Elliot Forhan

Elliot Forhan

Democratic Party

Candidate, Attorney General of Ohio

Prior offices

Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Predecessor: Beth Liston

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Elections and appointments

Next election

May 5, 2026

Education

Bachelor's

Kenyon College, 2008

Law

Yale Law School, 2013

Personal

Religion

Christianity

Profession

Lawyer

Contact

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Personal website

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Elliot Forhan (Democratic Party) is running for election for Attorney General of Ohio. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on May 5, 2026.^[source]

Forhan (Democratic Party) was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing District 21. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. He left office on December 31, 2024.

Biography

Elliot Forhan lives in South Euclid, Ohio. Forhan earned a bachelor's degree from Kenyon College in 2008 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2013. Forhan's career experience includes working as a lawyer.

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2026

See also: Ohio Attorney General election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on May 5, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Ohio

Elliot Forhan is running in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Ohio on May 5, 2026.

		Candidate
		Elliot Forhan

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Ohio

Keith Faber is running in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Ohio on May 5, 2026.

		Candidate
		Keith Faber

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2024

See also: Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Eric Synenberg defeated Joshua Malovasic in the general election for Ohio House of Representatives District 21 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eric Synenberg (D)	79.2	42,376
	Submit photo	Joshua Malovasic (R)	20.8	11,116

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 53,492
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Eric Synenberg defeated Angel Washington and incumbent Elliot Forhan in the Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21 on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eric Synenberg	45.3	5,659
		Angel Washington	42.6	5,324
		Elliot Forhan	12.1	1,506

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,489
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Juan Goodwin (D)
• Jonathan Holody (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Joshua Malovasic advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21 on March 19, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Joshua Malovasic (Write-in)	100.0	301

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 301
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Forhan in this election.

2022

See also: Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Elliot Forhan defeated Kelly Powell in the general election for Ohio House of Representatives District 21 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elliot Forhan (D)	73.6	29,205
	Submit photo	Kelly Powell (R)	26.4	10,499

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,704
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Elliot Forhan defeated Jonathan Holody and Michael Ettorre in the Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elliot Forhan	57.0	5,113
		Jonathan Holody	34.0	3,055
		Michael Ettorre	9.0	810

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,978
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21

Kelly Powell advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 21 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Kelly Powell	100.0	1,671

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,671
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To view Forhan's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Elliot Forhan has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Elliot Forhan asking him to fill out the survey. If you are Elliot Forhan, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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You can ask Elliot Forhan to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing info@forhanforohio.com.

2024

Elliot Forhan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Elliot Forhan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Forhan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am an attorney and a resident of South Euclid. I served in 2020 as a field organizer for the Biden presidential campaign, covering the East Side of Cuyahoga County, including House District 21. Before the presidential campaign I worked as a lawyer in the Cleveland office of BakerHostetler and at law firms in New York City. I graduated from Kenyon College in Central Ohio and obtained my law degree from Yale University.

After the 2020 presidential campaign, I spent the holidays in Georgia knocking doors for the Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. I helped us win the Senate runoff elections and take control of the U.S. Senate, enact the American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan infrastructure law and confirm the nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court of Justice-Designate Ketanji Brown Jackson.

I worked for Governor Ted Strickland and for State Treasurer Richard Cordray. I testified in 2021 at public meetings of the state redistricting commission. My mother grew up in Lyndhurst, and my great-grandfather’s construction company built many of the houses on Edgefield Road and in other Hillcrest neighborhoods.

I maintain a law office in South Euclid as a solo practitioner, representing companies in commercial transactions and tenants in disputes with their landlords. I do volunteer work for the Cleveland Housing Organizing Project and the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, and I am a co-founder and the general counsel of a nonprofit organization that focuses on patent law.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am running to make our communities stronger and fairer for everyone, where the rich pay their fair share and we lift up the middle class.
• I was a field organizer for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, and a few weeks after that election I drove down to Cobb County, Georgia, and spent the holidays knocking doors in support of the Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, helping us win the Senate runoff elections and take control of the U.S. Senate.
• My top priorities are to (1) defend Roe and protect reproductive rights, (2) enact common-sense gun control and (3) focus on education.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I believe in building a stronger, fairer society for everyone. I am committed to building a community in new House District 21 where the rich pay their fair share and everyone can achieve the American dream. As state rep, I will focus on the following priorities to make those values a reality.

(1) Defend Roe, fight for Ohio women. I will fight for the rights and interests of Ohio’s women, including by protecting reproductive rights and choice and closing the pay gap.

(2) Enact common-sense gun control. I will fight to repeal the recent permitless-carry law, ban high-capacity assault weapons and ghost guns and enact background checks.

(3) Focus on education. I will fight to enact universal pre-K and free community college and trade schools.

(4) Support our seniors. I will help them age in place by increasing the state Homestead Exemption, eliminating taxes on 401(k) and pension income and enacting an Ohio renters’ tax credit.

(5) End gerrymandering. I will fight to stop GOP efforts to keep Democrats out of office.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to and would like to follow the example of my parents. I was raised by two women. My parents are gay. I officiated their wedding ceremony in 2015, a few weeks after the announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court of its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. This year they celebrated their 45th anniversary of committing to each other as life partners. How many people do you know who have celebrated a 45th anniversary? (And how many people do you know who officiated their parents' wedding ceremony?) They raised my sister and me on two main values: work hard and treat everyone with kindness. Those values, and their strength and love, have guided me throughout my life and continue to guide me and my campaign.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Empower anyone other than elected officials to enact new district maps. For example: two independent mapmaking experts, one nominated by the Republican state legislators and the other nominated by the Democratic state legislators.

We must end partisan gerrymandering and stop the Republicans from preventing Democrats from holding elected office in Ohio.

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

A voter in South Euclid, an older woman, told me that she used to work as a nurse in the '70s, before the ruling in Roe v. Wade. She remembers working in the emergency room and treating the women who would come in suffering after obtaining an unsafe abortion. We cannot go back to those days. I will fight to defend Roe and protect reproductive rights.

Many voters tell me that they are worried about crime and safety. They cannot believe that Ohio Governor DeWine signed into law the permitless-carry bill, and they are afraid about guns in our communities. I will fight to enact common-sense gun control, including repealing the permitless-carry law, banning high-capacity automatic weapons and ghost guns and enacting background checks.

Another voter told me about the amount of money that she has to pay each month, out of pocket, to treat her medical issues. Eight different prescriptions, one of which costs more than $1,000 per month. It's not acceptable. I will fight to cap the price of prescription drugs, such as insulin.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Elliot Forhan campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Ohio House of Representatives District 21	Lost primary	$53,609	$55,702
2022	Ohio House of Representatives District 21	Won general	$88,218	$86,187
Grand total			$141,827	$141,889
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Ohio

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Ohio scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

In 2024, the Ohio State Legislature was in session from January 2 to December 19. A special session on elections commenced on May 28, 2024, and ended on May 31.

• Equality Ohio

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to LGBTQ, civil rights, and racial justice issues.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].
In 2023, the Ohio State Legislature was in session from January 2 to December 31. Ohio Environmental Council Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental policy. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

See also

2026 Elections

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Beth Liston (D)	Ohio House of Representatives District 21 2023-2024	Succeeded by -

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