Toledo, Ohio

Ohio voters cast ballots Tuesday in a general election featuring a closely watched governor's race between Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, succeeding term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine, with Libertarian Don Kissick also running. The U.S. Senate contest pits Republican incumbent Jon Husted against Democrat Sherrod Brown, with Libertarian Bill Redpath and independent Greg Levy also on the ballot, alongside House races including Marcy Kaptur versus Derek Merrin and Max Miller versus Brian Poindexter. Also decided: two Ohio Supreme Court seats (Jennifer Brunner vs. Colleen O'Donnell and Dan Hawkins vs. Marilyn Zayas), races for attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, and treasurer, all other statewide executive offices, the full state legislature, and Issue 3, a measure to enshrine the state's voter ID law in the constitution.

Polls ran 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; mail ballots had to arrive by close of polls to count. Early and absentee voting topped 1.73 million ballots statewide ahead of Election Day, up from about 1.47 million in 2022. If both Democratic Supreme Court incumbents lose, Republicans would hold a 7-0 majority on the court. Voters approved Issue 3 by a roughly 65%-to-35% margin, adding a photo ID requirement to the Ohio Constitution; accepted IDs include an unexpired Ohio driver's license or state ID, a U.S. passport, or military and veterans ID, with an alternative verification option for voters with religious objections to being photographed. The measure was backed by President Trump, state GOP leaders, and both major gubernatorial candidates, while the ACLU of Ohio and legislative Democrats opposed it.

Democrat Amy Acton defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio's governor's race, becoming the state's first woman governor and the first Democrat elected to the office in 20 years. The Associated Press called the contest for Acton and running mate David Pepper on election night, with final results showing Acton winning roughly 52% of the vote to Ramaswamy's 44%, a margin of more than 364,000 votes. The race drew record spending and turned contentious late when Ramaswamy aired an ad featuring Acton's estranged mother, drawing bipartisan criticism, including from Republican Governor Mike DeWine. Ramaswamy conceded. Democrats also broke the GOP's veto-proof supermajority in the Ohio House, giving Acton more leverage with the legislature than expected.

Acton's win confirms what prediction markets had signaled for weeks, as she remained the heavy favorite for governor heading into Election Day.

Ohio voters choose a new secretary of state on Nov. 3, with Republican state Treasurer Robert Sprague, Democratic state Rep. Allison Russo, and Libertarian Tom Pruss on the ballot. The race has turned on two election-policy flashpoints: a proposed constitutional amendment (Issue 3) locking in photo ID requirements, which Sprague backs and Russo and Pruss oppose, and absentee ballot drop boxes, which Sprague wants eliminated while Russo and Pruss favor expanding. Sprague, the best-funded candidate, emphasizes election security and points to fraud cases in other states; Russo argues Ohio's drop boxes are already secure and accuses Republicans of suppressing access. A planned debate between Sprague and Russo never materialized.

Ohio adopted a statewide bridge-fencing policy in 1985 to deter objects being thrown or dropped onto roadways below, scoring bridges on risk factors and requiring fencing above a threshold. Implementation was slow: by the late 1980s, 461 bridges qualified, but only two fencing-specific contracts, covering 11 bridges, had been completed by 1990. That year, a concrete fragment killed Pietro Semadeni on a Cincinnati overpass that had qualified for fencing but hadn't received it, leading the Ohio Supreme Court to find ODOT negligent in 1996. By contrast, the court ruled this October that ODOT was not liable for Marquise Byrd's 2017 death on a Toledo bridge under reconstruction, since no policy required temporary fencing during that construction phase. ODOT's 2026 manual now addresses temporary fencing guidance.

In an Oct. 6 ruling, the Ohio Supreme Court found the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) was not liable for the 2017 death of Marquise Byrd, a passenger struck by a sandbag thrown from Toledo's Indiana Avenue bridge during reconstruction. Protective fencing had been removed on the side under construction, and the court held ODOT retained discretionary immunity because no policy specifically required temporary fencing during construction work.

The decision contrasts with a 1996 case, Semadeni v. ODOT, in which the court found ODOT negligent for delaying implementation of its 1985 statewide bridge-fencing policy after a motorist was killed by concrete dropped from a Cincinnati overpass in 1990. That policy required fencing on qualifying existing bridges but initially funded only a fraction of them.

Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented in the Toledo case, arguing ODOT's removal of existing fencing without replacement was a negligent policy failure similar to Semadeni, not a protected discretionary choice. The appellate court had earlier ruled against ODOT before the Supreme Court reversed that decision.

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.

Ohio voters will choose a new secretary of state on Nov. 3, picking among Republican Robert Sprague, the state's treasurer for the past eight years; Democratic state Rep. Allison Russo, former Ohio House minority leader; and Libertarian entrepreneur Tom Pruss. The office oversees the state's 88 county boards of elections, certifies results, runs the Ohio Ballot Board, investigates election fraud claims and maintains voter rolls, giving the winner significant influence over election administration and reform.

The race has sharpened around Issue 3, a ballot measure to enshrine Ohio's voter ID law in the state constitution. Sprague supports it and wants photo ID requirements extended to absentee voters, calling drop boxes unnecessary and a security risk. Russo opposes Issue 3 as a turnout tactic, says fraud is rare, and backs expanding drop boxes and voter registration efforts. Pruss also opposes Issue 3, supports drop boxes, and is campaigning chiefly to make ballot access easier for minor parties like his own.

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.