in the current election Republicans dominate OhioDemocrats flipped two seats in the Ohio House, reducing the GOP’s supermajority; this still stands at 65 of 99 seats. Democrats also won two seats in the Ohio Senate, leaving Republicans with 24 of 33 seats, instead of 26.

There were nearly ten tight races in the House of Representatives, and Democrats were ahead in nine of them through Tuesday evening. But when the unofficial results came in, only two seats were flipped.

The 10th and 41st House Districts were open seats previously held by Republicans, but Democrats picked up the wins. Democrat Mark Sigrist is replacing state Rep. Dave Dobos (R-Columbus), and Erika White is replacing state Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova). Dobos chose not to run again, and Merrin narrowly lost her bid to unseat longtime U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09).

Many regulations in the parliament require a two-thirds majority (66 votes). Republicans received 67 votes in the 135th General Assembly. This meant the GOP could do whatever it wanted without negotiating votes with the Democrats; For example, adding an emergency clause to bills that would allow them to start immediately rather than 90 days later.

Republicans still have a vetoable 60-vote majority.

There were also some seat changes in the State Senate. State Representative Willis Blackshear (D-Dayton) won the open seat previously held by State Senator Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg). State Rep. Beth Liston (D-Dublin) will replace state Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Dublin) after the incumbent failed to replace Liston’s former seat in the House soon.

The Senate still has an outright GOP supermajority. Twenty-two members constitute a large majority, with the GOP having 24 members and the Democrats having nine.

house war

Seat changes have more impact than a Parliamentary majority.

The most interesting political battle in Ohio is between two Republicans vying for the same leadership position, and which side wins will determine the state’s conservative ideology. This election could be impactful if House Speaker Jason Stephens hides his gavel or Senate President Matt Huffman takes it away from him.

Stephens needed to maintain 50 votes on Tuesday to remain president.

In 2022, the Republican caucus elected state Rep. Merrin as chairman. However, in the vote in the Parliament in January 2023, Stephens won the presidency.

Twenty-two Republicans (affectionately referred to as the “Blue 22” by the other group) and 32 Democrats voted for Stephens for speaker during the actual voting, while a majority of Republicans voted for Merrin. Stephens, still a conservative, is much more moderate than Merrin; He is also more moderate than Huffman.

There was a fierce rivalry between the two GOP factions. Huffman isn’t being shy about his desire to replace Stephens.

Huffman has been in campaign talks for months and has support from a significant contingent of House representatives and national and statewide groups seeking to unseat Stephens and her allies during the March primaries.

Although Democrats would prefer to have a majority, Stephens is a more moderate option for the party than Huffman.

Stephens supports public school funding, union rights and following voters’ choices on abortion and marijuana in the November election. Stephens supports the private school voucher system to some extent, but wants to fully fund public education. He doesn’t want to overhaul the university education system and doesn’t think an August special election that would make it harder for citizens to attempt to vote is a good idea. He sought to guard against other “anti-democratic” proposals the Senate had sent to the House, such as making it harder for citizens to take up issues on a local ballot. He is interested in lowering taxes but has said nothing about eliminating the income tax altogether; He said he only supports a flat tax.

Huffman differs from Stephens on each of these issues. He has helped finance public schools, but is more interested in legislation related to the voucher system. It would also likely eliminate the income tax, which could double the sales tax. Huffman wants to change universities to avoid so-called liberal bias and has supported the August election from the beginning; he even suggests that the change, which would raise the threshold for ballot initiatives, could be implemented in a future ballot. The leadership team said voters don’t know what they voted for when legalizing marijuana, so they should be able to change the policy.

Stephens is expected to have all Democrats on his side.

He needs 34 Republicans to win the home caucus vote because Democrats flipped two seats. But he would need just 16 Republicans to win the vote alongside Democrats.

The presidential vote is scheduled for November 20.

To follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau in x And Facebook.

This article originally published It is published on News5Cleveland.com and in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland so it cannot be published for free by other news organizations.