Democrats not only won the governor’s office for the first time in 20 years on Tuesday. They also made big gains in the state legislature, which could limit lawmakers’ power to override a veto from Democratic incoming governor Amy Acton.
Democrats needed to win six more seats in the Ohio House to break the Republican supermajority of 65 members. They may have picked up ten seats, and possibly as many as 12.
Unofficial returns early Wednesday morning show they appear to have ousted five Republican incumbents:
- Mike Dovilla (R-Berea) was defeated by Megan Coy
- Andrea White (R-Kettering) was defeated by Rose Lounsbury
- Brian Lorenz (D-Powell) was defeated by Shelby Kimball
- Tom Young (R-Washington Twp.) was defeated by Tom Herner
- Jim Thomas (R-Plain Twp.) was defeated by Krista Allison
According to those unofficial results, Democratic candidates also flipped five other open House seats that had been held by Republicans who were term limited or didn’t run for re-election:
- Noah Spinner won the 31st district seat held by Bill Roemer (R-Richfield)
- Samantha Salamon won the 35th district seat held by Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Twp.)
- Mike Baker won the 52nd district seat held by Gayle Manning (R-Avon)
- Daquan Neal won the 39th district seat held by Phil Plummer (R-Dayton)
- David Fournier won the 44th district seat held by Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.)
As of early Wednesday morning, there are two races with Republican incumbents that are very close. Reps. Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) and Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison) are leading by small margins.
In the Senate, Democrats needed three more seats to end the supermajority.
Incumbent Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) lost re-election to Democrat Stacie Baker. Rep. Steve Demetriou failed to win in a GOP district, losing to Mike Roberto. And the contest between Reps. Gayle Manning (R-Avon) and Joe Miller (D-Amherst) for the seat that had been held by Manning's son is neck and neck. Former Sen. Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) was appointed to the Ninth District Court in August.
Without a supermajority in the coming General Assembly, Republican lawmakers will be unable to override an Acton veto without bipartisan cooperation.
