Ohio Primary Election Results
U.S. Senate
Republican Bernie Moreno survived a bruising campaign and earned the right to face incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown in the November election for U.S. Senate.
Polling in the final days of the campaign indicated it would be a tight race between Moreno and State Senator Matt Dolan. But it appears as though former president Donald Trump’s visit to Ohio the Saturday before the primary gave Moreno the boost he needed to pull away and easily defeat the other two candidates.
Dolan finished second as most of the polling predicted, with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose finishing a distant third.
Ohio Supreme Court
In another statewide race, Judge Lisa Forbes of the Eighth District Court of Appeals easily defeated Judge Terri Jamison of the Tenth District Court of Appeals to win the Democratic nomination for the Ohio Supreme Court race in November. She will face Republican Judge Dan Hawkins.
Congressional Races
All incumbents won the right to defend their seats in November. Six of the districts featured primaries.
2nd District: Businessman David Taylor captured 25% of the vote in the Republican primary to beat out 10 other candidates seeking to replace Congressman Brad Wenstrup who is retiring at the end of the year. Taylor defeated two current members of the Ohio legislature, Senator Niraj Antani and Representative Shane Wilkin. Taylor will face Democrat Samantha Meadows in November.
4th District: Democrat Tamie Wilson will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan after defeating her primary opponent, Steve Thomas.
6th District: Republican State Senator Michael Rulli will face Democrat Michael Kripchak in both the special election June 11 and the November general election to fill the seat vacated by Congressman Bill Johnson who resigned to become President of Youngstown State University.
9th District: Republican State Representative Derrick Merrin defeated former State Representative Craig Riedel and former Napoleon Mayor Steve Lankenau and will face incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur in November.
13th District: Former Republican State Senator Kevin Coughlin defeated two others to earn the right to challenge incumbent Democrat Emilia Sykes in November.
15th District: Democrat State Representative Adam Miller won the primary and will face Incumbent Republican Mike Carey in November.
Ohio Legislature
While the U.S. Senate race was the marquee statewide race, contested races for the Ohio House of Representatives garnered the most attention from Statehouse observers.
The fracture in the House Republican majority that occurred over the election of Jason Stephens as Speaker in January 2023, was front and center in the primary, as 12 incumbents faced opposition due to their support of Stephens.
The four Republican incumbents who lost their primaries are:
- Jon Cross (Findlay), a member of leadership who lost to Ty Mathews;
- Gail Pavliga (Atwater), who lost to Heidi Workman;
- Brett Hillyer (Uhrichsville), who lost to Jodi Salvo;
- Sarah Carruthers (Hamilton), who lost to Diane Mullins.
Democrat Eliot Forhan (South Euclid) was the lone Democrat incumbent to lose a primary. He was defeated by Eric Synenberg.
Other incumbent Republican Representatives who supported Stephens and/or received financial support from Ohio House Republican Alliance, which is the campaign fund that Stephens controls, who won their contested primaries are:
- Cindy Abrams (Harrison);
- Haraz Ghanbari (Perrysburg);
- Don Jones (Freeport);
- Jeff LaRe (Canal Winchester);
- Kevin Miller (Newark);
- Tracy Richardson (Marysville);
- Jean Schmidt (Loveland);
- J. Swearingen (Huron);
- Thomas Hall (Middletown);
- Adam Mathews (Lebanon);
- Sharon Ray (Medina); and
- Justin Pizzulli (Franklin Furnace).
Two other House Republicans that opposed Stephens also won their primaries:
- Brian Stewart (Ashville); and
- Beth Lear (Galena).
Incumbent Democrat Representatives who won their primaries are:
- Ismail Mohamed (Columbus); and
- Dani Isaacsohn (Cincinnati).
In addition, both State Senators who faced primaries won:
- George Lang (West Chester); and
- Sandra O’Brien (Rome).
Winners in the contested open House seat races were:
- Meredith Lawson-Rowe (D) – 5th District
- Christine Cockley (D) – 6th District
- Mark Sigrist (D) – 10th District (race may require automatic recount)
- Brian Stewart (R) - 12th District
- Christ Glassburn (R) - 15th District
- Mike Dovilla (R) - 17th District
- John Stormer (R) - 32nd District
- Derrick Hall (D) 34th District
- Desiree Tims (D) - 38th District
- Kellie Deeter (R) - 54th District
- Michelle Teska (R) 55th District
- David Thomas (R) - 65th District
- Levi Dean (R) - 71st District
- Meredith Craig (R) 77th District
- Mark Hiner (R) 98th District
***We are still awaiting results from the 20th District because both incumbent Terrence Upchurch and challenger Donna Walker Brown are write-in candidates.
Primary winners in Ohio Senate races:
- Willis Blackshear (D) 6th District
- Kyle Koehler (R) 10th District
