2026 Ohio legislative session

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2026 Ohio legislative session
General information
Scheduled session start:    Jan. 5, 2026 Scheduled session end:    Dec. 31, 2026
Leadership
Senate President Robert McColley (R) House Speaker Matt Huffman (R) Majority Leader Senate: Theresa Gavarone (R) House: Marilyn John (R) Minority Leader Senate: Nickie Antonio (D) House: Dani Isaacsohn (D)
Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026 Last Election:    November 5, 2024
Previous legislative sessions
2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2026 legislative sessions
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In 2026, the Ohio State Legislature is scheduled to convene on January 5, 2026, and adjourn on December 31, 2026.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 24-9 majority in the Senate and a 65-34 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2026 session, Ohio was one of 19 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session:

Republicans held a majority in the Ohio state House and state Senate.

Ohio was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas.

Ohio's governor was Republican Mike DeWine.

Leadership in 2026

See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

Ohio State Senate

• Senate president: Robert McColley (R)
• Majority leader: Theresa Gavarone (R)
• Minority leader: Nickie Antonio (D)

Ohio House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Matt Huffman (R)
• Majority leader: Marilyn John (R)
• Minority leader: Dani Isaacsohn (D)

Partisan control in 2026

See also: State government trifectas

Ohio was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2026 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

Ohio was also one of 19 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Ohio State Legislature in the 2026 legislative session.

Ohio State Senate

Partisan composition, Ohio State Senate

As of February 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	9
Republican	24
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	33

Ohio House of Representatives

Partisan composition, Ohio House of Representatives

As of February 2026
Party	Members
Democratic	34
Republican	65
Other	0
Vacancies	0
Total	99

Regular session

The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2026 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation has met these criteria yet in 2026. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Standing legislative committees

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Ohio state government

A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2026 legislative session, there were 51 standing committees in Ohio's state government, including six joint legislative committees, 18 state Senate committees, and 27 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

• Correctional Institution Inspection Committee
• Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review Committee
• Joint Legislative Ethics Committee
• Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee
• Legislative Service Commission Committee
• State Controlling Board Committee

Senate committees

• Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
• Energy and Public Utilities Committee
• Financial Institutions and Technology
• General Government Committee
• Government Oversight and Reform Committee
• Local Government Committee
• Local Government and Elections Committee
• Senate Finance Committee
• Senate Health Committee
• Senate Insurance Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee
• Senate Rules and Reference Committee
• Senate Ways and Means Committee
• Small Business and Economic Opportunity Committee
• Transportation Committee
• Veterans and Public Safety Committee
• Workforce and Higher Education Committee

House committees

• Agriculture Committee
• Arts, Athletics, and Tourism Committee
• Children and Human Services Committee
• Commerce and Labor Committee
• Community Revitalization Committee
• Development Committee
• Energy Committee
• Financial Institutions Committee
• General Government Committee
• Government Oversight Committee
• House Education Committee
• House Finance Committee
• House Health Committee
• House Insurance Committee
• House Judiciary Committee
• House Local Government Committee
• House Rules and Reference Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee
• Medicaid Committee
• Natural Resources Committee
• Public Insurance and Pensions Committee
• Public Safety Committee
• Small Business Committee
• Technology and Innovation Committee
• Transportation Committee
• Veterans and Military Development Committee
• Workforce and Higher Education Committee

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Ohio Constitution can be amended:

See also: Section 1a, Article II and Article XVI of the Ohio Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Ohio

The Ohio Constitution provides three mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a citizen-initiated process, a legislative process, and a state constitutional convention. Ohio requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

Initiative

See also: Initiated constitutional amendment

According to Section 1a of Article II, citizens have the power to initiate constitutional amendments in Ohio. An initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. Eighteen (18) states allow citizens to initiate constitutional amendments.

In Ohio, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval.

Ohio also requires initiative sponsors to submit 1,000 signatures with the initial petition application. Ohio has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures be gathered from at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties. Petitioners must gather signatures equal to a minimum of half the total required percentage of the gubernatorial vote in each of the 44 counties. Petitions are allowed to circulate for an indefinite period of time. Signatures are due 125 days prior to the general election that proponents want the initiative on.

Legislature

See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

According to Article XVI, the state Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot for voters to decide. A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Ohio State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 60 votes in the Ohio House of Representatives and 20 votes in the Ohio State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

According to Section 3 of Article XVI of the Ohio Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot every 20 years starting in 1932. Ohio is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

The table below shows the last and next automatic constitutional convention question election years:

State	Interval	Last question on the ballot	Next question on the ballot
Ohio	20 years	2012	2032

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Ohio.

Ohio Party Control: 1992-2026
No Democratic trifectas  •  Twenty-eight years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Historical Senate control

Republicans won control of the Ohio State Senate in 1984. In 2024, they won a 23-9 majority with one vacancy.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Ohio Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Ohio State Senate election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	12	12	10	10	10	9	9	8	7	9
Republicans	20	20	21	21	21	22	22	21	21	23	23	23	24	24	25	26	23

Historical House control

Republicans won control of the Ohio House of Representatives in 2010. In 2024, they won a 65-34 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Ohio House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Ohio House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	53	43	39	40	39	37	40	46	53	40	39	34	33	38	35	32	34
Republicans	46	56	60	59	60	62	59	53	46	59	60	65	66	61	64	67	65

Analysis

Adopted legislation, 2011-2024

See also: The State Legislative Decade - Ohio

In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

See also

Elections	Ohio State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Ohio State Senate elections, 2026 Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2026	Ohio State Legislature Ohio House of Representatives Ohio State Senate Governor of Ohio Ohio Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2026 State legislative special elections, 2026 State legislative elections, 2024 State legislative elections, 2022	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Ohio General Assembly homepage

Footnotes

State legislatures

Legislatures

Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S)

2026

State legislative elections (2026) • State legislative special elections (2026) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2026 Session Dates

2025

State legislative elections (2025) • State legislative special elections (2025) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2025 Session Dates

Historical elections

2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000

Features of state legislatures

How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections

State senates

Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected

State houses

Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected

Leadership positions

President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House

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