Ohio's primary election is a little less than three months away, and Republicans and Democrats will have to decide who will advance for a couple of the state's top offices in the November election.
The Ohio Secretary of State's office released the names of candidates that filed to run for state office races this week and two of the most highly contested races are for U.S. Senate and for Ohio Governor.
When Senator Rob Portman announced that he was not going to run for another term that opened the floodgates on people looking to replace him in Washington. On the Republican side there are eight candidates that have filed to be on the May 3rd ballot. They include Matt Dolan, Mike Gibbons, Bill Graham, Josh Mandel, Neil Patel, Mark Pukita, Jane Timken, and J.D. Vance. For the Democrats Morgan Harper, Traci Johnson, Tim Ryan, and LaShondra Tinsley all have filed to run.
As for the Ohio Governor's race, there are three republicans that have filed to challenge Governor Mike DeWine for his seat, they include Joe Blystone, Ron Hood and Jim Renacci and two former mayors could be facing off in May for the Democrat side with John Cranley and Nan Whaley.
The board of elections will have to verify the signatures on each of the candidate's petitions to see if they can get placed on the May 3rd ballot. That should happen over the next week or two.
Media Release from Ohio Secretary of State's Office
This week, the Ohio Secretary of State's office released the list of statewide candidates who met the February 2nd filing deadline to run in the 2022 primary election.
The candidate filings -- petitions requiring the signatures of a prescribed number of registered voters -- will now be sent to the county boards of elections for signature verification. If a candidate's filing meets the statutory requirements, the candidate will then be certified to be placed on the May 3rd primary election ballot. A directive from the Secretary of State will soon be sent to the county boards informing them of their deadline to verify the petition signatures.
Ohio Senate and House candidates do not file with the Secretary of State, but instead filed with the board of elections in the most populous county in the contested district.
The following candidates filed petitions with the Secretary of State's office by the filing deadline:
U.S. Senate
- Republican: Matt Dolan, Mike Gibbons, Bill Graham, Josh Mandel, Neil Patel, Mark Pukita, Jane Timken, J.D. Vance
- Democrat: Morgan Harper, Traci Johnson, Tim Ryan, LaShondra Tinsley
Ohio Governor
- Republican: Joe Blystone, Mike DeWine, Ron Hood, Jim Renacci
- Democrat: John Cranley, Nan Whaley
Ohio Attorney General
- Republican: Dave Yost
- Democrat: Jeff Crossman
Ohio Auditor
- Republican: Keith Faber
- Democrat: Taylor Sappington
Ohio Secretary of State
- Republican: John Adams, Frank LaRose, Terpsehore Maras
- Democrat: Chelsea Clark
Ohio Treasurer
- Republican: Robert Sprague
- Democrat: Scott Schertzer
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice
- Republican: Sharon Kennedy
- Democrat: Jennifer Brunner
Ohio Supreme Court Justice
- Republican: Pat DeWine, Pat Fischer
- Democrat: Terri Jamison, Marilyn Zayas
