11/06/2024

OSMA's Election Takeaways – 2024 Recap & Results

Millions of Ohio voters have made their voices heard and the 2024 election is complete. Read on for a review of what happened and how the OSMAPAC’s endorsed candidates fared in this week’s elections and stay tuned for advocacy updates as the Ohio Legislature moves into its lame duck session!

2024 Election Results & Takeaways

Ohio Supreme Court

Key takeaways: All three of the OSMAPAC’s endorsed candidates for Ohio Supreme Court were successful in their races based on unofficial results. The state Supreme Court races were seen as one of the most critical aspects of the 2024 election for the state.

Results in Ohio Supreme Court – Winners:
(OSMAPAC endorsed candidates are in bold – all endorsed candidates prevailed in their races.)

• Justice Joseph Deters
• Judge Daniel Hawkins
• Judge Megan Shanahan

As a reminder, in state Supreme Court elections, the OSMAPAC strives to endorse candidates who understand judicial restraint, will interpret Ohio law—not rewrite it, and will maintain stability and balance on the Court. For that reason, the OSMAPAC endorsed re-election of Justice Joseph Deters, and election of Judges Dan Hawkins and Megan Shanahan as justices, believing their successful elections would retain the slim majority who reject legislating from the bench.

Moving forward: This result expands the Republican majority on the bench from 4-3 (current) to 6-1. In 2025, Justice Jennifer Brunner will be the sole Democrat on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Ohio House

Key takeaways: Overall, OSMAPAC endorsed candidates dominated in their races, with only one endorsed candidate falling short in their race. At least two seats in the Ohio House have flipped from Republican to Democrat according to unofficial results. This indicates that next year’s Ohio House breakdown would be a 65 Republican, 34 Democrat split.

This small gain for the House Democrats means that the current advantage of House Republicans (67-32) would shift just slightly in the 136^th General Assembly. House Republicans would lose the two-thirds majority (66 seats) required in order to enact emergency clauses without Democratic support, but would retain their three-fifths supermajority (60 seats) needed to override gubernatorial vetoes. 

All results in the Ohio House - Winners:
(OSMAPAC Endorsed Candidates are in bold)

Just one OSMAPAC endorsed candidate did not prevail in her race – Sen. Stephanie Kunze in her candidacy for Ohio House District 11).

Ohio Senate

Key takeaways: All of the OSMAPAC’s endorsed candidates for Ohio Senate were successful in their races. While Republicans won most Senate races in this year’s election, much like in the House, Ohio Senate Democrats did manage to make a slight shift by flipping two seats. The likely breakdown for the Ohio Senate next year stands at 24-9 based on unofficial results.

We are excited that another physician will be joining the Ohio Senate: Rep. Beth Liston (D-Dublin) will succeed term-limited Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) for her seat, having obtained victory over Republican challenger Besa Sharrah by a margin of about 60-40%. Rep. Liston is an Ohio physician and OSMA member. She will be joining Sens. Terry Johnson (also re-elected) and Steve Huffman, who are also both physicians and huge advocates for the practice of medicine.

All results in the Ohio Senate - Winners:
(OSMAPAC Endorsed Candidates are in bold)

All OSMAPAC Endorsed candidates for Ohio Senate prevailed in their races.

U.S. Senate

Republican challenger Bernie Moreno has triumphed over Ohio’s senior senator, Sherrod Brown, flipping this key seat in the U.S. Senate for the Republican Party. Unofficial results indicate a Moreno victory of about 50-46%. Senator Sherrod Brown has served Ohio in the U.S. Senate since 2007, and this was seen as one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races.

Ohio Congressional Races

No major changes with Ohio’s current congressional delegation as most sail to victory.

Key takeaways: Although the results in the 9^th district are narrow enough to meet the margin eligible for an automatic recount, as of the unofficial results, it appears that incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur defeated Republican challenger Derek Merrin by 1,193 votes.

1^st District: Greg Landsman (D)

2^nd District: David Taylor (R)

3^rd District: Joyce Beatty (D)

4^th District: Jim Jordan (R)

5^th District: Bob Latta (R)

6^th District: Michael Rulli (R)

7^th District: Max Miller (R)

8^th District: Warren Davidson (R)

9^th District: Marcy Kaptur (D)

10^th District: Mike Turner (R)

11^th District: Shontel Brown (D)

12^th District: Troy Balderson (R)

13^th District: Emilia Sykes (D)

14^th District: Dave Joyce (R)

15^th District: Mike Carey (R)

State Issue 1

This proposal outlined a plan to change how Ohio’s redistricting process would work, by creating a 15-member Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw the state’s district maps. Unofficial election results indicated that the majority of Ohioans voted to reject Issue 1—by a margin of about 53-46%. This means that the current Ohio Redistricting Commission will remain in place.

Last Chance to Give to
the OSMAPAC for 2024!

OSMA is always there for you to help make your voice heard on the issues that matter most—and the Ohio State Medical Association Political Action Committee (OSMAPAC) is crucial to our continued success. If you haven’t yet contributed to OSMAPAC for 2024, we are wrapping up our fundraising for the year very shortly and shifting our focus to the 2025 fundraising year. If you have already contributed for 2024, please consider helping OSMAPAC start 2025 strong with a gift to count toward next year!

Contributions to the OSMAPAC from physicians like you empower our advocacy agenda, fuel day-to-day OSMA advocacy efforts on your behalf, and help us to support elected officials who are committed to improving healthcare in Ohio.

Support the OSMAPAC!
Donate Now >
Or text OSMAPAC to 41444.