ACEC Ohio is pleased to share the Government Advantage Group 2026 Election Results report which provides a summary of the results of the November 3, 2026, election for state legislative races, US Senate, US Congress,
Governor, Ohio Supreme Court and other Statewide offices. This report provides additional
context on the results of some of the more closely watched races. Overall turnout had over 57%
of the electorate casting a ballot and set an early voting record with over 1.73 million voting
before election day.
While Ohio has been trending “red” over the last several cycles, Democrats saw an opportunity
to capitalize on a “blue wave”. We saw several visits from President Trump stumping for the
Republican slate, and former President Obama making a visit to enthuse Democratic voters.
While this report doesn’t list the third-party and write-in candidates, they have had an impact on
this election cycle. Efforts on both sides have tried to bolster third-party candidates in an attempt
to siphon votes from traditional party voters. And many voters expressed frustration with both
major parties nominees and chose to vote third-party as opposed to sitting the election out.
When the results were in, Democrats certainly outperformed from the previous years. Ohio will
have a Democratic Governor for the first time in 16 years, and that strong performance at the top
of the ticket bolstered the other statewide office results. However, other Democratic statewide
candidates trailed the numbers put up by Acton. Republicans held onto their majorities in the
House and the Senate, though the Democrats gained some ground in those chambers as well,
including breaking the Republican supermajority in the Ohio House. Frank LaRose was the lone
Statewide Republican winning his race for State Auditor. It is interesting that in 2006, the last
notable Ohio blue wave, it was Republican Mary Taylor who was the only statewide win for
Auditor.