County guides
- Hamilton CountyCincinnati, Norwood, Blue Ash, Forest Park, Springdale, Harrison, Montgomery, Sharonville, Reading, Cheviot
- Lucas CountyToledo, Sylvania, Maumee, Oregon, Waterville, Whitehouse, Holland, Ottawa Hills, Harbor View, Berkey
- Summit CountyAkron, Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Hudson, Barberton, Green, Twinsburg, Tallmadge, Fairlawn, Macedonia, Norton, New Franklin
- Franklin CountyColumbus, Dublin, Westerville, Upper Arlington, Hilliard, Grove City, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna, Bexley, Whitehall, Worthington, Grandview Heights
- Cuyahoga CountyCleveland, Parma, Lakewood, Euclid, Cleveland Heights, Strongsville, Shaker Heights, Westlake, North Olmsted, North Royalton, Garfield Heights, Brook Park
- Delaware CountyDelaware, Powell, Lewis Center, Sunbury, Galena, Ostrander, Shawnee Hills, Westerville, Dublin, Columbus
- Montgomery CountyDayton, Kettering, Huber Heights, Centerville, Miamisburg, Trotwood, Vandalia, Riverside, West Carrollton, Englewood, Oakwood, Germantown
Not listed? Ask us to cover your county, and use the races below in the meantime.
Who is running statewide in Ohio in 2026
- U.S. Senator (special election)
- Sherrod Brown, Jon Husted, Bill Redpath and Greg Levy
- Governor / Lieutenant Governor
- Amy Acton / David Pepper, Vivek Ramaswamy / Rob McColley and Don Kissick / James L. Mills
- Attorney General
- John J. Kulewicz and Keith Faber
- Secretary of State
- Allison Russo, Robert Sprague and Tom Pruss
- Auditor of State
- Annette Blackwell and Frank LaRose
- Treasurer of State
- Seth Walsh and Jay Edwards
- Ohio Supreme Court (term starting Jan. 1, 2027)
- Marilyn Zayas and Daniel R. Hawkins
- Ohio Supreme Court (term starting Jan. 2, 2027)
- Jennifer Brunner and Colleen O'Donnell
Statewide races
U.S. Senator (special election)
Vote for oneFills the rest of JD Vance's term, through January 2029. Husted was appointed to the seat in January 2025. Stephen Faris, Anthony Holliman and Timothy Telymonde are registered write-in candidates.
Sherrod Brown
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratJon Husted
Not good people RepublicanEndorsed by Donald Trump, who rallied for him in Vandalia on October 3, and his first ad opens and closes on that endorsement. In 2017 FirstEnergy gave $1 million earmarked "Husted campaign" to a nonprofit that doesn't disclose donors; his spokesperson said the campaign never received it.
Sources: Signal Ohio, WKRC, Wikipedia
Bill Redpath
Not enough info LibertarianA longtime Libertarian Party activist who twice chaired its national committee and has run for governor, Senate and House in Virginia. His top priorities are ending tariffs and cutting federal spending, including corporate welfare and farm subsidies.
Sources: The Ballot Brief, Wikipedia
Greg Levy
Not enough info IndependentA self-described socialist running on a $$30 minimum wage who takes no corporate or PAC money. In October a new super PAC that used a printer tied to Republican and MAGA Inc.-linked consultants spent nearly $$400,000 on mailers promoting him; his campaign called them "a form of digital blackface."
Sources: Spectrum News, Wikipedia
Governor / Lieutenant Governor
Vote for oneOpen seat: Gov. Mike DeWine is term-limited. Governor and lieutenant governor are elected together as a ticket. Four write-in tickets are also registered: Timothy Grady / Andrea Neutzling, Renea Turner / Jalen Turner, Ron Ula / Michael C. Lehnerd, and Heather Hill / Patrick Manley.
Amy Acton / David Pepper
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratLed the state's early COVID-19 response under DeWine, and proposes a child tax credit of up to $1,000 for families earning up to $85,000. Endorsed by the Ohio Nurses Association and the state firefighters' union; Pepper wrote "Laboratories of Autocracy" about statehouse corruption.
Sources: Wikipedia, Ballotpedia, Acton campaign, Leadership Now
Vivek Ramaswamy / Rob McColley
Not good people RepublicanEndorsed by Donald Trump and the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, and calls himself an American nationalist. In August 2026 a federal judge let a whistleblower suit go forward that says he pressured an executive at Strive Asset Management to break securities law.
Sources: Wikipedia, Ohio GOP, Ballotpedia
Don Kissick / James L. Mills
Not enough info LibertarianWants to abolish property taxes on owner-occupied homes and family farms, saying Ohio doesn't have a revenue problem. Mills says immigration enforcement should be civil, not militarized, with a clear path to citizenship.
Sources: Statehouse News Bureau, Village Press, Lima News / Your Hometown Stations
Attorney General
Vote for oneOpen seat. Dave Yost resigned in June 2026, and Gov. DeWine appointed Andy Wilson to serve out the term; Wilson is not on the ballot.
John J. Kulewicz
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratKeith Faber
Compromised RepublicanEndorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, its first Republican pick for this office in 20 years, and by the Club for Growth PAC. On the redistricting commission he opposed the 2024 amendment to hand map-drawing to an independent citizens commission.
Sources: Signal Ohio, Wikipedia
Secretary of State
Vote for oneOpen seat: Frank LaRose is term-limited and running for auditor. The secretary of state runs Ohio elections.
Allison Russo
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratFought the August 2023 Issue 1, which would have made it harder for citizens to amend the constitution, and called LaRose's handover of private voter data to the Trump Justice Department a betrayal. Some voting-rights advocates fault her 2023 vote for Republican-backed legislative maps, which she calls "the best of two bad options."
Sources: Ohio Democratic County Chairs, WVXU, Wikipedia
Robert Sprague
Compromised RepublicanWants to eliminate ballot drop boxes, which his campaign calls "vulnerable to ballot harvesting and fraud," and to add up-front citizenship checks, though noncitizen voting is already illegal and rare. Endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy for governor.
Sources: Democracy Docket, Wikipedia
Tom Pruss
Not enough info LibertarianRunning on ballot access for smaller parties, saying the office "has been used as a gatekeeper for the two major parties." Has run before for Toledo school board, Lucas County clerk of courts and Congress.
Sources: Elections Simplified, Ballotpedia
Auditor of State
Vote for oneOpen seat: Keith Faber is running for attorney general.
Annette Blackwell
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratThe city's first woman and first Black mayor, she took office with Maple Heights in state fiscal emergency and wrote its five-year turnaround plan. Before that she worked on property taxes at KeyBank, Deloitte and Ryan LLC.
Sources: City of Maple Heights, Erie County Democrats
Frank LaRose
Not good people RepublicanGave the Trump Justice Department Ohio's full voter list, private data included, and in 2023 fired his press secretary over social media posts critical of Trump. Said the August 2023 Issue 1 wasn't about one issue, then told a party dinner it was "100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment" out of the constitution.
Treasurer of State
Vote for oneOpen seat: Robert Sprague is running for secretary of state. Both candidates carry a question mark; we lean toward Walsh.
Seth Walsh
Compromised (best choice in this race) DemocratRan neighborhood development groups in Sedamsville and College Hill before council. In 2023 an aide he forced out filed an ethics complaint saying staff did campaign work on city time; the city paid her $30,000 and denied wrongdoing, and we found no ruling on the complaint.
Sources: Campaign site, WVXU
Jay Edwards
Compromised RepublicanVoted for House Bill 6, the FirstEnergy bailout at the center of a $60 million bribery case, though he wasn't accused of wrongdoing. Reported more than 42 gifts worth $75 or more in 2025 from CEOs, fundraisers and lobbyists, then said he never received some of them.
Sources: Wikipedia, Signal Ohio
Ohio Supreme Court (term starting Jan. 1, 2027)
Vote for oneSince 2022 Ohio prints a party label next to Supreme Court candidates and nominates them in party primaries. Republicans wrote that law to help their candidates, and Republican nominees run on it, so we count the Republican label against a justice. We don't hold the label against Democrats, who opposed the change and have to run under it.
Marilyn Zayas
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratThe first person of Latino heritage elected to an Ohio appeals court, she says she will never endorse a political candidate and has taken no corporate money from energy, banking or insurance interests. The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association rates her "Excellent."
Sources: West Chester Liberty Herald, New Albany-Gahanna Beacon, Judge4Yourself
Daniel R. Hawkins
Not good people RepublicanCalls himself a "strong Conservative for Ohio's Supreme Court" and is backed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce PAC and the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio. The Norman S. Minor Bar Association rates him "Not Recommended."
Sources: Judge the Heads, Statehouse News Bureau, Signal Ohio, Judge4Yourself
Ohio Supreme Court (term starting Jan. 2, 2027)
Vote for oneSame rule as the race above: we count the Republican party label against a justice, not the Democratic one. Brunner sued to overturn the party-label law.
Jennifer Brunner
Seems like good people (best choice in this race) DemocratIs suing in federal court to take party labels off Ohio judicial ballots, arguing the 2021 law violates free speech. Founded the Franklin County felony drug court as a trial judge, and won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2008.
Sources: Judge the Heads, Supreme Court of Ohio
Colleen O'Donnell
Not good people RepublicanHer campaign site boasts that as an immigration judge she "never once granted asylum," and says she is running to "preserve a conservative majority on the Court." Endorsed by the Buckeye Firearms Association, Ohio Right to Life PAC and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association.
Sources: Campaign site, Endorsement email
State Issue 3
Yes or noWe describe what the issue does and don't make recommendations. It is Ohio's only statewide issue this year, put on the ballot by the Republican-led legislature.
- Issue 3, photo ID to vote: Writes Ohio's existing photo ID requirement for voting into the state constitution. In-person voters would need an unexpired Ohio driver's license or state ID, a U.S. passport, or a military or VA ID. Mail voters could use a photo ID or, where state law allows, a signature plus another identifier. It changes nothing right away, but repealing or loosening the rule would then take another statewide vote. A yes vote adds it to the constitution; a no vote leaves photo ID as an ordinary state law.