2022 August Primary Election Results and Analysis

Ohio held the state’s second Primary Election on August 2, 2022, featuring partisan primaries for State House and Senate candidates and also central committee seats for state political parties. As expected, turnout was low at only 7.93 percent according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s unofficial tallies.

State Senate Primary results[1]

The Ohio Senate featured only a few contested primaries. Senator Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) was the only incumbent facing a primary challenge. Ultimately, Senator Manning prevailed over Kirsten Hill (R-Amherst). In contests for open seats, current State Representative Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) won the Republican nomination for the 17^th District. For the minority caucus, Rep. Kent Smith (D-Euclid) defeated former state legislator John Barnes (D-Warrensville) for the 21^st District.

As of August 3, the General Election races to watch include the battle for the 3^rd District, in mostly suburban Columbus, where Republicans believe they have a pickup opportunity against incumbent Senator Tina Maharath (D-Groveport) with challenger Michele Reynolds (R-Columbus). The race for the 13^th District, which consists of Lorain and Huron Counties just west of Cleveland, should be competitive with the new district slightly favoring the Democratic candidate, based on the partisan index, but incumbent Senator Manning has prior electoral experience in competitive swing districts.

Finally, former state legislator Bob Hagan (D-Youngstown) is making a bid to return to the statehouse, challenging Senator Michael Rulli (R-Salem) in the 33^rd District, including the Youngstown, Ohio area. This area of Ohio - the Mahoning Valley – is a longtime Democratic stronghold, but since 2016 continues trending more conservative and features two well-known candidates, making the contest for the 33^rd District the likely must-watch Senate race this fall.

Below are the State Senate matchups for November’s General Election. Italics denote an incumbent.

District	Democratic Candidate	Republican Candidate
1		Rob McColley
3	Tina Maharath	Michele Reynolds
5		Steve Huffman
7	David Dallas	Steve Wilson
9	Catherine Ingram	Orlando Sonza
11	Paula Hicks-Hudson	Tony Dia
13	Anthony Eliopoulos	Nathan Manning
15	Hearcel Craig
17	Garry Boone	Shane Wilkin
19	Heather Swiger	Andrew Brenner
21	Kent Smith	Mikhail Alterman
23	Nickie Antonio	Landry Simmons
25	William DeMora	Chandler Wysocki
27	Patricia Goetz	Kristina Roegner
29		Kirk Schuring
31		Al Landis
33	Robert Hagan	Michael Rulli

 

State House Primary results[2]

In the Ohio House, multiple incumbents faced challenges, with three legislators losing their Primary Election contests. Rep. Mark Fraizer (R-Newark) lost in what was a 2020 Primary rematch to Thad Clagget (R-Newark). In 2020, the contest was decided by only 307 votes, but last night the margin of victory was over 1,000 votes. Beth Lear (R-Galena) defeated Rep. Shawn Stevens (R-Sunbury). The majority caucus appointed Rep. Stevens to fill the vacancy by former Rep. Rick Carfagna back in March 2022.

On the Democratic side, two sitting Representatives faced off with Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) defeating Rep. Monique Smith (D-North Olmstead).

Many Republican incumbents were challenged as part of an organized “Medical Freedom” movement, fueled by opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, but the incumbents prevailed including Reps. Scott Lipps (R-Franklin), Rep. Brian Lampton (R-Fairborn), and Rep. Susan Manchester (R-Lakeview), among others.

Looking ahead to the General Election, many members will be tested in competitive races under the new districts. Contests to watch, based on the partisan indexes of the district, include contests for the 17^th, 23^rd, 28^th, 39^th, 42^nd, 49^th and 89^th districts. Additional competitive races could emerge as the races evolve.

Here are the General Election matchups for the Ohio House. Italics denote an incumbent.

District	Democratic Candidate	Republican Candidate
1	Dontavious Jarrells
2	Latyna Humprhey
3	Ismail Mohamed or Kelly Harrop[3]	Josiah Lanning
4	Mary Lightbody	Jill Rudler
5	Richard Brown	Ronald Beach
6	Adam Miller	Joe Wharton
7	Allison Russo
8	Beth Liston
9	Munira Abdullahi	Sue Ellen King
10	Russell Harris	David Dobos
11	Anita Somani	Omar Tarazi
12		Brian Stewart
13	Michael Skindell	Keith Davey
14	Sean Brennan	Jolene Austin
15	Richard Dell’Aquila
16	Bride Rose Sweeney	Michael Lamb
17	Troy Greenfield	Tom Patton
18	Darnell Brewer
19	Phillip Robinson	Ron Brough
20	Terrence Upchurch
21	Eliot Forhan	Kelly Powell
22	Juanita Brent
23	Daniel Troy	George Phillips
24	Dani Isaacsohn	Adam Koehler
25	Cecil Thomas	John Breadon
26	Sedrick Denson
27	Rachel Baker	Jenn Giroux
28	Jessica Miranda	Chris Monzel
29	Juan Valle	Cindy Abrams
30	Alissa Mayhaus	Bill Seitz
31	Rita Darrow	Bill Roemer
32	Matt Shaughnessy	Bob Young
33	Tavia Galonski	Kristopher Anderson
34	Casey Weinstein	Beth Bigham
35	Lori O’Neil	Steve Demetriou
36	Addison Caruso	Andrea White
37		Tom Young
38	Willis Blackshear
39	Leronda Jackson	Phil Plummer
40	Amy Cox	Rodney Creech
41	Nancy Larson	Josh Williams
42	Erika White	Derek Merrin
43	Michele Grim	Wendi Hendricks
44	Elgin Rogers	Roy Palmer
45	Chuck Horn	Jennifer Gross
46	Lawrence Mulligan	Thomas Hall
47	Sam Lawrence	Sara Carruthers
48	David Smith	Scott Oelslager
49	Thomas West	Jim Thomas
50		Reggie Stoltzfus
51		Brett Hillyer
52	Regan Phillips	Gayle Manning
53	Joe Miller	Marty Gallagher
54	Bryan Burgess	Dick Stein
55	Paul Zorn	Scott Lipps
56	Joy Bennett	Adam Mathews
57	Evan Rosborough	Jamie Callender
58	Bruce Neff	Al Cutrona
59	Lauren McNally
60		Kris Jordan
61	Louise Valentine	Beth Lear
62	Brian Flick	Jean Schmidt
63		Adam Bird
64	Vincent Peterson	Nick Santucci
65		Mike Loychik
66		Sharon Ray
67	Drew Burge	Melanie Miller
68		Thad Claggett
69	Charlotte Owens	Kevin Miller
70	Eric Price	Brian Lampton
71	James Duffee	Bill Dean
72	Kathleen Clyde	Gail Pavliga
73		Jeffrey LaRe
74	Dan Saks	Bernard Willis
75	Jan Materni	Haraz Ghanbari
76		Marilyn John
77	Mark Gooch	Scott Wiggam
78		Susan Manchester
79	Taylor Eastham	Monica Robb Blasdel
80		Jena Powell
81		James Hoops
82	Magdalene Markward	Roy Klopfenstein
83	Claire Osborne	Jon Cross
84	Sophia Rodriguez	Angela King
85		Tim Barhorst
86	Barbara Luke	Tracy Richardson
87		Riordan McClain
88	Dianne Selvey	Gary Click
89	Jim Obergefell	D.J. Swearingen
90	Andrew Dodson	Brian Baldridge
91	Christina Schnetzer	Bob Peterson
92		Mark Johnson
93		Jason Stephens
94	Rhyan Goodman	Jay Edwards
95	William Ryan	Don Jones
96	Charlie DiPalma	Ron Ferguson
97		Adam Holmes
98		Darrell Kick
99	Abby Kovacs	Sarah Fowler Arthur

 

Conclusion

With under 100 days left until the November 8 General Election, Ohio’s campaign season is now completely underway. All of Ohio’s statewide constitutional offices are contested, as well as the partisan balance of the Ohio Supreme Court. Ohio Republicans look to retain all of Ohio’s statewide seats, the Supreme Court majority, and perhaps add to legislative majorities by capitalizing on voter concerns with inflation and the economy.

Ohio Democrats, however, hope that voters are mobilized by the United States Supreme Court decision regarding abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, pointing to Tuesday’s results in Kansas on a statewide ballot measure concerning abortion.

Elections in Ohio are never dull and are almost always interesting and competitive. 2022 seems to be on the same track and will include the high profile United States Senate race between author J.D. Vance (R) and Congressman Tim Ryan (D), which could factor into which party gains majority control in Washington, D.C.

We will continue to update this information and outline significant changes and updates as the campaigns continue.