Democrat Bill O’Neill, a former Ohio Supreme Court justice and 11th District Court of Appeals judge, said he will run next year in the 14th Congressional District race against U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a Republican first elected to the position in 2012.

“I don’t think I have the right to sit idly by while our government is destroyed,” O’Neill said. “All politics is local. We can’t remove President (Donald) Trump for four years, but we can change the makeup of the congressional delegation for the state of Ohio. What I bring to the table is I give voters a choice.”

O’Neill, of Chagrin Falls, has lost more general elections than he’s won, but has emerged as the Democratic candidate eight times: in three Ohio Supreme Court races, three for seats on the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals, and twice for the 14th Congressional District. The only Democratic primary he’s ever lost was for governor in 2018.

Joyce has been elected to Congress seven times.

A Joyce campaign official didn’t respond to a request for comment on O’Neill’s announcement.

The 14th District includes all of Trumbull, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties and all but two communities in Portage County. Trumbull is the district’s second most-populous county behind Lake.

The district has a 10% Republican advantage based on votes in partisan statewide elections in the past decade prior to the 2024 election. But Joyce, of Bainbridge, has far exceeded that percentage when he ran before.

Also, Republicans in the state have to redraw the congressional lines this year for the 2026 election.

Democrat Brian Bob Kenderes, who ran last year against Joyce, received 36.6% of the vote. Before the November election, Kenderes was found guilty of filing a false voter registration, a felony, and served a 30-day jail sentence after the election.

“If I can’t add 15 points to that I should stay in retirement,” O’Neill said of Kenderes’ vote total.

Kenderes raised no money and didn’t campaign.

In six previous elections, only one Democrat has received more than 40% of the vote against Joyce. That was Betsy Rader in 2018 with 44.8%.

Regarding Joyce, O’Neill said he “can either represent Elon Musk or his district. He can’t have it both ways. He’s been silent for the last two months while our country has been pulled apart by” Musk.

The richest man in the world, Musk is a Trump advisor and is affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency.

O’Neill lost the 1992 general election for a seat on the 11th District Court of Appeals, but then won races for the appeals district in 1996 and 2002. The appeals district’s boundaries are virtually identical to the current 14th Congressional District.

O’Neill then lost the 2004 and 2006 general elections for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court, the 2008 and 2010 general elections for the 14th Congressional District before winning a 2012 Ohio Supreme Court race.

O’Neill resigned from the Ohio Supreme Court about a year before his term was to expire to run for governor. He lost the 2018 Democratic primary to Richard Cordray.

Like his 2012 Ohio Supreme Court race, O’Neill said when he runs for Congress he won’t raise any money.

“There’s too much dirty money in politics and I, for one, am just tired of it,” he said.

Joyce is a prolific fundraiser and had $2,742,875 in his campaign fund as of Dec. 31.