Ohio Democrats gain long-lost statewide offices, including attorney general 

Democrats’ victories Tuesday extended beyond their marquee wins in the Ohio governor and U.S. Senate races. 

Preliminary election results, as of about 9 a.m. Wednesday, indicated Democrats won back the secretary of state’s office, held onto one Supreme Court seat and flipped another. The Democratic candidate for treasurer was clinging to a 1 percentage point  lead over the Republican candidate, though the Associated Press, which relies on voter data analysis to project winners, hadn’t yet called the race. 

The prime-time wins by Governor-elect Amy Acton and U.S. Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown on Tuesday night – combined with significant Democratic gains in the Ohio House and Senate – have given the party a level of political power that was unthinkable just years ago. 

Democrat John Kulewicz win attorney general race

Early Wednesday morning, Keith Faber, the current state auditor and a former Ohio Senate president with a long track record of political success, conceded defeat to Democratic Attorney General-elect John Kulewicz, a first-time candidate for statewide office. 

“To my fellow Democrats, thank you for recognizing with me that the people of Ohio have given us not a victory but a responsibility,” Kulewicz said in a statement. “It is a responsibility to focus like never before on the common good and, through our system of law, make the economy and the government work better for everyone in Ohio.

Kulewicz is the first Democrat to win the office since Richard Cordray in 2008. 

Since 2023, Democratic Supreme Court candidates had been ousted, one-by-one, as new rules required them to run with party labels next to their names on the ballot. This led to double digit losses for Democrats. 

Democrats hold Ohio Supreme Court seat, pick up another

Despite the change, Marilyn Zayas, an appellate judge, beat incumbent Justice Dan Hawkins by about two percentage points, according to the latest election results. Justice Jennifer Brunner, an incumbent Democrat on the court, managed to hold on as well. In 2022, she lost the statewide race for the chief justice seat by double digits but kept her associate justice seat with a term that ends this year.

“It was a tossup. The energy felt good out there. I know what it feels like to lose, and I didn’t feel like I was losing. But this is Ohio,” Brunner said in an interview early Wednesday morning as votes were being counted. 

Democrats now occupy two of the seven seats on the bench dominated by Republicans. While it won’t likely shift court opinions, it defied the expectations that Tuesday’s midterm might deliver an all-GOP court. 

Allison Russo wins secretary of state race

Most statewide races couldn’t be called until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Among them was the race for Ohio secretary of state. In that race, Democrat Allison Russo, a state lawmaker, was leading decisively enough to draw a concession speech from Robert Sprague, the incumbent state treasurer, before 11 p.m. 

“A lot of it is hard work, but it’s also timing and the moment,” Russo said in an interview late Tuesday. “There is real frustration in this state with what has been going on for the better part of two decades. People are feeling a lot of pain from the affordability crisis.”

Democrat Seth Walsh holds narrow lead in state treasure race

The Associated Press, which most news outlets rely on to call elections before every vote is counted, hasn’t yet done so in the race for Ohio treasurer. But Democratic Cincinnati City Councilman Seth Walsh currently leads Jay Edwards, a GOP former state lawmaker, by about 50,000 votes, or about 1 percentage point. 

Edwards, contacted through a campaign official and by personal text message, didn’t respond Wednesday when asked if he plans to concede. 

Republicans held the state auditor’s office, which Faber vacated. Frank LaRose, currently the Secretary of State, defeated Democrat Annette Blackwell.