Outside the U.S. Senate race, Ohio’s elections have gotten little attention from national political figures on the trail—a different scene from prior elections, when the presidential contest was hotter here.
Still, less than two weeks out, former President Barack Obama’s attorney general was stumping Thursday in Columbus for the state’s Democratic slate of supreme court candidates.
Eric Holder, a former U.S. attorney general and current National Democratic Redistricting Committee chairman, addressed dozens of Democratic canvassers from a stuffy German Village field office Thursday afternoon.
“You can't be less engaged,” Holder said. “There's a whole range of issues that affect every American that are going to be decided by state supreme courts, actually more decided by state supreme courts than maybe the U.S. Supreme Court.”
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Democratic incumbent Justices Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart are being challenged by Republican Judge Megan Shanahan, who serves on the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, and incumbent Justice Joe Deters. Republican Dan Hawkins and Democrat Lisa Forbes will face off for the third seat that Deters is vacating in November.
Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Deters to finish Sharon Kennedy's term, which would have ended in 2026, after she was elected as chief justice in 2022. Deters chose to run for a full term against Stewart this year instead of in 2026 for his appointed seat.
Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the state's highest court but could swell it to 6-1 if they win all three seats. Democrats would need to retain their two seats and win the third for the party to take a 4-3 majority. The bench has been red for decades, since the late 1980s.
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Both Holder and Stewart, who attended Thursday’s canvass kickoff, acknowledged the tough task Democrats have. And Holder said he'd prefer the tickets not be partisan—though he was with Democrats.
“Courts are becoming more ideological, more partisan in the decision making that they actually engage in,” Holder said.
Although Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution last year, the court will likely eventually decide whether existing GOP-backed state laws limiting the practice should remain on the books, among other issues. Abortion rights activists, including Abortion Forward, have endorsed the Democratic slate of candidates, while anti-abortion Right to Life Ohio endorsed the Republican one.
