Ohio 2018 Election Results

Ballot Measures, May 8, 2018

Ohio voters decided 1 statewide ballot measure on May 8, 2018.

Ballot measures

General Election, November 6, 2018

Ohio held its general election on November 6, 2018, deciding 116 legislative seats and 6 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• The national wave was barely a ripple in Ohio: Republicans held every statewide executive office on the ballot and kept three-fifths supermajorities in both chambers, while Democrats' gains came mostly in suburban House districts.
• Mike DeWine (R) beat Richard Cordray (D) by about 4 points to succeed Gov. John Kasich, even though polls projected a narrow Cordray win on the eve of the election. DeWine's running mate, Jon Husted (R), became lieutenant governor.
• Democrats netted five House seats and broke even in the Senate. They flipped six Republican House seats, mostly in the suburbs around Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, and Cleveland, but lost a House seat and a Senate seat in the Youngstown area.
  • The closest flip came in House District 28, where Jessica Miranda (D) unseated two-term Rep. Jonathan Dever (R) by 56 votes after losing to him by double digits two years earlier; Hamilton County's GOP chair blamed eroding support among suburban women.
  • Other Democratic pickups: Phil Robinson (D) in HD-6, Mary Lightbody (D) in HD-19, Beth Liston (D) in HD-21, Allison Russo (D) in HD-24, and Casey Weinstein (D) in HD-37, where he won by about 700 votes.
  • In the Senate, Tina Maharath (D) took District 3 from Republicans by about 700 votes over Anne Gonzales (R) after provisional ballots erased her deficit.
  • The two Youngstown-area losses: Michael Rulli (R) won the Senate seat held by Joe Schiavoni (District 33) over Rep. John Boccieri (D), and Don Manning (R) won HD-59 by fewer than 400 votes.
• Each executive race went Republican by 3 to 7 points, completing a five-office executive sweep: Dave Yost (R) moved from auditor to attorney general over Steven Dettelbach (D); Frank LaRose (R) won secretary of state over Kathleen Clyde (D); and two sitting state representatives won the remaining offices, Robert Sprague (R) for treasurer over Rob Richardson (D) and Keith Faber (R) for auditor over Zack Space (D). Democrats' only statewide gains came on the bench, where they won two Ohio Supreme Court seats.
• Dever was the only legislator to lose a bid for re-election, though two other House members, Gonzales and Boccieri, lost Senate races. Beyond the flips, the closest result was in House District 43, where Jeffrey Todd Smith (R) edged Dan Foley (D) by fewer than 150 votes. In 8 seats, only one major party fielded a candidate.
• In November, Ohioans voted down Issue 1, a constitutional amendment that would have made drug possession a misdemeanor and steered offenders toward treatment. A different Issue 1, on the May 8 ballot, passed and created new procedures for drawing congressional districts.

Legislature

• House (99 seats): 32 D, 66 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 38 D, 59 R, 2 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (33 seats): 9 D, 24 R before the election, 9 D, 24 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures