Following Election Day, Ohio has voted out multiple Republican incumbents for Democrats with a majority of Democratic votes coming from urban counties with big cities within them. The Ohio victories were part of broader Democratic wins nationwide, with the party gaining control of the U.S. Senate and House.
The Associated Press reported that Dr. Amy Acton, who lives in Bexley near the university, won the Ohio gubernatorial race with approximately 52% of the vote, becoming the first woman elected governor of Ohio. Acton wrapped up her campaign during Election Day by voting at the university’s polling location.
Franklin County, where the university is located, had the largest turnout of Democratic voters in the state with more than 505,844 votes.
“The energy of folks: there’s actual joy and hope out here and watching people with one another … it’s a great, uplifting feeling,” said Acton, just outside of the Student Union. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, so we’re gonna need that energy, because I’m going to be asking more of everybody as we move forward.”
Acton is expected to take office on Jan. 11 of next year.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who was running against Acton, called her to congratulate her on the victory: “We’re rooting for the success of this state … and that means that all of us in this room should be rooting for the success of her administration,” Ramaswamy said.
Republican incumbent Jon Husted was also beaten by Democrat Sherrod Brown. Similar to the gubernatorial race, the most Democratic votes came from counties with cities such as Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo within them.
“Ohio is not giving up on the dream of this country,” said Brown after declaring victory Tuesday night. “Tomorrow, the work begins.”
During a concession speech given Tuesday night, Jon Husted said, “We ran a great campaign. We gave it all we could … I have hope for our future, and you should too.”
With Ohio having only 15 districts this year, the Democrats also lead in House seats eight to seven, gaining three while Republicans lost three.
Joyce Beatty, the incumbent Democratic candidate for Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District, where Bexley and the university are located, won the race against Republican Cleophus Dulaney by more than 150,000 votes.
Democrat Allison Russo also won the secretary of state election against Robert Sprague, again, with the largest voter turnout being in the aforementioned urban cities.
Democrat John J. Kulewicz narrowly won against Keith Faber in the attorney general election. This is the first time since 2009 that a Democrat has been elected to the position in Ohio.
Ohioans also voted yes to Ohio Issue 3, an amendment to Ohio’s constitution that requires government-issued photo identification to vote in-person. The only major city to vote against this win was Cleveland.
In Franklin County, according to the Board of Elections, nearly 179,922 people voted out of the 885,474 that were registered — a 20.32% voter turnout. 123,242 of those voted Democrat, while 50,978 voted Republican and approximately 5,000 voted for other parties.
