Ohio voters elect first female governor and flip congressional majority

Ohio voters elected Amy Acton as the state's first female governor on Tuesday.

Acton defeated Republican challenger Vivek Ramaswamy by a margin of nearly eight percentage points. Unofficial results show Acton received 364,388 more votes than her opponent. This outcome marked a sharp shift from the 2024 presidential election, when Donald Trump won the state by 11 points.

The Democrat from Youngstown carried 15 counties, including Franklin, Hamilton, and Cuyahoga. In Mahoning County, her home territory, Acton won 54.15% of the vote. Ramaswamy, who grew up in Cincinnati, took 34.52% of the vote in Hamilton County. He also lost his home precinct in Upper Arlington, where Acton secured more than 57% of the total.

Frank LaRose was the only Republican to win a statewide executive position. He won the Secretary of State race by 1.58%, beating Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell by 72,150 votes. The other three executive races went to Democrats. Allison Russo, the former House Minority Leader, defeated Treasurer Robert Sprague by 3.45% in the Secretary of State race. Seth Walsh, a Cincinnati City Councilman, won the treasurer race by 1.1%, or 49,788 votes. Columbus attorney John Kulewicz won the attorney general race by 0.62%, beating Auditor Keith Faber by 28,407 votes.

Democrats also made gains on the state's highest court. Justice Jennifer Brunner and First District Court of Appeals Judge Marilyn Zayas won their respective Ohio Supreme Court races. This was the first time Democrats won these party-labeled judicial seats since a 2022 law required party affiliation to appear on ballots. Brunner defeated former immigration judge Colleen O'Donnell, while Zayas defeated Justice Dan Hawkins.

The state's congressional delegation shifted to Democratic control for the first time since 2011. Eight Democrats and seven Republicans won the races. Incumbents Max Miller, Mike Turner, and Mike Carey lost their seats to Brian Poindexter, Kristina Knickerbocker, and Don Leonard. These elections took place on a map approved by the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission last year.