Ohio election preview, 2024
Election Analysis Hub, 2024 |
Election analysis |
---|
Top 15 elections to watch Municipal partisanship Uncontested elections Competitiveness reports: Congress State executives State legislatures |
Elections coverage |
Election results, 2024 Election previews Congressional elections State government trifectas State legislatures State executives Governors Municipal elections Mayoral elections |
Previews by state |
Last updated: Oct. 2, 2024
Thousands of general elections are taking place across the United States on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices at the federal, state, and local levels. This is one of 50 pages in which Ballotpedia previews the elections happening in each state as part of the Daily Brew’s 50 states in 25 days series.
This page provides an overview of all elections happening in Ohio within our coverage scope on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include office for U.S Senate, 15 U.S. Representatives, 99 state Representatives, 16 state Senators, six State Board of Education members, three state Supreme Court Justices, and 24 Intermediate Appellate Court Justices. Additionally, there is one statewide ballot measure on the ballot in Ohio. On this page, you will also find information regarding:
- How to vote in Ohio
- The elected offices that Ohio voters can expect to see on their ballots
- The races in Ohio that Ballotpedia is covering as battlegrounds
- The ballot measures that voters in Ohio will decide on
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
- The partisan balance of Ohio's congressional delegation and state government
- Past presidential election results in Ohio
- The competitiveness of legislative elections in Ohio
- The candidates who are on the ballot in Ohio
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Ohio
What's on the ballot?
2024 elections
- See also: Ohio elections, 2024
Ohio voters will elect one U.S. Senator and 15 U.S. Representatives. Six seats on the Ohio State Board of Education are also up for election.
All 99 seats in the state House are up for election. Sixteen of the 33 seats in the state Senate are up for a regularly scheduled election. There are 22 open seats in the state House and six open seats in the state Senate.
Three seats on the state supreme court and 24 on the intermediate appellate court are up for election. Ohio is one of eight states that use partisan elections at the state supreme court level and one of nine states that use this selection method for at least one type of court below the supreme court level. One seat on the state supreme court is open. Ten seats on the intermediate appellate court are open.
Municipal elections will be held across five Ohio counties. These counties are part of the 80 counties included in Ballotpedia's coverage of municipal elections.
Below is a list of Ohio elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2024. Click the links to learn more about each type:
Ohio elections, 2024 | ||
---|---|---|
Office | Elections? | More information |
U.S. Senate | ✓ | Click here |
U.S. House | ✓ | Click here |
Congress special election | ✓ | Click here |
Governor | — | — |
Other state executive | ✓ | Click here |
State Senate | ✓ | Click here |
State House | ✓ | Click here |
Special state legislative | ✓ | Click here |
State Supreme Court | ✓ | Click here |
Intermediate appellate courts | ✓ | Click here |
School boards | — | — |
Municipal government | ✓ | Click here |
Recalls | ✓ | Click here |
Ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
Local ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
Legend: ✓ election(s) / — no elections
Subject to Ballotpedia's scope
Your ballot
- See also: Sample Ballot Lookup
Noteworthy elections
As of Oct. 2, 2024, Ballotpedia has identified four elections as battleground races. Those are the races that we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive or compelling.
- Ohio Supreme Court elections, 2024: Three seats are up for election. Three justices are running for re-election in two seats, and the third seat is contested in the partisan elections. As of October 2024, the court has a 4-3 Republican majority.
- Ohio's 13th Congressional District election, 2024: Incumbent Emilia Sykes (D) and Kevin Coughlin (R) are running. In 2022, Sykes' margin of victory was 5.4 percentage points. As of Oct. 1, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with one rating it Likely Democratic, one rating it Tilt Democratic, and two rating it Toss-up.
- Ohio's 9th Congressional District election, 2024: Incumbent Marcy Kaptur (D) and Derek Merrin (R) are running. Kaptur is one of eight Democrats who represent districts that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2020. As of Oct. 1, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with three rating it Lean Democratic and one rating it Tilt Democratic.
- United States Senate election in Ohio, 2024: Incumbent Sherrod Brown (D) and Bernie Moreno (R) are running. In 2018 Brown's margin of victory was 6.8 percentage points. As of Oct. 1, 2024, four major election forecasters each rated the general election Toss-up.
Ballot measures
- See also: Ohio 2024 ballot measures
There is one statewide ballot measure on the ballot in Ohio.
Type | Title | Description | Result | Yes Votes | No Votes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Issue 1 | Establish the Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC), a 15-member non-politician commission responsible for adopting state legislative and congressional redistricting plans |
|
2,531,900 (46%) |
2,937,489 (54%) |
Forty-four ballot measures were on the ballot in Ohio from 2000 to 2023. Voters approved 24 measures and rejected 20.
State analysis
Partisan balance
Democrats represent five districts and Republicans represent 10 districts in Ohio's U.S. House delegation. In the U.S. House, Republicans have a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.
Ohio has one Democratic U.S. Senator, Sherrod Brown (D), and one Republican U.S. Senator, J.D. Vance (R). Democrats have a majority in the U.S. Senate. There are 47 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and four independents. Three independents caucus with the Democratic Party, and one other counts towards the Democratic majority for committee purposes.
Republicans have a 26-7 majority in the state Senate and a 67-32 majority in the state House. Republicans have had a majority in the state Senate since 1984 and a majority in the state House since 2010.
Because the governor is a Republican, Ohio is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. It has held this status since 2011, when Republicans gained control of the governor's office and the state House. Ohio's attorney general and secretary of state are also Republicans. This makes Ohio one of 25 states with a Republican triplex.
Past presidential election results in Ohio
- See also: Presidential election in Ohio, 2024
How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | |||||||
Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
Republican | |||||||
Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
New Republican | D | D | R |
Following the 2020 presidential election, 43.4% of Ohioans lived in one of the state's 71 Solid Republican counties, which voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 37.7% lived in one of six Solid Democratic counties. Overall, Ohio was Trending Republican, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Ohio following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
Ohio county-level statistics, 2020 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Solid Republican | 71 | 43.4% | |||||
Solid Democratic | 6 | 37.7% | |||||
Trending Republican | 8 | 9.7% | |||||
New Republican | 2 | 4.6% | |||||
Battleground Democratic | 1 | 4.6% | |||||
Total voted Democratic | 7 | 42.3% | |||||
Total voted Republican | 81 | 57.7% |
State legislative competitiveness
According to Ballotpedia's annual state legislative competitiveness report, Ohio had a Competitiveness Index of 46.4, ranking it sixth of the 44 states that held elections.
- 29 of the 115 seats up for election were open (25%)
- 24 of the 86 incumbents who ran for re-election faced contested primaries (28%)
- 99 of the 115 seats up for election were contested by both major parties (86%)
2010-2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.
State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Ohio, 2010-2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | Rank | |||||||||||||||||||
2010 | 25.0% | 16.1% | 85.3% | 42.1 | 9 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 16.2% | 14.3% | 85.5% | 38.7 | 16 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 22.4% | 25.6% | 81.0% | 43.0 | 5 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 25.2% | 16.3% | 73.9% | 38.5 | 15 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 36.2% | 27.0% | 90.5% | 51.2 | 2 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2020 | 20.0% | 15.2% | 80.0% | 38.4 | 12 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2022 | 26.7% | 23.3% | 69.8% | 39.9 | 15 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
2024 | 25.2% | 27.9% | 86.1% | 46.4 | 6 / 44 |
In 2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents. Click on headings for more state-specific information.
State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Ohio, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chamber | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | ||||||||||||||||||||
House | 23.2% | 28.9% | 84.8% | 45.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Senate | 37.5% | 20.0% | 93.8% | 50.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total | 25.2% | 27.9% | 86.1% | 46.4 |
List of candidates
See also
Footnotes