Former Dayton-area lawmaker Antani makes Ohio secretary of state bid official

“Living under British rule in India less than 70 years ago, my family didn’t have their freedom. They didn’t have the right to vote,” Antani said in a Thursday press release. “As someone born in America, I uniquely understand we must cherish that we were born free people, born with the right to vote. This is a sacred institution; our vote must be protected, safeguarded, secured. As Ohio’s next Secretary of State, I will do just that.”

With his announcement, Antani becomes the first established politician to throw their hat in the ring to take over for current Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who cannot run again in 2026 due to term limits.

Antani told this outlet that he expects competition from at least one other Republican in the 2026 primary.

The Ohio Secretary of State is tasked with overseeing the state’s elections. While much of Ohio’s day-to-day election work is handled by the state’s relatively autonomous boards of elections located in all 88 counties, the secretary still holds considerable power, including the ability to set directives; lead the Ohio Ballot Board, which writes the official ballot language voters see for constitutional amendments, initiatives and referenda; and participate in the Ohio Redistricting Commission, the legislative map-drawing body that flipped his Senate district from from red to blue in 2023.

In 2023, Antani proposed legislation to ban ballot drop boxes. Late in his term, he proposed another bill to require would-be voters to prove their citizenship before registering to vote. Antani blamed Republican Senate leadership for those bills’ demise and promised to “continue fighting the entrenched RINO establishment at the Statehouse in order to secure our elections.”

As a Hindu and Indian American, Antani has broken various barriers throughout his political career. He’s touted himself as the first Hindu state senator in Ohio history and the youngest Hindu and Indian elected official in the country. On X, he explained that a victory in November 2026 would make him the first Hindu and Indian American, and the first Asian American, to be elected to a statewide Ohio office.

According to LaRose’s office, the only other candidate to file requisite paperwork to run for the position so far is Bryan Hambley, a Warren County Democrat and cancer doctor who is making his first political bid.

When he announced his candidacy in early January, Hambley said he was drawn to the post because he’s seen his patients and Ohio communities “suffer from a broken and gerrymandered democracy.”

“Democracy works best when communities can exercise their right to be heard,” Hambley said in a press release. “Here in Ohio, we have seen our Secretary of State abuse our democracy, making it harder to vote, purging voters from the voter rolls, and drawing unfair maps that disenfranchise millions of Ohio citizens.”

Sen. Theresa Gavarone, an election-issues focused Republican from Bowling Green who sits on the Ohio Ballot Board, is rumored to be planning to run for the position but has not yet made an official announcement.

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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.