Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) will take over as minority leader in the Ohio House, all but three GOP lawmakers voted on the floor.
The 36-year-old’s official election Tuesday afternoon came after the chamber’s Democratic caucus met on Monday night to vote for new leaders—including Reps. Phil Robinson (D-Solon) as assistant minority leader, Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (D-Gahanna) as minority whip, and Desiree Tims (D-Dayton) as assistant minority whip. All three are new to the roles.
Isaacsohn said it is an “incredibly humbling” position to hold but that the state, he believes, is at an “inflection point.”
“We’re about to vote on the biggest bill we do every two years, the budget bill, and things are not going well in the state,” he said. “Some states are doing it better than Ohio, and some of those are red states and some of those are blue states, and so we have to just choose the best ideas and really focus on the issues.”
Isaacsohn succeeds Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) at the head of the caucus. Russo’s colleagues first elected her to that role in 2022. She’s going to stay in her House seat through the end of this General Assembly in 2026, when she hits her term limit, she said. Russo has long been considered among potential candidates for Democratic federal or statewide public office and has said her time serving may not be over.
“I don't think that my time in public service is done,” Russo said in May. “But I have not made a decision about what that means for 2026.”
Russo led the caucus through a brutal battle over legislative redistricting. State lawmakers are under legal obligation to draw new districts for Congress this year, likely one of the first big efforts Isaacsohn will face this fall.
The change in leadership for the Ohio House comes just after a similar upheaval at the state Democratic Party. Kathleen Clyde, a former state lawmaker, was elected to lead the Ohio Democratic Party earlier this month. She succeeds Liz Walters, who had led the party since 2021.
