Refusing War & RESTORING AFFORDABILITY

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY ELECTION

THIS TUESDAY!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY ELECTION ✦ THIS TUESDAY! ✦ TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE ✦

A man in a suit smiling outdoors in an urban setting.

Meet joe

Joe Gerard is a 26-year-old engineer and researcher, former EMT, and Short North homeowner running for Congress. He accepts zero donations from anyone.

He obtained his Master’s from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and is a self-employed engineer working in the development of medical devices and technologies.

He’s running because Columbus deserves a representative who answers to the people who live here, not the donors who fund their campaigns. OH-3 is one of the safest Democratic seats in the country, but our Representative doesn't vote that way.

Joe’s platform reflects the things this seat should be doing. He’d vote no on every arms sale to Israel because what’s happening in Gaza is a genocide and America is funding it. He’d use existing federal authority under the ACA to offer Ohioans an at-cost public health plan, no new taxes and no new legislation required to start, as a real step toward Medicare for All. He’d co-sponsor the federal AI Data Center Moratorium Act and force data center operators to pay their own grid costs instead of passing them to Columbus families. And he’d push for term limits in the House and co-sponsor the amendment to End Citizens United because this seat is service, not a career.

Before he decided to run, Joe was already doing this kind of work. He built a federal civil rights case against a county sheriff from public records and is currently litigating it on his own behalf. Every signature for this campaign was collected at ICE protests.

Logo of the Democratic Socialists of America with a red outline of Ohio, two hands shaking, and a rose in the center, encircled by the text 'Columbus Democratic Socialists of America'.

Gen-Z Candidate

Engineer + Researcher in Healthcare

Short North Homeowner

2nd-Gen American

OSU College of Medicine Alum

Gen-Z Candidate • Engineer + Researcher in Healthcare • Short North Homeowner • 2nd-Gen American • OSU College of Medicine Alum •

ENDORSEMENTS

+ RECOMMENDATIONS

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) - Columbus

“The recommendation here is clear: Joe would be a substantial improvement in representation for Central Ohio’s working class in the US House of Representatives.”

A cartoon rooster wearing a crown, with crossed arms, in front of a yellow circle, and the text "Rooster-Info" at the bottom.

"If I lived in OH-3, I would be voting for Joe Gerard. Beatty isn't a serious legislator by any metric of the phrase."

The Rooster

Campaign poster for Joe Gerard, congress candidate in Ohio's third district, endorsed by CAIR Action Ohio. Election day is May 5, 2026, with early voting on April 7, 2026. The poster features a smiling young man in a suit, with campaign details and logos.

Council on American-Islamic Relations - (CAIR) ACTION

Comparison chart of voting priorities between Joe Gerard and Joyce Beatty, representing the U.S. House of Representatives, Ohio 3rd district. Joe Gerard is 26 years old, focused on zero funding for political campaigns, Israel, pensions, prosecuting Wexner, and abolishing ICE. Joyce Beatty is 76 years old, advocating for over $1 million per cycle in political funding, sending Israel $50 billion, doubling state pension funding to over $250,000 annually, protecting Wexner, and

“Joe has proven he has the courage to speak truth to power and the dedication to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.”

LET’S GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.
i accept ZERO donations,

because representation is OUR right.

Ready for a columbus you can afford again?

Serve Columbus, Not Corporations!

My positions don't align with our District's corporate donors. Here's what I'd do differently.

Tap any row for details.

Total PAC money paid to my opponent since 2013
$7,836,780
Her grassroots small donors in 2025: just $13,262
My position Her position
Israel
My position
Cut off all arms transfers to Israel.
Her position
Voted to send $50B+ in military support.
What I'd do

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. America is funding it. That ends.

I'd vote no on every military aid package, including every supplemental package, every weapons transfer, and every commercial arms sale. No conditions, no “defensive weapons.”

Wars end when they get too expensive for the people funding them. America footing the bill is the reason Israel has never had to answer for what it's doing, and the reason the war hasn't stopped. The leverage we have is the checkbook — we must use it.

Her record
$500,000+
from interests with a direct stake in continued arms sales to Israel.

She voted YES on the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in both 2023 and 2024. The Israel lobby has paid her $431,313 over her career and weapons manufacturers paid another $77,500. The money flows to Israel, Israel buys the weapons, and the weapons manufacturers pay her to keep it going.

TrackAIPAC: $431,313. Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon: $77,500 combined.
Housing
My position
Build more housing by tying federal dollars to local zoning reform.
Her position
Sat on the housing committee for 13 years while Columbus housing costs doubled.
What I'd do

Columbus housing costs have doubled because we're not building enough of it where people want to live. The federal government can't rewrite local zoning, but it can condition the money it sends cities on whether they actually allow housing to get built. Tie HUD and DOT dollars to fast-track permitting near jobs and transit, and to legalizing ADUs by right so people can build on land they already own. End the Tariff Economy that's driving up the cost of materials.

Her record
$180,000+
from real estate, mortgage, apartment, and homebuilder PACs.

She sits on the committee that oversees housing policy and takes money from the industries that profit from high prices. Over $180,000 from real estate, mortgage, apartment, and homebuilder PACs over her career.

National Assn of Realtors: $75,000 (#2 career PAC donor). Mortgage Bankers: $48,000. Multifamily Housing Council: $32,500. Apartment Association: $17,000. Home Builders: $13,000. Quicken Loans / Dan Gilbert: $78,000+.
Healthcare
My position
Offer Ohioans an at-cost public health plan using programs we already fund.
Her position
Sat on the committee overseeing insurers for 13 years while accepting their money.
What I'd do

Healthcare in America costs more than anywhere else on Earth and delivers worse outcomes. The reason is that we pay middlemen to deny care. The fix is Medicare for All.

We don't have to wait for Congress to get there. I'd use a Medicaid buy-in paired with an ACA Section 1332 waiver to let Ohio offer an at-cost public health plan, administered by the state and funded with federal dollars we already spend. No new taxes. No new legislation required to start. Once Ohioans see what healthcare costs without an insurance company taking a cut, the push to M4A becomes much more achievable.

Her record
$185,000+
from pharmaceutical companies and health insurers.

She sits on the committee that oversees the insurance industry, introduced healthcare bills for 13 years, and none of them reduced costs. The checks keep clearing either way.

Cardinal Health: $66,500. Abbott Labs: $54,500. UnitedHealth Group: $19,500. AbbVie: $14,500. Johnson & Johnson: $14,250. Plus Pfizer, Amgen, Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck.
Banking
My position
Refuse money from any industry I'd be responsible for overseeing.
Her position
Took $2.5M+ from banks and insurers while sitting on the committee that regulates them.
What I'd do

A member of Congress who takes money from the industry they oversee is in a conflict of interest. In every other field, this is obvious.

I'd co-sponsor the constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United (HJR 54) to get money out of politics and end this corporate influence. I'd introduce and support legislation to ban congressional trading of individual stocks, and introduce actual penalties for non-compliance and non-disclosure.

Her record
$2,500,000+
from insurance, commercial banks, securities firms, and finance companies.

Insurance, commercial banks, securities firms, and finance companies have paid her over $2.5 million during her career. She sits on the House Financial Services Committee, overseeing the industry that funds her. She voted for the Stress Test Improvement Act, loosening oversight of the same banks writing her checks.

Huntington Bank: $74,950. American Bankers Association: $61,500. JPMorgan Chase: $54,000. Plus 153 other PACs in banking, insurance, and securities. Has not cosponsored HJR 54, the current Citizens United constitutional amendment in the House.
Energy & Infrastructure
Her position
Refused to cosponsor while accepting $84,975 from AEP.
What I'd do

AI data centers are eating Ohio's electricity and we're paying for it with our utility bills.

I'd co-sponsor the Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez AI Data Center Moratorium Act, which pauses construction of new AI data centers until federal safeguards are in place on ratepayers, the environment, and workers. Ohioans shouldn't be paying Amazon's electric bill.

Two federal levers can move alongside it. Classify large-load data centers as a major federal action under NEPA, forcing environmental review on water, emissions, and grid load before construction. And reform FERC to require data center operators to pay their own grid upgrade costs instead of passing them to households.

Ohio has no state environmental review law — federal action is the only fence between communities and whatever AEP and the tech bros want to build.

Her record
$300,000+
from the energy and telecom companies profiting from the expansion.

AI data centers are consuming massive electricity across Ohio, driving up costs for Columbus residents. She has been in Congress for 13 years and has not proposed a single ratepayer protection. The energy and telecom companies profiting from this expansion have paid her over $300,000.

AEP: $84,975. AT&T: $49,000. Charter: $50,000. Duke Energy: $43,000. Rural Electric Co-ops: $40,000. Comcast: $35,500. Verizon: $27,000.
Cannabis
My position
Deschedule cannabis and end the war on drugs.
Her position
Opposed legalization until 2020. Took money from Big Tobacco.
What I'd do

Ohio voters legalized cannabis in 2023 without help from Washington. The federal government still treats it like heroin and classifies homegrowing as a felony. That gap is absurd — it hurts people who have done nothing wrong and wastes tax dollars on non-violent drug enforcement.

I'd vote to deschedule cannabis entirely and end the war on drugs as a federal posture. Treat addiction as a public health issue, not a criminal one. Stop putting people in prison over a plant.

Her record
$12,550
from Altria, the largest cigarette manufacturer in America.

She took $12,550 from Altria, the largest cigarette manufacturer in America (Marlboro) that also markets treatments for diseases and cancers caused by their products. They sell the addiction, invest in the cure, and own a cannabis company, all while she took their money and opposed legalization until 2020. Ohio voters legalized it in 2023 without her help.

Altria: $12,550. Plus 153 financial industry PACs (see Banking).
ICE
My position
Abolish DHS.
Her position
Voted to thank ICE in 2025.
What I'd do

ICE arrested hundreds of Columbus residents during Operation Buckeye, most without criminal records, using tactics now being challenged in federal court. Masked federal agents raiding neighborhoods is not what enforcement is supposed to look like in a country with constitutional protections.

I'd vote to abolish the Department of Homeland Security, redirect its functions to agencies with judicial oversight, and cut the surveillance contracts that turned ICE into a domestic occupation force. TSA goes to the Department of Transportation. Coast Guard goes back to the military. The work doesn't disappear. The unaccountable, post-9/11, surveillance-heavy apparatus that runs it does.

Her record
$431,313
from the same lobby that funds ICE's surveillance pipeline.

ICE runs on Israeli surveillance technology: Paragon spyware to break into phones, Elbit radar at the border, Palantir AI to build deportation target lists. ICE officers train alongside Israeli police at Israel's National Urban Training Center. Since 2015, DHS and Israel's Ministry of National Security have jointly developed homeland security technologies through the BIRD program.

AIPAC has lobbied for bills expanding this collaboration and has paid Beatty $431,313 over her career. She voted to thank ICE for “protecting the homeland” in 2025. The same money that funds the bombs in the middle east funds the apparatus arresting Columbus neighbors.

AIPAC-tracked pro-Israel lobby: $431,313 (career). ICE surveillance contractors: Paragon, Cellebrite, Elbit Systems, Palantir. DHS-Israel BIRD Program: joint funding since 2015.
Voting Rights
My position
Automatic voter registration at 18 and full federal funding for election infrastructure.
Her position
Won her first primary with 38%. Defended her seat once in 13 years.
What I'd do

Ohio passed the strictest voter ID law in state history in 2023. Utility bills, bank statements, and paychecks no longer count. Eight thousand ballots went uncounted in 2024. Voters mail in ballots and never find out whether they were counted, including me.

I'd push for automatic voter registration when you turn 18. We do it for the draft, we can do it for voting. I'd push for full federal funding of election infrastructure: registration systems that work, audit capacity that catches errors, ballot tracking that actually tells you what happened to your vote, and research into what more accessible voting systems could look like. There's no reason in the greatest democracy on earth that voting should be this hard.

Her record
$12,500
from End Citizens United, a PAC that raises PAC money to end PAC money.

Ohio passed the strictest voter ID law in state history in 2023. Utility bills, bank statements, and paychecks no longer count. 8,000 ballots went uncounted in 2024. She's been in Congress for 13 years and her response is the same bill that dies every session. She took $12,500 from End Citizens United, a PAC that raises PAC money to end PAC money. They've raised over $100 million since 2015. Citizens United is still the law.

End Citizens United: $12,500. Progressive Turnout Project: $12,500. Her 2025 grassroots donations: $13,262.
Billionaire Taxes
My position
Make billionaires pay their share. Audit the rest.
Her position
Hosted a fundraiser with Bush's RNC chair to push billionaire tax cuts.
What I'd do

The richest 1% pays a lower effective tax rate than working families because the system is built to let them. Offshore tax shelters, capital gains loopholes, and an underfunded IRS that can't audit complex returns. Compounded over decades, the result is the largest wealth gap in American history.

I'd vote to close offshore tax shelters and require automatic annual audits of the top 50% of centimillionaires. Fund the IRS to do them. And it's worth looking harder at how the tax code treats wages versus wealth in the first place.

Her record
$148,840
from private equity, including a former RNC chair.

In November 2021, she and Rep. Josh Gottheimer created a “pop-up” fundraising committee. Executives at KKR, a private equity giant with billions invested in Israeli tech and surveillance companies, whose personal taxes would have been cut by the SALT increase she was pushing, bankrolled it. Beatty walked away with $71,340 on December 29. Kenneth Mehlman, former chairman of the Republican National Committee under George W. Bush, was among the KKR executives who maxed out their donations. The committee dissolved two days later. 90% of the SALT benefit flows to the richest 20% of earners. Like most of the bills she campaigned for, their version didn't pass.

Beatty Gottheimer Victory Fund: $71,340 (KKR executives). Blackstone: $40,000. Apollo: $37,500.
Transportation
My position
Put the trains back on the tracks.
Her position
Funds airports. Won't fund rail.
What I'd do

Columbus is the second-largest city in America without passenger rail. The last train left in 1979. Every other major Midwest city has rail. Beatty has been in Congress for 13 years and has never addressed rail funding.

I'd push for federal funding to build out the 3C+D corridor: Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati. The proposed Columbus passenger rail platform costs less than what Beatty raised last year. Our city of a million people has four airports but no train station. The money exists — the will doesn't.

Her record
$108,500
from a private jet company; $65,025 from car dealers.

Columbus is the second largest city in America without passenger rail. The last train left in 1979. She's been in Congress for 13 years and never championed rail funding. The industries that compete with public transit are her top donors.

NetJets (private jet company): $108,500 combined from two PACs, #4 career donor. National Auto Dealers Association: $65,025.
Wexner
My position
Release the Epstein files. Justice for everyone involved, no matter how powerful.
Her position
Took $130,065 from an Epstein co-conspirator. Returned some of it only after reporters made her.
What I'd do

The FBI designated Les Wexner as Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator. The House Oversight Committee said no single person provided Epstein with more financial support to commit his crimes. He's still walking free.

I'd push to declassify and release every remaining Epstein file and pursue federal charges against everyone the files implicate, regardless of wealth or political connection. Beatty hasn't even gone into the evidence room.

Powerful people committed crimes, the files are sitting in a vault, and the only thing missing is the political will to do the right thing.

Her record
$130,065
from Les Wexner, his wife, his company, and the network he funds.

She was formerly Senior Vice President at Ohio State, a position created while Wexner was on the board at 2-3x her career salary. She reached the federal retirement age in 2012, when she left to start her tenure in Congress. Protecting Wexner has been her retirement project. She only pledged to return his money in February 2026, after reporters forced her hand. She has yet to return donations from Wexner's business associates or family members. The FBI designated Wexner as Epstein's co-conspirator. The House Oversight Committee has claimed there was “no single person that was more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner.” 600,000 OSU alumni still carry his name on their degrees.

Leslie Wexner: $36,200. Abigail Wexner: $29,800. Limited Brands PAC: $43,500. Limited Brands employees: $6,600. L Brands/Bath & Body Works employees: $7,150. New Albany Company + PAC (Kessler family): $6,815. Plus $74,000+ from OSU employees.
Self-enrichment
My position
8-year term limits in the House. The seat is service, not a career.
Her position
$427,000 a year for 13 years. 5 of 88 bills passed.
What I'd do

The founders wrote two-year House terms because they expected representatives to serve briefly and return to their real jobs. Money killed that design — we now select for fundraisers instead of problem-solvers, and the seat becomes a career instead of a stint of public service.

I'd push for an 8-year term limit in the House (four terms) and a 12-year term limit in the Senate (two terms), with a 20-year combined cap across both chambers. Term limits poll above 80% across parties — the only people who oppose them are the people who benefit from staying.

I'd also serve under the rule I'm running on: zero donations, full transparency, and a maximum of 8 years.

The compensation
$427,000/yr
the highest pension double-dip reported in Congress.

$174,000 congressional salary + $253,000 state pension = $427,000 per year. In total, more than President Obama's entire government compensation. After 13 years in office, 5 of 88 bills became law, all wrapped into other legislation. None passed on their own. She has won her seat in seven elections, only facing a challenger in two of them.

Congressional salary: $174,000/year. Ohio state pension: $253,000/year. Bills passed independently: 0 of 88.
Impeach Trump
My position
Introduce articles of impeachment. Force every member to go on record.
Her position
Votes whatever leadership decides. Jeffries decided “of course not”.
What I'd do

I'd introduce articles of impeachment whenever the president commits a high crime or misdemeanor (and yes, Trump already has many). I'd cosponsor every serious resolution another member files. The vote may fail — but the record matters. The job of the seat is to force the question, not to wait for permission to ask it.

Impeachment resolutions matter even when they fail. They force every member of Congress to take a public position on whether the president's conduct is acceptable. They build a record. They give voters something to vote on. Most importantly, they set the stage for the next one.

In Trump's first term, Pelosi led two impeachments and Beatty voted yes both times. In Trump's second term, Hakeem Jeffries said impeachment isn't a priority, and Beatty has not introduced or cosponsored a single resolution. When leadership leads, she follows. When leadership stays quiet, she stays quiet.

Her record
$71,340
from Republican donors at KKR, including Bush's RNC chair.

Beatty cosponsored H.Res.24, the second impeachment resolution, on January 11, 2021, alongside 160 other Democrats after Speaker Pelosi had already committed the caucus to the vote. In Trump's second term, Rep. Shri Thanedar introduced seven articles of impeachment in May 2025. Beatty did not cosponsor. Rep. Al Green has filed multiple impeachment resolutions. Beatty has not cosponsored any of them. She has not introduced one of her own.

Hakeem Jeffries told Fox News Sunday that impeachment is “of course not” a priority for Democrats. Beatty has not contradicted him. She has, however, continued to take money from Republican private equity donors, including Kenneth Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee under George W. Bush. The money keeps coming. The leadership doesn't.

Beatty Gottheimer Victory Fund: $71,340 (KKR executives, see Billionaire Taxes). Cosponsored H.Res.24 (2021 second impeachment). No Trump-second-term impeachment resolutions cosponsored or introduced.
Fines, Settlements, and Convictions
Cardinal Health — $66,500 donated
Failed to report suspicious opioid shipments while sending 241 million doses to a state of 2 million people
$6 billion civil settlement. $44 million DEA fine.
Abbott Labs — $54,500 donated
Illegal drug marketing to elderly dementia patients
Guilty plea. $1.5 billion criminal fine.
Quicken Loans / Dan Gilbert — $78,000+ donated
Improperly underwritten FHA loans
$32.5 million civil settlement.
Navient — $12,500 donated
Predatory student loan practices
$1.85 billion civil settlement (39 states).
UnitedHealth Group — $19,500 donated
Medicare fraud
$7.2 billion alleged. Case ongoing.
Sam Bankman-Fried — $2,900 donated
Fraud, money laundering
Guilty verdict. 25 years.
Les Wexner — $130,065 donated
Epstein co-conspirator
FBI designation. Never charged.
Altria — $12,550 donated
Sells cigarettes. Invests in cancer treatments. Owns a cannabis company.
$104.6 billion paid to states in tobacco settlements.
Her career PAC total: $7,836,780
Her grassroots donors last year: $13,262
My total from all sources: $0
I don't take donations from anyone because the money is what keeps the same problems in place.
Democratic Primary — May 5, 2026
All figures sourced from FEC filings, OpenSecrets, and TrackAIPAC. Every number is public record.
View the complete Beatty for Congress activity ledger — 14,690 verified rows from 81 FEC filings, Dec 2011 through April 2026. Or verify directly at fec.gov or opensecrets.org.

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