Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) will not run for his present post this next legislative session, he said Monday, changing the field ahead of a long-awaited Republican caucus vote Wednesday.
“As far as I’m concerned, this really resets the entire race,” Stephens said at a press conference that lasted about 10 minutes.
Stephens said he’d rather focus on priority legislation awaiting action during the lame duck legislative session, including by passing a clean version of the so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” and provisions modernizing the adoption process.
“There are so many opportunities in the future to serve the people of Ohio when these are our core values, and I look forward to what the future may hold,” Stephens said.
The announcement bookends more than a year of back-and-forth between Stephens and his once-opponent, current Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima). Stephens and Huffman both won seats in the House in November, since Huffman was at the end of his term in the Senate.
“I do have a resume of things that I’ve done in the legislature, and most recently with Issue 1, and I’m going to be sending that out to the members for their review,” Huffman said Wednesday.
Some GOP lawmakers and conservative advocacy circles have been critical of how Stephens took the gavel in January 2023—with the votes of some Republicans and more Democrats, rather than a majority of Republicans.
“It’s difficult when, in effect, you have three caucuses,” Huffman said Wednesday. “When it’s two sides versus three, on contentious issues, it’s easier to get to a conclusion.”
Huffman isn’t the only Republican seeking the speakership as of Monday afternoon.
Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville), who backed Rep. Derek Merrin’s (R-Monclova) failed effort for speaker two years ago, said in a text he was “running until (he’s) not.” A bigger cohort of the Republican caucus backed Merrin against Stephens privately and publicly.
Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, an anti-vaccine mandate organization, has lobbied against Huffman for weeks on social media—now rallying behind Rep. Tim Barhorst (R-Ft. Loramie). One lawmaker said Monday he was gaining some steam.
After Stephens announced he was dropping out, several lawmakers who backed Merrin shared on social media a letter purportedly from Rep. Jim Jordan.
“I am also encouraged by the prospect of you being elected Speaker of the House by your Republican colleagues in January. Voters across the state are eager for the Ohio House and Senate to begin their work on conservative policy priorities beginning in January,” the letter read.
Stephens declined to say who he would vote for come Wednesday.
