An overlooked but very consequential series of races, the battle for seats in Ohio’s General Assembly has serious repercussions for everything from local municipal budgets to education funding to gun control efforts. That said, you’ll likely see few surprises in local Ohio General Assembly districts, which are mostly safely Democrat or Republican. Here’s a rundown of who is running in the ones that represent Cincinnati and parts nearby:
Ohio State Senator Cecil Thomas, a Democrat, looks to fend off a challenge from Republican Tom Chandler. Thomas served eight years on Cincinnati City Council, a quarter century as a Cincinnati Police officer and five years as the executive director of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission. He’s been a strong supporter of tighter gun laws in the state, including introducing legislation supporting universal background checks and a statewide registry for firearms. Thomas has also been active in issues around police-community relations and other progressive causes.
Chandler spent four decades working for UC Health and is now retired. He favors looser restrictions on guns than Thomas and says better mental health services are the key to reducing gun violence. He self-describes as a fiscal conservative.
Ohio’s 27th State House District is represented by Republican Tom Brinkman Jr., a Mount Lookout resident. Brinkman is staunchly conservative and has taken a number of far-right stances over the years, including a recent bill that would require teachers to report students who might be transgender to their parents. Democrat Christine Fisher, a finance manager at Procter & Gamble, is challenging Brinkman for his district, which includes a number of conservative areas east of Cincinnati. Fisher wants to reform the way the state funds education, protect reproductive rights for women and increase funding to local governments given by the state.
In Ohio’s 29th District, Republican incumbent Louis Blessing, III faces Democrat challenger Carrie Davis. Blessing, a Colerain Township resident and engineer by trade, first gained his seat in 2012. He touts tax cuts he voted for in the state House as well as his pro-life and pro-Second Amendment stances. Davis, a Democrat, is the founder and director of a child advocacy nonprofit. She’s running on a platform advocating for greater transparency, reforms to Ohio’s ethics rules and enforcement for lawmakers, and tax reforms that favor working-class families.
In Ohio’s 30th State House District, Democrat Clayton Adams, a high school educator, has posed a serious but long-shot challenge to longtime Republican lawmaker State Rep. Bill Seitz, who switched over to the House after he was term-limited out of the State Senate.
As a teacher, Adams has focused on educational issues, including opposition to the state’s controversial charter schools. He’s also run on increasing regulations on firearms as a means of reducing gun violence, including universal background checks and mandatory licensing and training for gun owners.
Seitz, a self-described “pragmatic conservative,” has been under some scrutiny of late for comments he made about a fellow female Republican lawmaker during a going-away party for a legislative staffer. Seitz says his comments were meant in jest, and he has since apologized.
In Ohio’s 31st House District, Democrat incumbent Brigid Kelly, a former union communications director, faces no challengers. In the state’s 32nd House District, Democrat Catherine Ingram, the incumbent, faces Republican Marilyn Tunnat, a retired teacher.
In Ohio’s 33rd House District, Democrat Sedrick Denson and Republican Judith Boyce will battle it out for State Rep. Alicia Reece’s seat as she leaves due to term limits. Denson supports restoring state money for local government funds, which state lawmakers have cut by $1.2 billion since 2010. He also supports universal background checks for gun ownership.
Boyce, a retired city clerk and conservative, wants to lower taxes. She opposes Issue 1, the ballot initiative creating sentencing reform for drug possession.
This article appears in Oct 24-31, 2018.
