Ohio Attorney General David Yost, of Columbus, and State Treasurer Robert Sprague, of Findlay, for governor. State Auditor Keith Faber, of Celina, for attorney general. Former state Sen. Niraj Antani, of suburban Dayton, for secretary of state.
Waiting in the wings: Cincinnati-born biotech zillionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, of Upper Arlington, who likely will vie with Sprague and Yost for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. On standby: Lame-duck Republican Frank LaRose, also of Upper Arlington, who so far hasn’t managed to hitch a ride with anyone as, for example, a lieutenant governor running mate.
And, yes, Ohio has a new Republican U.S. senator, Upper Arlington Republican Jon Husted, appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to Vice President J.D. Vance’s former seat, joining Ohio’s other Republican U.S. senator, Bernie Moreno, of Westlake. Moreno, in November (in another defeat for Ohio Democrats) unseated three-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, of Cleveland, once Ohio’s secretary of state.
Meanwhile, two Democrats have thrown their hats in 2026’s statewide ring: Former state Health Director Amy Acton, a Bexley physician once in Republican DeWine’s Cabinet. Acton is running for governor.
And running for Ohio secretary of state (the state’s chief elections officer) is a second Democratic physician, Bryan Hambley, of Warren County’s Loveland, who treats blood cancers at University of Cincinnati Health. He campaigned in 2024 for passage of statewide Issue 1, to forbid gerrymandering in Ohio.
But beyond those Democratic prospects, the only sound is silence, except for periodic fusillades by the state party on topics already denounced in Washington by congressional Democrats.
What those in-state volleys have to do with placing Democrats in Ohio executive offices in Columbus is anyone’s guess, especially given the party’s statewide track record,
Ohio Democrats’ annus horribilis was 2010, when Republicans captured the governorship (Westerville’s John R. Kasich unseated Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland); and snatched the attorney general’s, secretary of state’s, and state treasurer’s offices from Democrats, while Republicans retained the state auditor’s office (a job last won by a Democrat in 1990).
Also in 2010, Ohio Republicans held on to the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich when the GOP’s Senate nominee, Rob Portman, of suburban Cincinnati’s Terrace Park, thrashed Democrats’ Senate candidate, Greater Cleveland’s Lee I. Fisher, Strickland’s lieutenant governor.
Then there’s the further fact that voters have made the Ohio Supreme Court (which through 2024 had four Republican justices to three Democrats) 6-1 Republican.
True: Much can happen between now and Nov. 3, 2026, Ohio’s next general election. Maybe additional revelations about the House Bill 6/FirstEnergy scandal will splatter Republicans, though the bill only passed in 2019 with the help of “yes” votes from a handful of the legislature’s Democrats.
And if Trump’s popularity in Ohio falls (he drew 55% of its vote last year, carrying 81 of 88 counties), if the happy days he promised – at checkouts and gas pumps – don’t return, maybe Republicans will be battling Ohio headwinds in 2026, assuming Democrats replace anti-Trump press releases with candidate recruiting.
Predictable counter-argument: So what if Ohio Democrats have a thin starting lineup for 2026? There are such things as priorities – yes? And, hey, Ohio Democrats’ anti-Trump blasts are as crucial as finding statewide candidates for 2026 – aren’t they?
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. You can reach him at tsuddes@gmail.com.
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