2020 General Election update

UPDATE: On Wednesday, November 18, 2020, the Franklin County Board of Elections certified the election results from the General Election. The final results in the 16th Senate District showed incumbent Senator Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) winning re-election by 116 votes over challenger Crystal Lett. The close margin triggers an automatic recount. State law requires a recount when the margin is within 0.5 percent. 

UPDATE: With the Associated Press and other media organizations projecting that Vice President Biden will receive more than the required 270 electoral votes, this will mark the first time since 1960 that Ohio did not pick the eventual winner of the presidential election. This ends a streak of 14 straight presidential elections.

On Tuesday, November 3, 2020, Ohioans, like the rest of the country, cast ballots in the 2020 general election. Many counties in Ohio and around the country reported record-breaking early voter turnout. Approximately 3.4 million Ohioans voted early by mail and in-person, and an estimated 311,519 absentee and provisional ballots remain outstanding. This early vote played a role in the way in which Ohio was called by most media outlets and continues to delay the results of several key Electoral College states.

For a quick overview here in Ohio, The Buckeye State remains a fairly reliable Republican stronghold. President Trump won the state, improving on his vote total from 2016 and holding an unofficial lead in Ohio of more than 470,000 votes. However, the Ohio Supreme Court gained one Democrat to narrow the current Republican majority (from 5-2 to a narrow 4-3 Republican majority). Besides the presidency, many Ohioans were watching the Ohio Supreme Court races. The Ohio Supreme Court’s role is important as Ohio wades through its new redistricting process that was changed by ballot initiative in 2018.  The Legislature will be in charge of redrawing Ohio’s congressional districts.  If the congressional maps are challenged after, then the Ohio Supreme Court could either overturn or agree with how the congressional maps were drawn. Since this process is new, additional procedural actions could be challenged up to the Ohio Supreme Court. Therefore, the Ohio Supreme Court will play a key role in how Ohio’s districts may look in 2022.  Justice Judi French lost her race for reelection against Judge Jennifer Brunner by nearly half a million votes. On the flip side, Justice Sharon Kennedy won her reelection and defeated Judge John O’Donnell.

Both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate Republicans added additional seats to their existing supermajorities in the Ohio General Assembly. However, the 16^th Senate District in suburban Columbus, remains in play. Senator Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) has a small 41 vote lead against Crystal Lett (D-Columbus) with many provisional and late absentee ballots yet to be counted. Former Speaker Larry Householder’s (R-Glenford) reelection was another highly watched race during the evening, in which he successfully won his reelection against four write in candidates to continue to represent the 72^nd House District. Finally, at the local level, one race has implications for the statehouse where, Ron O’Brien, longtime Franklin County Prosecutor, lost his race to his Democratic challenger, Gary Tyack. The Franklin County Prosecutor also plays a role in state government, because the office possesses additional prosecutorial jurisdiction. For example, possible violations of state legislative ethics laws committed by legislators are referred to the Franklin County Prosecutor.

In addition to the President and two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court, all 16 Ohio U.S. Congressional seats were up.  In 2020 in Ohio no U.S. Senate seats were contested. All 99 seats in the Ohio House of Representatives and 16 Ohio Senate seats were on the ballot.

Here is Bricker & Eckler’s overview of the preliminary 2020 General Election results and details on races of particular interest.

Presidential

President Donald J. Trump cruised to victory in Ohio, capturing over 3 million votes and 53.36 percent of the vote. The President again saw large voter enthusiasm in rural parts of Ohio and ended up improving his overall share of the vote compared to 2016 by 233,413 votes. This increase countered former Vice President Biden, who received 209,517 more votes than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did in 2016. The increased overall votes reflected a record breaking turnout in Ohio. Nationally, however, many states were too close to call or still counting votes at the time of this memorandum, so the overall election for President remains unknown.

FEDERAL RACES

U.S. House of Representatives

All of  Ohio’s incumbent Members of Congress:  Marcia Fudge (D), Marcy Kaptur (D), Troy Balderson (R), Mike Turner (R), David Joyce (R), Tim Ryan (D) and Steve Stivers (R) all won re-election. Steve Chabot (R), Brad Wenstrup (R), Joyce Beatty (D), Jim Jordan (R), Bob Latta (R), Bill Johnson (R), Bob Gibbs (R) and Warren Davidson (R) were successful and Ohio’s delegation remains 12 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Nationally, Democrats are currently projected to maintain control of the House, but, with several races too close to call, Republicans appear to have gained 5 seats.

There were no races for the United States Senate in Ohio this year – U.S. Senator Rob Portman will face his next re-election bid in November 2022.

OHIO RACES

Ohio Supreme Court

Two current Republican Justices on the Ohio Supreme Court, Justice Judi French and Justice Sharon Kennedy, were up for reelection on Tuesday, with the partisan balance of the court hanging on the outcome of those races. In the end, it was a split decision. Justice Judi French was defeated by her opponent, 10^th District Court of Appeals Judge Jennifer Brunner by approximately 500,000 votes statewide. Justice Sharon Kennedy defeated her opponent Cuyahoga County Common pleas court judge, John P. Donnell. Republicans now hold a narrow 4-3 majority going into the 2022 election cycle where two more incumbent Republican Justices – Justice Pat DeWine and Justice Pat Fischer – will face re-election, as well as an open seat being created by Justice Maureen O’Connor’s forced departure from the court due to Ohio’s 70-years-of-age limit on judicial candidates.

Ohio House of Representatives: Overview

Ohio’s House Democrats hoped to duplicate success from 2018, however, House Republicans appear to have picked up several seats instead. The House Majority caucus will hold 64 of the chamber’s 99 seats, up from 61, following the inauguration. Republicans were able to defeat a two incumbent legislators and win open seats that had been held by Democrats. Ohio Democrats lost races in the Mahoning Valley and Appalachia, but also in some suburban areas of Dayton and Columbus, where they had high hopes. The House Republican’s victories are more impressive considering House Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima) had only 90 days to rebuild a campaign war chest and infrastructure after the majority caucus was rocked by the allegations against former House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) rendered previously raised caucus campaign funds unavailable while the federal investigation into the former Speaker continues.

Ohio House of Representatives: Races of Interest

Incumbent Representatives Randi Clites (D-Ravenna) and Gil Blair (D-Mineral Ridge) lost their bids for reelection.

The 43^rd House District was an open seat that Democrats hoped to pick up. Instead, Preble County Commissioner Rodney Creech (R-W. Alexandria) defeated Amy Cox (D- Eaton).

Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville) and Richard Olivito (D-Stuebenville) ran against each other for the 21^st House District, which is currently held by term limited Representative Jack Cera (D-Bellaire), with Mr. Ferguson winning.

House Republicans worked to ward off Democrat challengers for the suburban districts. Ohio’s House 16^th District Incumbent David Greenspan (R-Westlake) faced a challenge in a tough district by Monique Smith (D- Fairview Park) and it appears Ms. Smith narrowly prevailed with 50.88 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, incumbent Laura Lanese (R-Grove City) defeated Nancy Day-Acauer (D-Columbus) for the 23^rd House District.

In Cincinnati’s 28^th District, usually one of the most competitive districts in the state, incumbent Jessica Miranda (D-Cincinnati) defeated challenger Chris Monzel (R- Cincinnati), 51.72 percent of the vote in a rematch from 2018.

Ohio House of Representatives Preliminary Results

(Election winners are in bold.)

The Ohio Senate

The Ohio Senate is currently controlled by Republicans by a 24-9 margin. There were 16 Senate seats up for election this year. While there were a few interesting seats to watch, Republicans kept control of the upper chamber handily and may have increased their hold on the chamber to 25 seats.

Senate Republicans picked up the seat held by incumbent Senator Sean O’Brien (D-Cortland) when Sandra O’Brien (R-Rome) won with 50.9 percent of the vote.

Current Senate Finance Chairman, Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) prevailed in close race against Tom Jackson (D-Solon) for the 24^th Senate District.

One race is still too close to call. Incumbent Senator Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) is narrowly leading Crystal Lett (D-Columbus) for the 16^th District seat, holding on by only 41 votes. Given the narrow margin the race is expected to trigger Ohio’s automatic recount law, which requires a recount if the election is within 0.5 percent.

Ohio Senate Preliminary Results

(Election winners are in bold.)

Court of Appeals

While Ohio Democrats had an off night in legislative races, they made several electoral gains in the judiciary. While the Ohio Supreme Court races garnered most of the attention, the state’s Courts of Appeals also had several marquee matchups. Democrats swept in the First and Tenth District Court of Appeals, which reflected changing demographics in Franklin and Hamilton County.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION CANDIDATES

Six of eleven seats on the State Board of Education were up in the 2020 general election. A term limited legislator, Representative Ron Hood, ran for one of the seats, but lost his bid.

LOCAL RACES

Franklin County Commissioners

Incumbent Franklin County Commissioners John O’Grady (D) and Kevin Boyce defeated their Republican challengers, with both Commissioners receiving 65 percent of the vote in the respective races.

Franklin County Prosecutor

One bright spot for Ohio Democrats was the Franklin County Prosecutor race where former Court of Appeals Judge Gary Tyack defeated longtime incumbent Republican Franklin County Ron O’Brien. Tyack received 53 percent of the vote.

Hamilton County Commissioners

Former Ohio House of Representative and Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Chair Alicia Reese (D) defeated Republican business man Andy Black (R). Reese won 50.57 of the vote. Incumbent Commissioner Denise Driehaus (D) also won, receiving 58 percent of the vote.

Hamilton County Prosecutor

Current Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters (R) faced a tough challenge from Former Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge, Fanon Rucker, but prevailed with 52.7 percent of the votes reported.

Belmont County Commissioner

Incumbent Republican J.P. Dutton was challenged by Vince Gianangeli, former director of Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services and current fiscal officer of Colerain Township, as an independent. Commissioner Dutton emerged victorious by a margin of over 4,000 votes.

SCHOOL LEVIES

Ohio’s school districts saw mostly positive results with 67 percent of levies passing. Overall, 83 of 123 school levies passed. Examples of school district levies that passed included Cincinnati Public, Delaware City, Fairborn City, North Union, and Youngstown City.

Gahanna-Jefferson School District’s levy, at the time this memorandum was drafted, was passing by only 2 votes.

LIBRARY LEVIES

Ohio’s libraries continued receiving the strong community support they’ve grown accustomed to with 13 of 14 levies (92.86 percent) passing.

OTHER LOCAL ISSUES

In Columbus, two ballot measures passed. Issue 1 authorized aggregation for electric and natural gas utility services. The ambitious aggregation program calls for the city to receive 100% of its electric power from renewable sources by 2022, carbon neutral by, and would be one of the largest aggregation programs in the country.

Issue 2 creates a new citizen police oversight board. Columbus, like many other large cities in the nation, saw increased racial tensions between citizens and the police department. The citizen police oversight board was part of a broader package of proposed reforms to help ease those tensions and reform police practices.

CONCLUSION

Ohio Republicans, after a strong election night showing, appear to have expanded their super majorities in both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly. The legislature will soon return for lame duck session and close out the 133^rd General Assembly. Lame duck usually features a flourish of activity as legislators attempt to finish work before the General Assembly ends. Looking ahead to the 134^th General Assembly, while the political margins of each Chamber will resemble the current legislature there are still many questions unresolved.

The Ohio Senate will have new leadership, with current Senate President Obhof leaving due to term limits. House Speaker Cupp will need to run for Speaker again, while the former Speaker remains a member of the Chamber. Governor DeWine and legislators will also need to enact a new two year state budget, while possibly dealing with budget constraints caused by economic slowdowns from the coronavirus pandemic.

As results are finalized, we’ll update with any developments – if you have questions or would more information on any of the races outlined above, please feel free to reach out to any member of our Government Relations group.

This is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be legal advice and does not create or imply an attorney-client relationship.