Joyce Beatty

To her grandchildren, Joyce Beatty is Grammy.¹ Born in Dayton, she has recalled using segregated drinking fountains and swimming pools as a teenager.² Her husband, attorney and former Ohio legislator Otto Beatty Jr., died in 2021.¹.²

Beatty earned a bachelor's degree at Central State University and a Master of Science at Wright State University.¹ Before entering Congress, she served five terms in the Ohio House, in the seat previously held by her husband, and became the first woman to lead its Democratic caucus.² Her state legislative work included helping expand financial literacy education for public school students.¹ Her career also included serving as Ohio State University's senior vice president for outreach and engagement.¹

She entered Congress in 2013 and chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2021 to 2023.¹ She is now the senior Democrat on a Financial Services subcommittee overseeing national security, illicit finance and international financial institutions.¹ Her legislative record includes child trafficking provisions incorporated into the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, signed into law in 2015.²

Beatty's current priorities include affordable health care and housing, education and civil rights.³ Her financial policy work also emphasizes financial literacy and reducing inequalities in access to wealth.¹ She supports voting rights reform, preventing gun violence, reproductive rights and more affordable childcare.¹ Her November opponent is Republican Cleophus Dulaney.³