AP News Guide: Presidential, US House races top Ohio ballot

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — After a surge in early in-person and absentee voting, final 2020 ballots have been cast in Ohio, a state initially all but written off by Democrat Joe Biden in his race to unseat Republican President Donald Trump that now appears to be a toss-up.

Enthusiasm among voters is high. A record 3.4 million people took advantage of early and mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic, up from 1.89 million absentee ballots cast in Ohio for the 2016 general election. Poll worker recruitment efforts also hit a record.

PRESIDENT

Trump easily won Ohio in 2016 with notable support from blue-collar manufacturing and mining communities disenchanted with his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and buoyed by the Republican’s promises that he would bring back jobs to hard-hit communities.

Biden saw the gap as overly daunting early on, but saw an opening in the closing months driven largely by Trump’s softening support among college-educated suburban women. The campaign responded with a summer ad blitz and string of in-person campaign appearances.

HOUSE DISTRICT 1

Democrat Kate Schroder, a public health professional in Cincinnati, is in a tight race with 12-term Rep. Steve Chabot, also of Cincinnati, in a district that includes Republican-friendly Warren County. That county was added to Chabot’s district in the new map for 2012 after he was unseated in 2008 during Democrat Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. Chabot, a longtime conservative, won his seat back in 2010.

Chabot has tried to portray Schroder as too liberal for the district, while she has focused on health care issues.

HOUSE DISTRICT 10

Republican Rep. Mike Turner won his 10th U.S. House term, defeating a first-time Democratic candidate in his first close race since being elected in 2002.

Turner, the former Dayton mayor, had bested all previous opponents to 2020 challenger Desiree Tims by double-digit percentage margins.

The Black woman from Dayton has been an activist on conservation and served as an aide in the U.S. Senate and White House. The 50-year-old Tims was better-funded than most previous Democratic challengers and called climate change a top-priority issue.

Turner, 60 and white, is considered a center-right Republican. He’s made military matters a congressional priority.

HOUSE DISTRICT 12

Rep. Troy Balderson, who narrowly won back-to-back special and general elections in 2018, faces Democratic newcomer Alaina Shearer, a former journalist from Delaware who runs a digital media company.

Shearer has taken on the steady flow of misinformation confronted by voters of the 12th District and sought to link Balderson to Trump, who had endorsed and campaigned for him in the past.

Balderson, a former state lawmaker and small business owner, has struck a centrist tone, focusing on his efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic and his bipartisan efforts to boost STEM education and broadband internet access.

HOUSE DISTRICT 14

Four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce was reelected after facing a spirited challenge from Democrat Hillary O’Connor Mueri, a first-time candidate.

Joyce, 63, of Chagrin Falls, has represented Ohio’s 14th Congressional District east of Cleveland since 2013. He won each of his first four races handily, but the district had been trending Democrats’ way and buoying their hopes of capturing the seat.

Mueri, 42, a lawyer and former naval flight officer from Painesville, advanced pro-union, pro-abortion rights positions and criticized Joyce as representing special interests and corporations over constituents back home.

Joyce, a former Geauga County prosecutor, won support in the politically divided district for being willing to negotiate with, and at times stand up to, Republican President Donald Trump, including on behalf of the health of Lake Erie.

OTHER HOUSE RACES

Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who served in the Iraq war as an Army combat surgeon, won his fifth term from southern Ohio’s 2nd District. He defeated Democratic teacher Jaime Castle.

Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty won her 4th term from the Columbus area’s 3rd District in Ohio, defeating Republican Mark Richardson, a U.S. navy veteran.

Republican Rep, Jim Jordan, a fiery conservative supporter of President Donald Trump in Washington, won an eighth term from northwestern Ohio’s 4th District, defeating Democrat Shannon Freshour.

Republican Rep. Bob Latta, a reliable GOP vote in Washington, won an eighth term from northwest Ohio’s 5th District, defeating Democrat Nick Rubando.

Republican Rep. Bill Johnson won his 6th term from eastern Ohio’s sprawling 6th District, defeating Democrat Shawna Roberts.

Republican Rep. Bob Gibbs won his 6th term from north-central Ohio’s 7th District, defeating Democrat Quentin Potter.

Republican Rep. Warren Davidson was reelected from western Ohio’s 8th district, which he first won in a 2016 special election for the seat being vacated by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner. The Army veteran defeated Democrat Vanessa Enoch in a rematch of 2018, when he won with 67 % of the vote.

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman ever in the U.S House captured her 19th term, defeating Republican Rob Weber in northern Ohio’s 9th District. Kaptur, of the Toledo area, was drawn into a heavily Democratic district dubbed “the Snake by the Lake” during GOP-dominated redistricting that took effect in 2012.

Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge was elected to her sixth term for northeast Ohio’s 11th District, defeating Republican Laverne Gore. Fudge was drawn into heavily Democratic district in GOP-dominated redistricting that took effect in the 2012 elections and has been getting 80% of the vote every two years.

Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who made a short-lived run for the Democratic presidential nomination, was elected to his fifth term from northeast Ohio’s 13th district. He defeated Republican Christina Hagan in the working-class area he had consistently won with more than 60% of the vote.

Republican Rep. Steve Stivers won election to his 6th term from central Ohio’s 15th District, defeating Democrat Joel Newby.

Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a former Ohio State University and professional football player, won reelection from northeast Ohio’s 16th District, defeating Democrat Aaron Godfrey. Gonzalez won the seat in 2018 after Republican incumbent Jim Renacci pursued statewide office.

STATE SUPREME COURT

Democratic challengers are hoping to upend Republicans’ majority on the Ohio Supreme Court in a pair of races on Tuesday.

The contests feature familiar debates over the role justices should play in interpreting state law. A coalition of major business groups has endorsed the two Republican candidates as the best choices for maintaining a predictable business environment. Democrats criticize those same justices for a 2016 ruling that limited non-economic damages in child rape cases.

One race features Democratic challenger Jennifer Brunner and incumbent GOP Justice Judi French. In a second race, incumbent Republican Justice Sharon Kennedy faces Democratic challenger John O’Donnell.

OHIO LEGISLATURE

Majority Republicans are defending supermajorities in both chambers of Ohio’s Legislature on Tuesday, amid party divisions over the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and a federal bribery scandal that toppled the former GOP House speaker.

Democrats hope to capitalize on the party’s weakened position with a strong slate of candidates and national momentum driven by voter interest in unseating Republican President Donald Trump.

Democrats need only two additional seats in the Ohio House to wipe out the GOP supermajority, but a whopping 13 to win control of the chamber. In the Senate, they would need to win four additional seats to erase Republicans’ supermajority, and eight to take control.

HOUSEHOLDER RACE

The race in the rural district of disgraced former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder includes four write-in candidates attempting to unseat the once-powerful politician, who refused to step aside from his reelection bid despite facing charges in a $60 million bribery scheme.

The four challengers — of varied parties and backgrounds — are unified in their attacks on Householder’s questionable ethics and his role in passing a nuclear bailout bill at the center of the scandal that now faces renewed scrutiny at the statehouse. Still, a Householder victory appears likely in District 72, given his strong ties in his native Perry County and an endorsement by the local Republican Party.

He is the only candidate listed on the ballot, having fielded no Democratic challenger. The heavily Republican district also covers Coshocton County and Licking County in east-central Ohio.

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Find AP’s full election coverage at APNews.com/Election2020.