Half of the Senate and all 99 House seats were on the ballot in the 2024 General Election. The 136th session of the General Assembly will start in January when members will be sworn in for their new terms. 

While Ohio Republicans dominated the races at the top of the ticket, Democrats gained two seats in each state legislative chamber.

House Republicans will keep their supermajority with 65 seats to the Democrats' 34 seats. Democrats picked up one seat in Franklin County with Grove City Council member Mark Sigrist winning an open seat in the southern portion of the county and flipped another seat in the Toledo area where Erika White beat Republican Josiah Leinbach (the seat currently held by Derrick Merrin). 

There will be 25 new faces in the House with 14 new Republicans and 11 new Democrats. Two familiar faces will also be seated—Senator Matt Huffman (R-Lima) is moving from the Senate to the House and former State Representative Mike Dovilla (R-Berea) is returning. 

Republicans also maintained control of the Ohio Senate, securing a 24-9 majority. The Democrats flipped two seats including Representative Willis Blackshear’s win in Dayton’s 6th District, and Representative Beth Liston’s win in Franklin County. 

Five current Representatives will be moving to the upper chamber in January and Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield), a former state representative, will return to the Statehouse representing the 10th District.

Lame Duck Session Ahead

Lame duck. You might have heard this term come up in the last several weeks. What is it? What will we be working on?

In Ohio, state legislative sessions last two years. This current session ends on December 31. Lame duck is a term used to describe the approximately six-week period between Election Day and the start of the new legislative session in January of the following year. During this time when most Ohioans are planning for the holidays and taking time off, the Ohio General Assembly gears up. Lame duck is the last opportunity for lawmakers to pass legislation before the session ends. Any bill that is not approved “dies” and must be reintroduced next term.

OPLC’s highest priority for the remaining session days is to finish our work on Senate Bill 37—legislation that limits driver’s license suspensions to violations that involve unsafe driving. SB 37 passed the Senate in June. For more information about the issue and the SB 37 visit our Return to the Road campaign page.

Ohio’s Child Poverty Rate Was 17.7 Percent in 2022, According to New Report

Ohio’s poverty rate was 13.4 percent in 2022 and the state’s child poverty rate was 17.7 percent, according to the latest State of Poverty Report from the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

While the state’s overall poverty rate is the same as last year’s report for 2021, this is slightly higher than the national poverty rate of 12.6 percent. 

Nearly a fifth of Ohio children under six were living in poverty in 2022, according to the report. About 18 percent of Ohio children ages 6 to 11 were living in poverty and 15.9 percent of Ohio children ages 12 to 17 were living in poverty. 

This year’s report focused on poverty’s effect on children—particularly when it comes to housing, food insecurity, and health care. 

Housing. Almost a fourth of Ohio children (23 percent) live in cost-burdened households, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Slightly more than half of Ohio children (53 percent) living in low-income households are cost-burdened, which puts them at a higher risk of dealing with housing insecurity. There are only 79 affordable and available units per 100 renter households for people who are at or below 50 percent area median income.

Food insecurity. The overall food insecurity rate for Ohio is 11.8 percent and the food insecurity rate for Ohio children is 14.8 percent, according to the state of poverty report. The pandemic-era expansion of SNAP benefits ended in February 2023—meaning about 1.5 million Ohioans are receiving less money for food, according to the report. On top of that, there are nearly 300 fewer WIC-authorized vendors in Ohio than there were in 2015. 

Van Wert County has no WIC vendors at all. Cuyahoga County has 42 fewer WIC vendors and Franklin County has 30 fewer WIC vendors compared to 2015. 

Healthcare. More than 86,000 Ohio children were unenrolled in Medicaid programs between March and September 2023. 4.6 percent of Ohio children are uninsured. 

Ohio has a high infant mortality rate. The state’s overall infant mortality rate was 7.0 in 2021 and 14.2 for Black babies, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Infant mortality rate among Medicaid births (9.4) was nearly twice private insurance births (4.8), according to the poverty report. 

Ohio has 13 maternity care desert counties, meaning there is limited or no access to maternity health care services. There have been 28 closures of providers of labor and delivery services since 2014, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. 

Other key data points from the report:

• Scioto County in Southern Ohio had the highest overall poverty rate with 21.8 percent and the highest family poverty rate with 18.3 percent
• For highest overall poverty rate, next was Athens County (21.6 percent), then Vinton County (20.9 percent) and Gallia County (20 percent). 
• Cuyahoga County’s overall poverty rate was 16.6 percent, Hamilton County’s was 15.6 percent and Franklin County’s was 15.1 percent.
• When it came to the highest family poverty rate, Pike County had 16.6 percent, Adams County had 14.8 percent and Lawrence had 14.2 percent. 
• Black Ohioans have the highest poverty rate at 25.9 percent, followed by Hispanic/Latinos at 22 percent. 

Excerpts from an article by Megan Henry reported in the Ohio Capital Journal.