Mary Jo Kilroy (born April 30, 1949) is an American attorney and a Democratic politician from Ohio. Kilroy is a U.S. Representative and former two-term County Commissioner of Franklin County, Ohio, which includes the capital city of Columbus, including its downtown area, and some of its surrounding suburban and rural areas. Previously she served two four-year terms on the Columbus School Board after working in private practice.

In both the 2008 and 2006 United States House of Representatives elections, Kilroy was involved in extremely close elections for Ohio’s 15th congressional district. She lost in 2006 after an election that required the counting of absentee ballots and election recounts. However, after the incumbent retired, she won a similarly close election in 2008. In both cases, she was behind after the Election Day vote tabulations, but made up significant ground with belated absentee ballot voting results.

Born in Euclid, Ohio, Kilroy grew up in Cleveland as the daughter of a pipefitter. She paid her way through college by working at hospitals, as a waitress and as a counselor. She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Cleveland State University in 1977 and her J.D. from The Ohio State University in 1980. Mary Jo Kilroy currently resides in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus. She and her husband have two college-aged daughters, Julia, a graduate student at Columbia University who attended Oberlin College, and Rosa, an undergraduate at Brown University. The Kilroys owned three dogs from animal rescue organizations at the time of the 2006 election.

Prior to practicing law with her husband at the plaintiffs firm of Handelman and Kilroy, Kilroy was a social worker, hospital technician and tutor. In 1988, as chairman of her local branch of the National Lawyers Guild, Kilroy signed a letter urging Columbus Mayor Dana G. Rinehart to support an order in favor of creating an equal employment opportunity chief to handle race relations issues in the Columbus Division of Police. After working in private practice as a partner in the law firm of Handelman and Kilroy with her husband, in 1991, she ran for in an eighteen-person contest for four Columbus School Board seats on a platform that included proposing to lengthen the scholastic day from six and a half hours to eight. Kilroy was one of the four candidates to receive the endorsement of the Franklin County Democratic Party. On November 5, 1991, she placed behind incumbent board President, Sharlene Morgan, natural resources expert Robert Teater, past board member Bill Moss, which made her the fourth among the eighteen candidates and the final elected member.

2006 Congressional election

Franklin County, which has elected Kilroy twice, makes up 87% of the 15th Congressional district. The 2006 race in Ohio’s 15th district gained significant national attention as it was seen as one of a handful of seats that Democrats had an opportunity to gain from Republicans. As of mid-October, the race was generally considered to be a toss-up largely due to incumbent Representative Pryce’s leadership in the Republican Party. Pryce had not had a close contest since her first election in 1992 and had garnered 10% more of the vote than George W. Bush in 2004.

2008 Congressional election

Kilroy will be the first Democrat to represent the district in 42 years (since Secrest). She will be only the second Democrat to represent a significant portion of Columbus since 1967. The last Democrat to represent the city, Bob Shamansky represented the neighboring 12th District from 1981 to 1983.

The late ballots were of three types:

1. the military and overseas absentee ballots postmarked by the time the polls closed Tuesday November 4 and received by November 14;
2. any domestic absentee ballots postmarked by Monday November 3 that are received by November 14;
3. as well as any of the estimated 5,000 absentee ballots with errors that voters correct by November 14.

2010 Congressional election

In June 2009, Stivers announced his candidacy for a rematch in 2010.