Michael Anthony Rulli Bio
Michael Anthony Rulli (born March 11, 1969) is an American politician and businessman serving as the United States representative for Ohio’s 6th congressional district since 2024. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented Ohio’s 33rd district in the Ohio State Senate from 2019 until his resignation in 2024. In addition to his political work, Rulli is the director of operations at Rulli Bros. Markets, a family-owned chain of grocery stores headquartered in the Mahoning Valley.
Before entering public office, Rulli built a career in his family’s grocery business and served on a local school board in Columbiana County. He transitioned to full-time politics in 2018 with a successful run for the Ohio Senate and has since been a prominent voice in state and national Republican politics.
Early Life and Background
Michael Anthony Rulli was born on March 11, 1969, in Poland, Ohio, a small community in the Mahoning Valley region of northeastern Ohio. He grew up in a family rooted in the local grocery industry, the foundation of the Rulli Bros. Markets chain that he would later help lead. Rulli graduated from Poland Seminary High School, where he completed his secondary education before pursuing higher studies.
As a young man, Rulli joined the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, an experience that introduced him to discipline and structured service. After high school, he enrolled at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees in communications and speech in 1991. While studying in Boston, Rulli interned for United States Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II and played in a grunge band called Red Bliss, experiences that broadened his interests in both politics and public communication.
Path to US Politics
After graduating from Emerson College in 1991, Rulli returned to Ohio to join his family’s business, Rulli Bros. Markets, where he took on operational responsibilities that eventually led to his current role as director of operations. His early political engagement came at the local level when he served as a school board member for the Leetonia Exempted Village School District in Columbiana County. That experience on the school board provided his first sustained exposure to public governance and policy.
Rulli was a member of the Democratic Party until the late 1990s, when he switched to the Republican Party. The political realignment reflected shifts he observed in his community and the broader electorate. In 2018, Rulli ran for the Ohio State Senate in the 33rd district and defeated incumbent Ohio House member and former United States representative John Boccieri, launching his career in elected state office.
Michael Anthony Rulli Career
Early Career (2018–2019)
Rulli’s first major political victory came in 2018 when he won election to the Ohio State Senate for the 33rd district. He defeated John Boccieri, a Democrat and former member of the United States House of Representatives, in a closely watched race. The win signaled Rulli’s arrival as a competitive Republican voice in the Mahoning Valley.
He was sworn into the Ohio Senate in 2019, beginning a six-year tenure in the state legislature. During his early months in office, Rulli was one of 12 senators to vote against House Bill 6, a piece of legislation that became central to one of the largest public corruption cases in the state’s history.
Ohio Senate Era (2019–2024)
Throughout his tenure in the Ohio Senate, Rulli championed a mix of business-friendly and socially conservative legislation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he sponsored legislation to prevent municipalities from banning plastic grocery bags, arguing that uniform statewide rules helped grocery operators like his family business. Governor Mike DeWine signed the House version of the bill, House Bill 242, into law in October 2020.
In 2019, Rulli co-sponsored Ohio Senate Bill 23, widely known as the Heartbeat Bill, which restricted most abortions once a fetal heartbeat could be detected. Governor DeWine signed the bill into law in April 2019, although courts later blocked its enforcement. Rulli also co-sponsored the Ohio Fairness Act, a measure that would have expanded state civil rights protections to cover sexual orientation and gender identity, and in January 2024 he voted to override Governor DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68, which banned gender-affirming care for minors and restricted transgender athletes’ participation in school sports. He was re-elected to the Ohio Senate in 2022, defeating former Ohio House and Senate member Bob Hagan.
U.S. House of Representatives (2024–Present)
In 2024, Rulli won the Republican nomination for the special election in Ohio’s 6th congressional district. He defeated Democrat Michael Kripchak on June 11, 2024, and was sworn in to the 118th United States Congress on June 25, 2024. The following day, he formally resigned from the Ohio Senate, and state representative Al Cutrona was sworn in to fill his former seat.
Rulli won re-election on November 5, 2024, securing roughly 66 percent of the vote in a rematch with Kripchak. In Congress, he serves as co-chair of the bicameral and bipartisan Italian American Congressional Delegation. In July 2025, he introduced a resolution designating July 13 as Faith and Defiance Day to honor President Donald Trump’s response to the 2024 assassination attempt and to condemn political violence. In November 2025, Rulli was one of only two House Republicans who did not vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act; he was absent while caring for his father, who died on November 25, 2025.
Notable Events and Milestones
Rulli’s career has been defined by a series of high-profile votes, including his role as a co-sponsor of the Heartbeat Bill and his vote to override Governor DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68. His 2024 transition from the Ohio Senate to the United States House marked a significant step up in federal office, and his subsequent re-election with a wide margin reinforced his standing with voters in eastern Ohio.
Michael Anthony Rulli Family
Family Background and Business Lineage
Rulli is a member of the family behind Rulli Bros. Markets, a chain of grocery stores based in the Mahoning Valley. The family business has been a defining element of his professional identity, and he continues to serve as its director of operations while holding public office.
Personal Life
Rulli was previously married to Michelle Hinkle from 1992 to 1997. He has been married to Kelly Rulli since 2002, and the couple lives in Salem, Ohio, with their two children. In November 2022, Rulli and his wife were involved in an incident at their property in which they fired warning shots at teenagers they believed were trespassing; a special prosecutor’s investigation found no physical evidence to support criminal charges and concluded that their actions were reasonable under the circumstances.