Ohio’s 13th District House Race: Who Will Win

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik and city council have condemned an assault on a police officer who was injured while responding to a burglary call. The incident occurred Monday when officers were dispatched to a vacant building on Copley Road. An officer spotted Leotis Daggett, 56, leaving the building and attempted to stop him; police say Daggett assaulted her during a struggle and tried to take her firearm. The officer was treated at Cleveland Clinic Akron General and released. Daggett was found with crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia, and faces charges including aggravated robbery, assault on a peace officer, drug possession, obstructing official business and resisting arrest. He remains held in Summit County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Mayor Malik and Police Chief Brian Harding cited a 76% rise in assaults on Akron officers in 2026, part of a broader national trend—FBI data show 90,178 officers assaulted nationwide in 2025, the highest rate in a decade. City officials pledged continued prosecution of such attacks.
Akron leaders condemn assault on a police officer during a burglary arrest amid rising attacks on law enforcement.

Democrat Sherrod Brown released a viral 30-second ad attacking Republican Sen. Jon Husted over remarks Husted made in March about people living in poverty. The ad features Ohio residents reacting with shock and profanity as they watch a clip of Husted saying poor people are "not very experienced at navigating the real world" and describing a young woman on food stamps who he said didn't "understand how money works at a grocery store," adding that "you literally have to teach people how to budget." It drew over 350,000 views within hours, praised by Brown supporters as exposing Husted as out of touch while drawing backlash from the right.

The ad comes as two new polls, from Suffolk University/USA Today and Marist, show Brown leading Husted by three and eight points respectively ahead of Ohio's Nov. 3 special Senate election to finish JD Vance's term. Both surveys found broad dissatisfaction with President Trump's job performance and economic concerns weighing on voters, continuing a months-long trend of polling favoring Brown, a former longtime senator ousted in 2024.

Ohio's next governor inherits a healthcare crisis affecting much of the state's nearly 12 million residents. Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans face the potential loss of Medicaid coverage, rural hospitals risk closure due to federal Medicaid cuts, and many residents already struggle to afford care even when their coverage isn't threatened.

Democrat Amy Acton and Libertarian Don Kissick responded to questions about how they would address these issues if elected governor; Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign did not respond to inquiries. The healthcare questions add a significant policy dimension to the gubernatorial race, with rural hospital viability and Medicaid access emerging as key issues facing whoever wins.

The healthcare debate unfolds alongside other Ohio political developments, including competitive congressional races, data-center policy tensions dividing labor unions backing Sen. Sherrod Brown, and continued scrutiny of the East Palestine derailment cleanup, where a former contractor employee has alleged pressure to underreport contamination readings.

With Election Day a week away, Illinois Democrats are campaigning beyond state lines to aid party allies nationally. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi backed Texas Railroad Commissioner candidate Jon Rosenthal; Sen. Tammy Duckworth campaigned for Sherrod Brown in Ohio; Rahm Emanuel canvassed in New Hampshire; and Rep. Danny Davis and successor nominee La Shawn Ford campaigned for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate David Crowley. Gov. JB Pritzker is focused on his own reelection, holding a large cash advantage and backing fellow Democrats financially.

Big money is also flowing into Illinois races, including Chicago school board contests, with GOP megadonors Dick and Elizabeth Uihlein and wealthy Democratic-aligned groups both spending heavily to shape outcomes from Springfield to Chicago.

Ohio's first day of in-person early voting saw turnout jump sharply compared with the 2022 midterms, even as absentee ballot requests have fallen well below both 2022 and 2018 levels. Statewide, 42,868 votes were cast on the first day, with in-person early voting up 138% across 77 counties tracked by The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com. Cuyahoga County saw a 249% increase and Hamilton County a 175% increase, with similar surges in smaller counties. Meanwhile, absentee ballot requests are down about 18% from 2022 and 14% from 2018, a decline seen in both Republican- and Democratic-leaning areas.

Political scientists attribute much of the shift to President Trump's efforts to restrict mail voting, which may be pushing Democrats toward in-person voting out of concern their ballots won't count, while also discouraging some Republicans who have heard Trump's criticism of mail balloting. Ohio's competitive U.S. Senate race between Jon Husted and Sherrod Brown, and governor's race between Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton, are also driving interest. Analysts caution it's too early to draw firm conclusions about November's outcome from early turnout data alone.

Haywood County, North Carolina voters choose a new sheriff on Nov. 3, with Democrat Tyler Howell facing Republican Mark Mease after both won March primaries; Mease ousted incumbent Sheriff Bill Wilke in the GOP contest. Howell rose from police dispatcher to patrol officer and has spent years in community policing with the Waynesville Police Department. Mease built his career at the Haywood County Sheriff's Office, from narcotics investigator to captain, before joining Cherokee Tribal Police.

Both candidates emphasize rebuilding community trust, improving rural deputy presence, and addressing mental health and addiction in sentencing. They differ slightly on Flock surveillance cameras, with both backing the tool but citing privacy and oversight concerns. Early voting ended Oct. 31.

Bath Township, Ohio voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to renew and increase a property tax levy funding road and bridge maintenance. The measure would raise the existing 2-mill levy to 3.4 mills, generating an estimated $2.3 million annually for streets, roads and bridges. If approved, the levy would cost about $94 per year for every $100,000 of a property's market value, running for five years starting in 2027 with first collections in 2028.

The vote comes amid a separate statewide push, Ax OH Tax, to eliminate property taxes in Ohio; organizers recently shifted their target to the 2027 ballot after falling short on signatures for 2026. Local officials, including Bath Township Trustee Sharon Troike, warn that scrapping property taxes without a replacement funding source could jeopardize schools, police, fire and EMS services, noting more than 90% of township revenue relies on property taxes. Early voting begins Oct. 6, with registration closing Oct. 5 and absentee applications due Oct. 27.

Englewood, Colorado Mayor Pro Tem Joe Anderson died Friday morning while hiking in Summit County, city officials announced. Anderson was first elected to the city council in November 2019 as the District 3 representative, was reelected in 2023, and was chosen by fellow council members that December to serve as mayor pro tem.

Mayor Othoniel Sierra called Anderson's death a "tremendous loss" for the city, praising his work as a council member, pastor and neighbor. Before joining the council, Anderson helped found the nonprofit coalition Change the Trend, which advocated for people experiencing homelessness and helped lay the groundwork for the Tri-Cities Homelessness Policy Committee. He also led the community's Neighborhood Rehab Project, assisting seniors and disabled residents with home repairs. On the council, he focused on homelessness solutions, affordable housing, infrastructure, economic development and bicycle-pedestrian safety.

Ohio's 2026 governor's race is shaping up as a pivotal contest over abortion policy, with Democrat Amy Acton, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and independent Don Kissick offering sharply different approaches to reproductive rights, an issue the next governor will have substantial power to shape. Elsewhere in Ohio politics, state Rep. Allison Russo and Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague are negotiating terms for a debate after clashing over 2020 election fraud claims, and a new analysis pushes back on claims by Sen. Jon Husted that coal plant closures during Sherrod Brown's tenure drove up electric bills, pointing instead to rising demand from data centers.

In congressional races, Rep. Dave Joyce faces Democrat Maria Jukic in the 14th District, while Rep. Marcy Kaptur has resumed campaigning after a car crash injury, ahead of a rematch with Derek Merrin in a redrawn, more Republican-leaning 9th District. Separately, the Ohio Supreme Court blocked a Wilmington data-center ordinance from the November ballot, and Ashland County Fair officials settled a free-speech lawsuit over ejected anti-Trump vendors.