Lyle Williams

Who was Lyle Williams?

Lyle Williams was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.

Born in Philippi, West Virginia, he attended the public schools of North Bloomfield, Ohio. He served in the United States Army Reserve from 1960 to 1968, and then worked as a barber. He married Nancy Peterson in 1964 and they had four children.

Williams began his political career by winning election to the Bloomfield School Board, where he served from 1970 to 1972, and then being elected Trumbull County Commissioner from 1972 to 1976.

Williams was elected in 1978 as a Republican to the Ninety-sixth Congress in an upset, narrowly defeating incumbent Democrat Charles J. Carney in a heavily Democratic working class district that included the industrial cities of Youngstown and Warren. He was reelected to the two succeeding Congresses in the 19th and then the 17th district. He was defeated for reelection in 1984 by Mahoning County Sheriff James Traficant, a colorful political maverick.

In all, he served from January 3, 1979 to January 3, 1985, and ran unsuccessfully for reelection to the Ninety-ninth Congress. In 1987, Williams worked for the Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining on the external affairs staff. He returned to Ohio where he again ran unsuccessfully in 1992 for nomination to the One Hundred Third Congress. After leaving politics, Williams worked as Executive Director for NASPAC. Williams was a resident of Warren, Ohio.