This story was updated on 10/30/25 at 4:31 p.m.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote from Ohio State University Professor Paul Beck to Congressman Mike Carey. The story has been updated to correct the error.
Central Ohio's four Republican congressmen are avoiding questions from local media as the government shutdown nears the one month mark.
Mike Carey, Jim Jordan, Dave Taylor and Troy Balderson have largely avoided interviews and public events with WOSU and other legacy media outlets in the Columbus area since the Republicans took back power in the 2024 election. Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, on the other hand, has consistently found time for interviews, including after she missed a key vote on funding for NPR and PBS this year due to medical reasons.
Beatty spoke to WOSU over the phone as she was outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture's offices Wednesday to demand USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and the Trump administration use contingency funds to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Democrats and Republicans are sparring over healthcare subsidies as a Nov. 1 deadline looms when SNAP benefits may run out.
Beatty called her Ohio Republicans colleagues "cowards" and placed blame for the shutdown on Republicans.
"If you took away your health care or any of my Republican colleagues' health care...they have families. They understand what's happening here, and I really think that they are scared. They're afraid," Beatty said.
Reporters have tried to interview Carey 17 times on issues ranging from the shutdown to NPR funding to interviews about the goings-on in the nation's capitol under President Donald Trump's second term. WOSU has also reached out to the other three Republican representatives several times.
The spokespeople for their offices routinely declined interviews or didn't respond at all to WOSU's inquiries. WOSU sent email questions to Carey for this story that went unanswered.
WOSU decided to seek two of the congressmen out in person, since the government has been shut down for the past month. Many congressmembers, including Carey, have left Washington D.C. to spend time in their districts.
Carey, representing Ohio's 15th Congressional District, lives in German Village in a duplex near Schiller Park. WOSU knocked on his glass storm door last week, and received no answer. Carey also had a Ring door bell that appeared to be broken.
WOSU also went to Carey's downtown district office on Town Street and left a hand-written note for his staff, who are going unpaid during the shutdown. The office requires pre-made appointments to even travel up the elevator for an office visit.
Lastly, WOSU drove to Pickerington to relay a message to Balderson's team. Staff at both offices said they would relay the message, but no response was ever given.
While Carey and Balderson have continually rejected or ignored WOSU's interview requests, Taylor and Jordan did have their offices send statements one time each. For Jordan, it was after the premiere of an HBO documentary on a former Ohio State University team doctor's sexual abuse of athletes.
For Taylor, it was after a swastika embedded in a U.S. flag was found in his office.
Ohio State University political science professor Paul Beck told WOSU he thinks congressmembers like Carey aren't incentivized and are even discouraged from doing interviews with journalists where they may face tough questions they may deem "hostile."
"Of course, on the Republican side, there's the regret of irritating President Trump, in addition to violating the loyalty, the discipline of the Republican Party in the House," Beck said.
Beck said Ohio's congressional maps, which are gerrymandered to favor Republicans, also play a role.
"(The maps) may lead to a tendency for them to say 'I don't really need to talk to the media here, because I've already got this actually pretty much in the bag," Beck said.
Carey hasn't been shy on social media since the shutdown began. He's posted events on Facebook he's attended behind closed doors with the Dublin and Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Carpenters’ Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program and Labcorp in Dublin.
He's also been in D.C. at points during the shutdown giving tours of the U.S. Capitol to students from Houston, Ohio.
On a recent visit by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Republican U.S. Senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno took questions from the media. Carey held a meeting with Turner behind closed doors.
Carey regularly posts clips on Facebook from radio interviews he does with a conservative talk radio show on WTVN 610 AM. The host routinely refers to D.C. as the "swamp" and to Carey as "one of the good guys."
The last local interview Carey made a post about was on NBC4's Sunday Briefing eight weeks ago, before the shutdown began.
In a recent interview with the conservative radio station, Carey said he is okay with debate on government funding, but complained about funding being used as a negotiation tactic. On SNAP benefits expiring soon, Carey said he didn't think it would happen.
"All we have to do is get a handful more of Democrats to agree with someone they've agreed for the last 13 times we've done this: a clean (continuing resolution)," Carey said. "Let's not put people in harm's way."
Beck said it's normal for Republicans and Democrats to have their favored media outlets and give them more access than others. He said a complete cessation of interviews is more abnormal and suspects House Speaker Mike Johnson is ordering the Republicans to avoid tough interviews.
"There could be an issue out there that they would feel more comfortable talking about. I don't know what that issue is, maybe it's OSU football," Beck said. "But it's probably not an issue given our polarization that is going to lie in the political realm."
WOSU pressed Beatty about whether Democrats face blame for the shutdown as negotiations continue to flounder. After calling it a "Republican shutdown" she pointed out Republicans hold the presidency, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.
She said Republicans have a responsibility to compromise.
"They also have an obligation to lead. They're not even coming to work," Beatty said. "We have pictures of them at campfires, traveling across this country, socializing while people are...losing their SNAP dollars and so much more."
Carey and several other House Republicans posted letters on social media to the chief administrative officer of the U.S. House asking to forgo their own pay until the shutdown ends.
Beatty called this a stunt and said she is accepting her pay, but is donating the money to a local food bank and to Equitas Health.
