Ohio's 15th Congressional District election, 2026 (May 5 Democratic primary)

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← 2024
Ohio's 15th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: February 4, 2026
Primary: May 5, 2026
General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times:

6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Voting in Ohio

Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending
Inside Elections: Solid Republican
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Ohio's 15th Congressional District
1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th
Ohio elections, 2026
U.S. Congress elections, 2026
U.S. Senate elections, 2026
U.S. House elections, 2026

A Democratic Party primary takes place on May 5, 2026, in Ohio's 15th Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
February 4, 2026
May 5, 2026
November 3, 2026



A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Ohio law provides for closed primaries, meaning a voter must be affiliated with a party to vote in that party's primary. However, a voter of any affiliation can choose the ballot they would like to vote on the day of the primary, and their choice may be regarded as registration with that party.[1][2]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Ohio's 15th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results


Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 15

Don Leonard and Adam Miller are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Ohio District 15 on May 5, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Don Leonard
Don Leonard Candidate Connection
Image of Adam Miller
Adam Miller Candidate Connection

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = 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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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Don Leonard

Image of Don Leonard

WebsiteFacebookXYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Submitted Biography:  "I know what it feels like to be on the outside of the American Dream looking in. I’m the son of a heroic single mom. Growing up, we saw times when all her resourcefulness and hard work wasn’t enough to keep poverty and homelessness at bay. This childhood taught me the value of personal responsibility. But I also learned the importance of social safety nets, devoted public school teachers, and a measure of dumb luck. Against all odds, I’ve lived my version of the American Dream. After college, I spent two years with the U.S. Peace Corps in South America. After receiving a doctorate in government from Cornell University, I have been blessed to serve as a professor of city and regional planning at The Ohio State University. My daughter was born at OSU Hospital on a frigid night in January of 2025. For three precious weeks I shut out the outside world and focused on caring for my wife and rocking my daughter to sleep. By the time I returned to my classroom, the world was almost unrecognizable. State and federal lawmakers were attacking free thought on college campuses. Trump’s tariff war was threatening to drive up prices, crash the supply chain, and wipe out everyone’s retirement savings. Meanwhile, masked federal agents were abducting legal residents off of American streets. All while the courts and Congress looked the other way. My wife and I looked at our newborn baby and wondered what kind of country she was going to grow up in. We decided we had to do something."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

ONE JOB SHOULD BE ENOUGH: The hard-working families of Central Ohio deserve better than an economy where it takes two or three jobs just to get by. For the past 45 years, Reagan Republicans and more than a few Reagan-lite Democrats have been inflicting trickle-down economics on Ohio's cities and towns. They've cut government funding for schools, hospitals, and social safety nets. They've cut trade deals that leave blue-collar workers, unions, and entire communities powerless in the face of globalization. And they've cut taxes for billionaires and corporations on Wall Street while leaving Main Street high and dry.

Congress can put $1000/mo back in the pockets of working families by tackling the big-ticket items that drain working families' finances most: -HEALTHCARE: We must cut the out-of-pocket cost of private health insurance in half while at the same time ensuring that all Americans have access to a public option for their health insurance. -HOME OWNERSHIP: Every working family should be able to afford to buy a home. That begins with a 21st century GI Bill for starter home construction. -UNIVERSAL CHILDCARE: Childcare should not cost families a second mortgage. Expand head start and provide subsidies for private care. -AFFORDABLE AGING: No-one should struggle financially because they choose to stay home to care for a family member.

WE'VE GOT TO GET THE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS AND BACK IN THE POCKETS OF WORKING FAMILIES: The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC represents a complete betrayal of America's founding principles. The decision created the dark-money pathway that allowed an unelected billionaire named Elon Musk to contribute more than a quarter of a billion dollars to Trump's re-election campaign in 2024. While it is impossible to know for certain whether Trump's election depended upon these funds, we know that Musk focused on swing states like Pennsylvania and paid campaign workers $47 per registered voter located. We also know that, once in office, Trump gave Musk unprecedented authority to cut critical government programs.

Adam Miller

Image of Adam Miller

WebsiteFacebookXYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Economy & Environment: A 40-year public school teacher and coach, Adam Miller will lower costs for groceries, gas, utility bills, health insurance and medication. Congress must require fair wages. For hard-working Ohioans, better pay makes stronger families and neighborhoods. We will support our working families with strong labor unions and funding for job re-training. The billionaire class is growing richer by eliminating jobs, and they must help pay to retrain workers and support a society increasingly run by robots. These goals cannot come at the expense of our environment. Corporations must pay their fair share for the the power and water to operate data centers and the pollution released in towns, fields and neighborhoods.

Mental Health and Wellness – The mental health of the residents of Ohio and the United States is top priority to Adam Miller. As a retired Army colonel with 30 years of service, a high school teacher, coach and father, Adam sees the struggles of decent, hard-working Americans who support family members with depression, anxiety, disabilities and mental illness. The system kicks families from one provider to the next, leaving people falling through the cracks, and families staggering under the burden. We deserve a strong safety net. By supporting people step-by-step from crisis to a full recovery, we save lives AND free families from the weight of caregiving, allowing them to contribute again to their jobs and communities.

Strong Society: Supporting Youth, Veterans, Seniors As an Army veteran and father, Adam Miller believes we have a strong America when our young people, veterans and senior citizens are supported with honor and dignity. Our veterans and seniors have worked hard and given their lives to our country and their families, and we have a duty to treat them with dignity and care, not cuts in funding, confusing rules and red tape. Our youth crave a pathway to self-esteem and responsibility despite the loss of many traditions that have led our children into adulthood. With his decades of experience as a coach and father, Adam Miller understands the challenges and sees service as an elected Representative as a pathway to support our young people.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Ohio

Election information in Ohio: May 5, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: April 6, 2026
  • By mail: Postmarked by April 6, 2026
  • Online: April 6, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

Yes

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: April 28, 2026
  • By mail: Received by April 28, 2026
  • Online: N/A

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: May 5, 2026
  • By mail: Received by May 5, 2026

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

April 7, 2026 to May 3, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (ET)

Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Don Leonard Democratic Party $122,318 $43,820 $78,498 As of December 31, 2025
Adam Miller Democratic Party $525,308 $219,822 $309,100 As of December 31, 2025

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting ahead of the 2026 election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below is the district map used in the 2024 election next to the map in place for the 2026 election. Click on a map below to enlarge it.

2024

2023_01_03_oh_congressional_district_015.jpg

2026

2027_01_03_oh_congressional_district_015.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Ohio.

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Ohio in 2026. Information below was calculated on Feb. 4, 2026, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Seventy-eight candidates — 46 Democrats and 32 Republicans — ran for Ohio’s 15 U.S. House districts. That’s 5.2 candidates per district. There were 4.1 candidates per district in 2024, 4.5 in 2022, 4.2 in 2020, 5.1 in 2018, 3.7 in 2016, and 2.9 in 2014.

These were the first elections to take place since the Ohio Redistricting Commission voted unanimously to approve a new congressional map for 2026. The state was required to redraw its congressional district boundaries ahead of the 2026 elections due to a constitutional amendment that gave shorter expiration dates to maps passed without bipartisan support.

No districts were open in 2026, meaning all incumbents — five Democrats and 10 Republicans — ran for re-election. There were two open districts in 2024, one in 2022, two in 2018, one in 2016, and none in 2014.

Twenty primaries — 12 Democratic and eight Republican — were contested in 2026. In total, there were 12 contested primaries in 2024, 10 in 2022, 23 in 2020, 22 in 2018, 18 in 2016, and 14 in 2014.

Rep. Max Miller (R-7th) and eight Democrats ran for the 7th district, the most candidates that ran for a district in 2026.

Seven incumbents — three Democrats and four Republicans — faced primary challengers in 2026. There were four incumbents in a contested primary in 2024, six in 2022, 10 in 2020, eight in 2018, four in 2016, and five in 2014.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all 15 districts, meaning no districts were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+4. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 4 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Ohio's 15th the 194th most Republican district nationally.[3]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in Ohio's 15th Congressional District
Kamala Harris Democratic PartyDonald Trump Republican Party
44.4%54.7%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Ohio, 2024

Ohio presidential election results (1900-2024)

  • 12 Democratic wins
  • 19 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winning Party R R R D D R R R D D D R D R R R D R R D R R R D D R R D D R R R
See also: Party control of Ohio state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Ohio's congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Ohio
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 0 5 5
Republican 2 10 12
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 15 17

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Ohio's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in Ohio, October 2025
OfficeOfficeholder
GovernorRepublican Party Richard Michael DeWine
Lieutenant GovernorRepublican Party Jim Tressel
Secretary of StateRepublican Party Frank LaRose
Attorney GeneralRepublican Party Dave Yost

State legislature

Ohio State Senate

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 9
     Republican Party 24
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 33

Ohio House of Representatives

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 34
     Republican Party 65
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 99

Trifecta control

Ohio Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas  •  Twenty-seven 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
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
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
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

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Ohio in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Ohio, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Ohio U.S. House Major party 50 $85 2/4/2026 Source
Ohio U.S. House Minor party 25 $85 2/4/2026 Source
Ohio U.S. House Unaffiliated 1% of the vote cast for governor in the district in the last election $85 5/4/2026 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Ohio Laws and Administrative Codes, "Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 3513.19," accessed December 19, 2025
  2. ↑ Ohio Laws and Administrative Codes, "Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 3513.05," accessed December 19, 2025
  3. ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025


Ohio's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Jon Husted (R)
Bernie Moreno (R)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
Bob Latta (R)
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
Republican Party (12)
Democratic Party (5)


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