2010 Ohio Attorney General election

The 2010 Ohio Attorney General election was held on November 2, 2010, concurrently with other statewide offices including a Class 1 Senate election as well as the Governor election. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray who was elected in a 2008 special election ran for a full 4-year term but was defeated by Republican challenger and former 2-term United States senator Mike DeWine. Being decided by 1.2%, this was the closest statewide election in Ohio. Cordray and DeWine faced off again in Ohio's 2018 Governor election; DeWine won that election by 3.7 percentage points.

2010 Ohio Attorney General election

← 2008 (special) November 2, 2010 2014 →
Turnout	46.3%
Nominee Mike DeWine Richard Cordray Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,821,414 1,772,728 Percentage 47.54% 46.26%
County results Congressional district results DeWine:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Cordray:      40-50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Attorney General before election Richard Cordray Democratic Elected Attorney General Mike DeWine Republican

Background

In 2008, then Ohio State Treasurer Richard Cordray ascended to the office of Attorney General following his victory in a 2008 special election triggered by the resignation of Marc Dann. Cordray won his election in a landslide winning by 18 percentage points, being held concurrently with the presidential election when Barack Obama carried the state by a bit under 5 percentage points. During Cordray's tenure, he got involved in cases against the Bank of America Corporation as well as the American International Group.

In 2009, former United States Senator Mike DeWine announced he would seek the office of Attorney General, 3 years after Sherrod Brown defeated him in the 2006 election.^[1] Due to the growing unpopularity of the Obama administration, many political observers predicted 2010 would be a tough year for Democrats. As such, polling predicted that DeWine had a narrow edge over Cordray.^[2]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Richard Cordray, incumbent Attorney General, former Ohio State Treasurer, former Ohio House of Representatives member from the 33rd district, former Treasurer of Franklin County, former Solicitor General of Ohio, nominee for OH-15 in 1992, nominee for Attorney General in 1998, and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2000.^[3]

Results

Democratic primary^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard Cordray (Incumbent)	558,810	100.00%
Total votes			558,810	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Mike DeWine, former U.S. Senator, former lieutenant governor of Ohio, and former U.S. Representative.^[5]

Results

Republican primary^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike DeWine	687,507	100.00%
Total votes			687,507	100.00%

General election

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Richard Cordray (D)	Mike DeWine (R)
Survey USA[7]	September 10–13, 2010	40%	47%
The Columbus Dispatch[8]	August 25 – September 3, 2010	42%	44%
Public Policy Polling[9]	August 27–29, 2010	40%	44%
Public Policy Polling[10]	June 26–27, 2010	41%	44%

Endorsements

Richard Cordray

Newspapers

• The Cincinnati Enquirer^[11]
• Columbus Dispatch^[12]
• Cleveland Plain Dealer^[13]

Organizations

• Buckeye Firearms Association^[14]
• Canton Police Patrolman's Association^[15]
• Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association^[16]
• Toledo Police Command Officers Association^[17]
• Toledo Police Patrolmen's Association^[18]
• Troopers for a Safer Ohio^[19]
• Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association^[20]
• NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio

Unions

• Ohio AFL–CIO
• Communications Workers of America

Mike DeWine

Organizations

• Ohio Right to Life
• Ohio Veterans United

Results

In the end, DeWine defeated Cordary by exactly 1.28 percentage points. Cordray held his own in his home county of Franklin and various other suburbs but, his loss can be mainly attributed to his loss of ground in Appalachian Ohio as well as the overwhelmingly Republican national environment. DeWine similarly did well in his home county of Greene and narrowly carried the ancestrally Republican Hamilton County.

2010 Ohio Attorney General election^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mike DeWine	1,821,414	47.54	+9.13%
	Democratic	Richard Cordray (incumbent)	1,772,728	46.26	−10.46%
	Constitution	Robert Owens	130,065	3.39	N/A
	Libertarian	Marc Allan Feldman	107,521	2.81	N/A
Total votes			3,729,428	100.00	N/A
	Republican gain from Democratic