Politics of Ohio

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United States presidential election results for Ohio[1]
Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 3,154,834 53.18% 2,679,165 45.16% 98,447 1.66%
2016 2,841,006 51.31% 2,394,169 43.24% 301,372 5.44%
2012 2,661,437 47.60% 2,827,709 50.58% 101,788 1.82%
2008 2,677,820 46.80% 2,940,044 51.38% 103,967 1.82%
2004 2,859,768 50.81% 2,741,167 48.71% 26,973 0.48%
2000 2,351,209 49.97% 2,186,190 46.46% 168,058 3.57%
1996 1,859,883 41.02% 2,148,222 47.38% 526,329 11.61%
1992 1,894,310 38.35% 1,984,942 40.18% 1,060,712 21.47%
1988 2,416,549 55.00% 1,939,629 44.15% 37,521 0.85%
1984 2,678,560 58.90% 1,825,440 40.14% 43,619 0.96%
1980 2,206,545 51.51% 1,752,414 40.91% 324,644 7.58%
1976 2,000,505 48.65% 2,011,621 48.92% 99,747 2.43%
1972 2,441,827 59.63% 1,558,889 38.07% 94,071 2.30%
1968 1,791,014 45.23% 1,700,586 42.95% 468,098 11.82%
1964 1,470,865 37.06% 2,498,331 62.94% 0 0.00%
1960 2,217,611 53.28% 1,944,248 46.72% 0 0.00%
1956 2,262,610 61.11% 1,439,655 38.89% 0 0.00%
1952 2,100,391 56.76% 1,600,367 43.24% 0 0.00%
1948 1,445,684 49.24% 1,452,791 49.48% 37,596 1.28%
1944 1,582,293 50.18% 1,570,763 49.82% 0 0.00%
1940 1,586,773 47.80% 1,733,139 52.20% 0 0.00%
1936 1,127,855 37.44% 1,747,140 57.99% 137,594 4.57%
1932 1,227,319 47.03% 1,301,695 49.88% 80,714 3.09%
1928 1,627,546 64.89% 864,210 34.45% 16,590 0.66%
1924 1,176,130 58.33% 477,888 23.70% 362,219 17.97%
1920 1,182,022 58.47% 780,037 38.58% 59,594 2.95%
1916 514,753 44.18% 604,161 51.86% 46,172 3.96%
1912 278,168 26.82% 424,834 40.96% 334,092 32.21%
1908 572,312 51.03% 502,721 44.82% 46,519 4.15%
1904 600,095 59.75% 344,674 34.32% 59,624 5.94%
1900 543,918 52.30% 474,882 45.66% 21,273 2.05%
1896 525,991 51.86% 477,497 47.08% 10,807 1.07%
1892 405,187 47.66% 404,115 47.53% 40,862 4.81%
1888 416,054 49.51% 396,455 47.18% 27,852 3.31%
1884 400,082 50.99% 368,280 46.94% 16,248 2.07%
1880 375,048 51.73% 340,821 47.01% 9,098 1.25%
1876 330,698 50.21% 323,182 49.07% 4,769 0.72%
1872 281,852 53.24% 244,321 46.15% 3,263 0.62%
1868 280,167 54.00% 238,621 46.00% 0 0.00%
1864 265,654 56.37% 205,599 43.63% 0 0.00%
1860 221,809 51.24% 187,421 43.30% 23,632 5.46%
1856 187,497 48.51% 170,874 44.21% 28,126 7.28%
1852 152,523 43.18% 168,933 47.83% 31,732 8.98%
1848 138,359 42.12% 154,773 47.12% 35,347 10.76%
1844 155,113 49.68% 149,061 47.74% 8,050 2.58%
1840 148,157 54.10% 124,782 45.57% 903 0.33%
1836 104,958 51.87% 96,238 47.56% 1,137 0.56%

Political control of Ohio has oscillated between the two major parties. Republicans outnumber Democrats in Ohio government. The governor, Mike DeWine, is a Republican, as are all other non-judicial statewide elected officials: Lieutenant Governor of Ohio Jon A. Husted, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Ohio State Treasurer Robert Sprague.

In the Ohio State Senate, the Republicans have a supermajority (26-7), and in the Ohio House of Representatives the Republicans also have a supermajority delegation (66-32), and they have generally held the legislature since the latter half of the 20th century. The Ohio Congressional Delegation is mostly Republican as well; 10 representatives are Republicans while five are Democrats. One U.S. senator, J. D. Vance, is a Republican, while the other, Sherrod Brown, is a Democrat.

The mayors of most of the 10 largest cities in the state (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Youngstown, Canton, Parma, Lorain) are Democrats. The Republicans are strongest in the rural Northwest, the affluent Cincinnati and Columbus suburbs, and have made gains in Appalachian Southeast Ohio and the industrial, working-class Northeast in the 21st century. The Democrats rely on the state's major cities, and have made gains in educated suburban areas in recent years.

The state was strongly Republican from the party's inception, voting Republican in every election from 1856 to 1908. The northern Union-aligned part of the state kept the state Republican, and consistently narrowly edged out the Democratic and Appalachia-influenced southern Ohio. Since 1896, however, Ohio has voted for the winning candidate, except for Franklin D Roosevelt in 1944, John F Kennedy in 1960, and Joe Biden in 2020. This was due to Democratic gains in the northeastern part of the state. The state has not backed a losing candidate in consecutive elections since 1848. Due to a close split in party registration, it has been a key battleground state. No Republican has ever been elected president without winning Ohio. In 2004, Ohio was the tipping point state, as Bush won the state with 51% of the vote, giving him its 20 electoral votes and the margin he needed in the Electoral College for re-election. The state was closely contested in 2008 and 2012, with Barack Obama winning narrowly on both occasions. Ohio has been a bellwether state in presidential elections.

Since 2016, Ohio's bellwether status has been questioned given that Donald Trump won it by 8 points, the largest margin for each party since 1988, and then won the state by a similar margin in 2020 despite losing nationwide.[2][3]

Additionally, Ohio's presidential electoral vote total has been declining for decades. Ohio lost two electoral votes after the results of the 2010 United States Census, leaving it with 18 electoral votes for the presidential elections in 2012, 2016, and 2020. The number of electoral votes was down from 20 in the 2004 and 2008 elections, and down from a peak of 26 in 1964 and 1968. As of 2020, Ohio has its fewest electoral votes since 1828, when it cast 16. The state cast 3.71 percent of all electoral votes from 2004 through 2020, the smallest percentage since it cast 3.40 percent of the votes in 1820.

Ohio's large population has long made the state a major influence in politics. Seven presidents have been from Ohio, all Republicans: William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding.[4]

Parties[edit]

As of September 19, 2019, there were two recognized political parties in Ohio.[citation needed]

Democratic
Republican
Party registration as of October 1, 2021
Party Total voters Percentage
Unaffiliated 6,196,547 77.6%
Democratic 947,027 11.8%
Republican 836,080 10.4%
Total 7,979,654 100%

There are also two deregistered parties that have active executive committees.

The Greens
Libertarian

Federal representation[edit]

Main article: Ohio's congressional districts

Following each decennial census, the General Assembly, with the approval of the governor, draws the U.S. congressional district lines for Ohio's 15 seats in the United States House of Representatives. The Ohio Apportionment Board draws state legislative district lines. Ohio currently has 15 House districts In the 118th Congress, 5 of Ohio's seats are held by Democrats and 10 are held by Republicans. There are as follows:

Ohio's two United States Senators are Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican J. D. Vance, serving since 2007 and 2023, respectively.

Ohio is part of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the Cincinnati-based United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Ohio". US Election Atlas. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
  2. ^ No longer mirror of US, Ohio's electoral bellwether quiets Associated Press. November 14, 2020.
  3. ^ Political Scientist Says Ohio Is No Longer A Bellwether, Swing, Or Battleground State Statehouse News Bureau. November 5, 2020.
  4. ^ Coffey, Daniel J., John C. Green, David B. Cohen and Stephen C. Brooks. 2011. Buckeye Battleground: Ohio, Campaigns and Elections in the Twenty-First Century. Akron, OH: University of Akron Press

External links[edit]

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