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G2G tracks government events and policies and engages directly with decision-makers at all levels of government in Ohio to stay up to date and shape the process. Each month, we distill this into legislative updates.

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***ELECTION RESULTS***

November 6, 2024

OVERVIEW

President-elect Donald Trump won Ohio’s 17 electoral votes after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris with 55.2% of the vote to 43.9%. Trump received 3.1 million votes compared to Harris’ 2.5 million. Republicans also won the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Sherrod Brown in the most expensive campaign in history. Within the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbents won and no Ohio seats were flipped. Republicans still have a supermajority in both chambers of the Statehouse despite losing a few seats to Democrats. Meanwhile Republicans won all the Ohio Supreme Court races and Issue 1 that would have changed how districts are drawn failed. More on federal and state election results is below.

U.S. Senate

Bernie Moreno (R) will be Ohio’s next U.S. Senator after defeating current Senator Sherrod Brown (D) who was first elected to the senate in 2006. Moreno won 50.2% to 46.4% for what was the most expensive non-presidential race in U.S. history with over $515 million dollars spent. Meanwhile, given that Vice President-elect JD Vance will no longer be a senator, Governor DeWine will nominate a new candidate to take his place. Rumors are swirling that either State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) who Governor DeWine endorsed during the Republican primary or former U.S. Senator Rob Portman who Governor DeWine has always had a close relationship are top considerations to fill this vacancy.

U.S. Congress

Republicans will continue to hold a majority of Ohio seats in Congress as no seats were flipped despite several competitive races:

• Emilia Sykes (D-OH-13) was ranked among the top most competitive seats to maintain in the country (a Tosss Up) defeated Kevin Coughlin by 51% to 49%.
• Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Ohio’s longest serving congressperson also in a Toss Up seat, defeated current State Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Maumee) by 48.1% to 47.8%. Just over 1,000 votes separated the candidates.
• Greg Landsman (D-OH-01) defeated Orlando Sonza 54.4% to 45.6%. Although this was considered a close race, Landsman received over 10,000 more votes.

Other close races where the incumbents were expected to win, though not by such a wide margin include:

• Max Miller (R-OH-07) defeated Matthew Diemer by a margin of 51.1% to 36.1%. Almost 60,000 votes separated the two candidates.
• Mike Turner (R-OH-10) defeated Amy Cox by a margin of 57.8% to 39.1%. Almost 70,000 votes separated the two candidates.
• Mike Carey (R-OH-15) defeated current State Rep. Adam Miller (D-Columbus) by a margin of 56.5% 5o 43.5%. Roughly 45,000 votes separated the two candidates.

Other notable victories by a substantial margin include Cong. Michael Rulli (R-OH-06), Cong. Shontel Brown (D-OH-11), and Cong. Dave Joyce (R-OH-14).

Ohio Senate

Democrats picked up three seats in the Ohio Senate, shifting the makeup to 24 Republicans and 9 Democrats. A few of the notable victories include:

• Beth Liston (D-Dublin) defeated Besa Sharrah by 60.4% to 39.6%. Liston received almost 40,000 more votes.
• Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) defeated Katie O’Neill by 54.2% to 45.8%. Cirino received 16,000 more votes. Almost 200,000 votes were cast in this race, making it the most voted-on Senate race in the state.
• Current Rep. Tom Patton defeated Sue Durichko by 53.6% to 46.4%. Patton received 12,000 more votes.

Ohio House

Democrats picked up two seats in the Ohio House, shifting the makeup to 65 Republicans and 34 Democrats. A few of the notable victories include:

• Mark Sigrist (D) defeated Brian Garvine (R) by 51.5% to 48.5%.
• Crystal Lett (D) defeated State Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) by 51.9% to 48.1%.
• Andrea White (R-Kettering) defeated Rose Lounsbury (D) by 52.4% to 47.6%.

There will be 25 freshman representatives in the 136^th General Assembly.

Ohio Supreme Court

Republicans won each of the Ohio Supreme Court races:

• Judge Megan Shanahan (R) defeated incumbent Justice Michael Donnelly (D).
• Judge Joseph Deters (R) defeated incumbent Justice Melody Stewart (D).
• Judge Daniel Hawkins (R) defeated Judge Lisa Forbes (D).

The Ohio Supreme Court now includes Justice Jennifer Brunner as the sole Democrat among the seven judges.

Issue 1

Issue 1, which establishes the Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission, a 15-member non-politician commission responsible for adopting state legislative and Congressional redistricting plans, failed to meet the approval of Ohioans by 53.8% to 46.2%. Over five million votes were cast on this issue with 2.8 million opposing and 2.4 million approving. This comes after a massive funding campaign from pro-Issue 1 groups, namely Citizens Not Politicians, raised $37 million compared to the anti-Issue 1 groups that raised $5.6 million.

OHIO LEGISLATURE

136^th General Assembly

The 136^th General Assembly will open the first week of January when all Members are officially sworn into office. An unofficial vote for speaker is expected to take place the week of November 20^th with the official vote still occurring in during a regular session in January. Many recall two years ago an unofficial speaker vote ended with Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) as the presumed Speaker, but the official floor vote elected Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) when all Democrats backed him. This led to a division between the Republican members who voted for Stephens v. Merrin. The division caused many issues with passing bills on the House floor and a constant threat of the Speaker being overthrown. Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has been angling for the Speakership as he is term limited from the Senate. The fracture in the Republican party bled into elections with House GOP splitting funds to support candidates of their choosing with Stephens and Huffman supporting candidates who would back their speakership. If other members throw their hat in the ring, it may split votes for speaker and cause some deals to need to be met within the party. It remains unknown who will take the Speakership.

It is likely that Senate Majority Floor Leader Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) will become the new Senate president while Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) will remain in their leadership positions.

Lame Duck

As lame duck approaches, a few pieces of legislation expected to reach the House and Senate floor include House Bill 7, which appropriates $35 million in childcare funding to a variety of programs; Senate Bill 83, which prohibits mandatory DEI training for public universities among many other changes; and the implementation of recreational cannabis.

Following the assignment of committees, which will likely occur by late January-early February, the FY26-FY27 State Operating Budget will be the first order of business. Governor DeWine will introduce his budget in mid-February and hearings will start in the House. The budget will travel through the House and Senate over the first six months of 2025 and must be signed into law by June 30^th to take effect on July 1^st, the first day of FY26. If you are interested in pursuing a state budget earmark, please let G2G know as soon as possible.