03/22/2024

Ohio 2024 Primary Election Recap

Ohio Senate 

In the Ohio Senate, Republicans hold a commanding 26-7 majority and the caucus faced three contested primaries. All three incumbents emerged as winners. State Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) took a leadership role and committed to defend incumbent caucus members. Sen. George Lang (R-West Chester Twp) and Sandra O’Brien (R-Ashtabula) both easily won in their respected districts.  Former state Rep. Kyle Koehler additionally coasted to victory in the 10th district. He also captured 60% of the vote in a Republican-leaning seat now held by term-limited Sen. Bob Hackett. 

Ohio House 

Stakes were high in a series of hotly-contested primaries in the Ohio House. In January 2023, Rep. Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) was elected Speaker of the House with support from 22 fellow Republicans and unanimous votes by minority Democrats. This move immediately triggered an organized effort to target his supporters by conservative organizations. Consequently, a number of incumbents who supported Speaker Stephens were defeated in the Tuesday primary. As a result, Speaker Stephens will face a decidedly uphill battle to retain the gavel going into the new General Assembly that will convene in January 2025. On Capital Square it is no secret that current Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has interest in serving as House Speaker. Huffman is term limited in the Senate and running for a House seat. Primary election results now appear to put him in position to achieve his goal of being elected House Speaker. Those defeated were Rep. Jon Cross (R-Findlay), Rep. Gail Pavliga (R-Atwater), Rep. Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville), and Rep. Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton). In a normal election cycle, it is very rare for a sitting member of the legislature to go down in defeat. But this has been anything but a normal election year. The ongoing division in the House GOP caucus has created a deep rift that does not appear to be healing. 

Democrats were not immune from contested primaries either. Rep. Elliot Forhan (D-South Euclid) was defeated in a three-way primary by Eric Synenberg. 

A number of other members who faced contested primaries were able to hold off challengers. Those include:  

• Rep. Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison) 
• Rep. Thomas Hall (R-Middletown) 
• Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) 
• Rep. Kevin Miller (R-Newark) 
• Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Canal Winchester) 
• Rep. Haraz Ghambari (R-Perrysburg) 
• Rep. Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville) 
• Rep. D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) 
• Rep. Justin Pizzulli (R-Scioto County)