Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District House Race 2026

Eric Conroy, the Republican candidate for Ohio's 1st Congressional District, said the Democratic Socialists of America are "on the rise" within the Democratic Party as he seeks to unseat incumbent Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH). Speaking on Breitbart News Daily, Conroy said the race hinges on voter turnout, citing a slight Republican registration advantage in the redrawn district and pointing to Ohio's gubernatorial and Senate races as potential turnout drivers.

Conroy criticized Landsman on immigration, transgender policy in youth sports and medicine, and tax policy, calling him a "wolf in sheep's clothing" who votes as a "radical leftist" in Washington despite presenting himself as a moderate Midwesterner at home. He also linked Landsman to Nancy Pelosi and criticized a past Cincinnati City Council vote related to police funding. Conroy, a 14-year veteran of the Air Force and CIA, framed the contest as a broader battle over American values in a district that was reliably Republican for decades before Landsman's two terms in office.

Early voting began Tuesday in Ohio, a state hosting some of the most competitive contests in the November 3 midterms, including a Senate special election and two House races rated toss-ups by the Cook Political Report. The results could help decide which party controls Congress for the next two years.

Republican Senator Jon Husted faces a challenge from Democrat Sherrod Brown, who previously held the seat for 18 years before losing it to Bernie Moreno. In the House, Republican Representative Max Miller is fighting for a third term in the 7th district amid domestic violence allegations he denies, challenged by Democrat Brian Poindexter. In the 9th district, longtime Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur faces a rematch against Republican Derek Merrin. Voters are weighing inflation, rising living costs and the ongoing US war with Iran against President Trump's record-low approval rating, with both parties watching Ohio for signs of whether disaffected voters are shifting allegiance ahead of the broader fight for House and Senate majorities.

Missouri's congressional redistricting fight has returned to the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time this month. Challengers of the Republican-drawn 2025 map, including the group People Not Politicians, asked the Court to block a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had ordered the new map's revival for November's election. The Supreme Court had twice blocked use of that map, most recently in an unsigned, unexplained order on September 10 with no public dissent, after Justice Brett Kavanaugh earlier rejected an appeal from Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and sided with the Missouri Supreme Court. Despite that, an 8th Circuit panel—including two Trump appointees—upheld a federal judge's temporary order requiring use of the 2025 map, since it had already governed the August 4 primary. The Supreme Court gave the map's supporters until midday Wednesday to respond.

The dispute follows a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that a referendum challenging the 2025 map was valid, keeping the 2022 map in place pending a statewide vote. The new map, backed by President Trump and designed to help Republicans flip Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based seat and win seven of Missouri's eight House seats, has left over a million voters uncertain which district they belong to. Absentee and overseas ballots are already going out under the 2022 map, as the case continues to be the most protracted and complex of this cycle's mid-decade redistricting battles nationwide.

Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy are courting rural Ohio voters ahead of the Nov. 3 governor's race to succeed term-limited Mike DeWine, with the Cook Political Report ranking the contest a toss-up. In Marietta, Acton proposed a three-year moratorium on new fracking injection wells over groundwater fears, winning praise from a local Republican official. Both candidates have also targeted data centers, with Ramaswamy pushing a plan requiring tech companies to cover residents' electricity bills, halt non-disclosure agreements, and build only on pre-zoned industrial land rather than farmland, while Acton wants data center projects to prove they can cover utility costs and use union labor before proceeding.

The race has grown notably hostile, including an incident in which an armed man charged toward Acton at a campaign stop, injuring bystanders. Acton has refused to debate Ramaswamy, accusing him of lying and attacking her family, though she remains open to forums. Early voting began Oct. 6, with polling showing Acton holding a narrow lead. Other close Ohio contests include U.S. House races in the 7th and 9th districts.

Republicans have spent heavily — about $19 million through mid-October — on ads in competitive Ohio races promoting the tax law dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill," the largest such ad push of any state this cycle. The pitch aims to boost vulnerable GOP candidates, including Sen. Jon Husted, who faces Democrat Sherrod Brown in a tight Senate race, by highlighting tax cuts on tips, overtime, and Social Security. But polling shows the message struggling against voter frustration over tariffs, inflation, and gas prices; a New York Times/Siena poll found 79 percent of likely Ohio voters disapprove of President Trump's handling of gas prices, complicating Republicans' efforts in a once reliably red state.

Barack Obama rallied Democrats in Cleveland, campaigning with Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton days before the midterms. He condemned Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring Acton's estranged mother, which attacks her over childhood abuse and homelessness, calling it a sign of declining political decency. Trump and JD Vance have defended the ad despite criticism from Ohio Republicans including Gov. Mike DeWine. Obama also faulted Trump for rising costs and White House renovations. He later campaigned in Detroit for Abdul El-Sayed against Mike Rogers, with Michigan's governor, attorney general, and secretary of state races also on the ballot. Obama is next slated to campaign in Georgia for Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Ohio's Senate race between Republican incumbent Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown has become a bellwether contest as both parties battle for control of the chamber. Husted, appointed to fill JD Vance's seat, faces backlash over his past promotion of tax breaks that brought more than 200 data centers to Ohio, including one under construction in Pike County expected to be the world's largest. Ohio's projected sales tax giveaway to data centers ballooned from an estimated $136 million to more than $1.5 billion, fueling voter anger over electricity costs, water use, and air quality. Husted notes the incentives originated in 2011 and expanded under Gov. John Kasich, before his time in statewide economic development roles, and he has since backed pausing the tax breaks and co-sponsored legislation making data center operators help cover grid costs.

Brown, who lost his Senate seat in 2024, is courting working-class voters in areas like the Mahoning Valley that have drifted toward Trump. Both candidates now say data centers should cover their own power and infrastructure costs and that local communities should have final say on new projects, though Brown wants residents given more information before approvals, while neither favors halting data center growth outright. Both campaigns have combined for well over $150 million in ad spending, with outside groups like Elon Musk's America PAC adding pressure to a race seen as pivotal to Senate control.

Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown sparred over top voter concerns ahead of Ohio's Nov. 3 U.S. Senate election, with inflation, crime and immigration dominating the debate.

Brown blamed rising prices on an unfair economic "system," linking costs to ongoing war spending and tariffs, and pledged to end the war, roll back tariffs and restore an expanded child tax credit if reelected. Husted argued prices will fall only by boosting domestic energy and farm supply, calling for more drilling, pipelines, refineries and power plants to lower input costs.

On crime and immigration, Husted accused Brown and local leaders, including those in Cincinnati, of supporting sanctuary policies and failing to enforce border security, pointing to Ohio's high rate of repeat violent offenders. Brown countered that he supports deporting criminals, enforcing sentencing laws and tightening gun access for people with mental health issues.

The race is among the most closely watched Senate contests nationally, with control of the chamber potentially hinging on the outcome.

Ohio legislative leaders are scrambling to reconvene lawmakers next week to vote on a proposal from Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy to suspend the state's gas and diesel taxes for 90 days amid surging fuel prices. House Speaker Matt Huffman and Senate President Rob McColley, Ramaswamy's running mate, said their chambers plan to return around Sept. 30, though the effort to secure enough votes and lawmaker attendance was still in flux. The plan, unveiled Monday, would suspend Ohio's 38.5-cents-per-gallon gas tax and 47-cents-per-gallon diesel tax, at a cost of roughly $640 million covered by ODOT reserves, the general fund, and potentially the state's rainy-day fund.

Passing it with immediate effect requires a two-thirds "emergency clause" vote, meaning some Democratic support is needed in the House. Gov. Mike DeWine, who previously blocked a similar moratorium, has not committed to signing it. Critics have called the timing—weeks before the Nov. 3 election, with Ramaswamy facing a competitive race against Amy Acton—politically motivated.

Ohio's Nov. 3 ballot features a high-profile governor's race between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton, Ohio's former pandemic-era health director, in a contest that could end two decades of GOP control. Republican Sen. Jon Husted faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown in a toss-up race with national implications for Senate control. Voters will also decide Issue 3, which would enshrine Ohio's photo ID voting requirement in the state constitution, plus races for attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and state supreme court seats.

Locally, Columbus voters weigh two competing city charter amendments (Issues 8 and 9) that would reshape how City Council members are elected, while Franklin County-area communities decide school levies, bond issues and charter changes.