Eric Conroy is a Cincinnati veteran and former CIA official who launched his bid to unseat Rep. Greg Landsman in Ohio’s 1st Congressional District. He enters a Republican primary that also includes Holly Adams, Steven Erbeck, and Rosemary Oglesby-Henry, but his intelligence and military background makes him the most institutionally credible challenger in the field.
Ohio’s 1st is the Cincinnati metro — the city itself, its inner suburbs, and portions of Hamilton County. It’s a district where Landsman has been winning by growing margins: he flipped the seat from Steve Chabot in 2022 by less than 2 points and then expanded that to 9.2 points in 2024. By normal political physics, incumbents who grow their margins get safer. Conroy’s bet is that the redistricting variable changes the physics.
The Redistricting Wild Card
Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature has been gerrymandering aggressively, and Landsman’s district has been a target. Ohio courts have been in ongoing battles with the legislature over map legality, but if Republican redistricting survives long enough to affect 2026, the district could be drawn in ways that add more Republican-leaning suburban Hamilton County precincts and reduce the weight of Landsman’s urban core.
A remapped district is a different race. Conroy’s candidacy is partly a bet that the map will be more favorable than the 2024 version.
The CIA Background
The CIA credential is unusual in a congressional primary. It generates both credibility on national security issues — a genuine asset in a post-9/11 political environment where military and intelligence backgrounds still carry weight with suburban Cincinnati voters — and potential lines of Democratic attack about surveillance, foreign policy, and institutional accountability.
In a Republican primary, the intelligence background is an asset. In a general against Landsman, it requires explanation and framing, because “former CIA official” lands differently with different voters.
Against Landsman
Landsman has built his incumbency carefully — constituent service, a visible district presence, a record on education and healthcare that speaks to Cincinnati’s urban-suburban mix. The Republican case against him is that he votes with Nancy Pelosi when it counts, that his moderate rhetoric conceals a record that serves the national Democratic caucus rather than Greater Cincinnati, and that in a redrawn district, the math that produced his 9-point win doesn’t replicate.
Conroy’s version of that argument — delivered by a veteran with an intelligence background rather than a generic partisan challenger — is more credible than a recycled attack ad. Whether it’s credible enough to overcome Landsman’s demonstrated ability to overperform his district’s partisan lean is the unresolved question.
What to Watch
The court ruling on redistricting, if it comes before the May 5 primary. A favorable map for Republicans changes everything. An unchanged map makes Landsman’s incumbency formidable. And the primary itself will determine whether Conroy or one of his competitors emerges to make the general competitive.