outside spending from dark money super PACs,” and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee praised Kaptur as “a proven champion of the Midwest.”

“Like the longest serving woman in CongressMarcy never forgot where she came from and never stopped fighting for Northwest Ohio,” President Suzan DelBene said in a statement. “She is a one-of-a-kind legislator, and leaders like her are rare. We are all better off with her in office.”

Both parties spent more than $23 million on ads for the race between the March 19 primaries and Tuesday, according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. Democrats had a slight advantage, spending more than $12 million to Republicans’ $11 million. Merrin received more support from outside Republican groups than Kaptur, who spent about $3.7 million of his own campaign funds on the race after the primary.

A Merrin defeat would mark a rare failure of Trump’s support to carry a favored candidate to victory in the state, which he has won three times and stripped of its barometer status. That helped elect both U.S. Sen. JD Vance, now vice president-elect, and Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, who unseated incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown on Tuesday.