Ohio Democrats are feeling pretty good about their chances to win back the governor’s office for the first time in 20 years with Amy Acton as their candidate, and the optimism extends down the ticket to other statewide offices as well.
But the hardest nut to crack of the 2026 election cycle is the seemingly rock-solid veto-proof supermajority Republicans hold in both the Ohio House and Senate.
Even there, though, they see a glimmer of hope; a narrow path for Democrats to cut into that lead — if not now, but in the not-too-distant future.
What they could do is create conditions, after the 2030 U.S. Census, to turn the supermajority into a simple majority so that, in the next decade, Democrats could at least have a voice and be relevant in the Ohio House and Senate.
Here’s how Ohio Democrats might lay the groundwork this year for their journey to the Promised Land in the 2030s:
The partisan breakdown of the Ohio House is currently 65 Republicans and 34 Democrats. The Ohio Senate is even more lopsided — 24 Republicans and nine Democrats.
That gives Ohio Republicans a far greater share of the legislative seats than they have among Ohio voters. Roughly 53% of Ohio voters are Republican, while 47% are Democrats.
So, how did the Republicans in the legislature get so fat and happy with their over-sized piece of the pie?
They did it by maintaining control of the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission, a board created by an overwhelming number of Ohio voters in both 2015 and 2018.
By law, the seven members of the commission are made up of the governor, the secretary of state, the state auditor and four members from the legislature — the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate. For quite some time now, the Ohio Redistricting Commission has been made up of five Republicans and two Democrats.
Five is bigger than two. So, the Republicans got their way, after spending much of 2022 proposing maps and seeing them struck down as unconstitutional. Finally, after kicking the can down the road as long as they could, the commission’s Republicans got what they were after — maps that will be in place through the 2030 election.
Kathleen Clyde, a former state representative who is now chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, said the Republicans on the commission “ran roughshod over the rules the voters put in place.”
“They completely ignored the rules,” Clyde said.
Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn of Cincinnati, one of the two Democrats now on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, said partisan considerations should not be the motive when drawing legislative maps.
“The goal is fair maps, maps that would create a more responsive government,’’ Isaacsohn said.
But, in the end, Isaacsohn said, “we’re stuck with the maps we’ve got until the next census.”
But, in 2026, Ohio Democrats have an opportunity to change the balance of power on the Ohio Redistricting Commission.
What would that take? First of all, it would take Acton being elected governor over Republican challenger Vivek Ramaswamy.
Then it would take at least one of the Democratic candidates for auditor and secretary of state to win in November.
Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell is the endorsed Democrat for auditor. Former Ohio House minority leader Allison Russo and Cincinnati oncologist Bryan Hambley are the two Democrats running in the May primary for secretary of state.
With Isaacsohn and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio already on the commission, electing Acton and a Democrat for either secretary of state or auditor would give Ohio Democrats a 4-3 majority on the commission.
And for Ohio Democrats, 4-3 means a lot more than Gen Alpha’s 6-7.
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