2022 Ohio Senate election

Not to be confused with 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio.

The 2022 Ohio Senate elections were held on November 8, 2022, to elect senators in 17 odd-numbered districts of the Ohio Senate. Members were elected in single-member constituencies to four-year terms. These elections were held concurrently with various federal and state elections, including for Governor of Ohio and the Ohio House of Representatives.^[1]

2022 Ohio Senate election

← 2020 November 8, 2022 2024 →
17 of the 33 seats in the Ohio Senate 17 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Matt Huffman Kenny Yuko (term-limited) Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 12th district 25th district Seats before 25 8 Seats after 26 7 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 1,105,112 812,696 Percentage 57.43% 42.23% Swing 10.17% 10.18%
Results      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Republican gain      Not up for election
President of the Senate before election Matt Huffman Republican Elected President of the Senate Matt Huffman Republican

Although primary elections were originally scheduled for May 3, they were postponed to August 2 after the Supreme Court of Ohio rejected state legislative maps approved by the state redistricting commission as part of the 2020 redistricting cycle.^[2][3]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[4]	Safe R	May 19, 2022

Overview

Party		Candidates	Votes			Seats won
			No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-	%
	Republican	16	1,105,112	57.43	10.17	11	1	64.71
	Democratic	13	812,696	42.23	10.18	6	1	35.29
	Other	2	6,472	0.34	0.02	0		0.00
Total		31		100.00		17		17

Popular vote Republican   57.43% Democratic   42.23% Other   0.34%

Senate seats won Republican   64.71% Democratic   35.29%

Results by district

Summary

District	Incumbent status	Incumbent		Winner		Result
1st	Running		Rob McColley			Incumbent Republican re-elected
3rd	Running		Tina Maharath		Michele Reynolds	Republican gain
5th	Running		Steve Huffman			Incumbent Republican re-elected
7th	Running		Steve Wilson			Incumbent Republican re-elected
9th	Term-limited		Cecil Thomas		Catherine Ingram	Democratic hold
11th	N/A		Vacant[a]		Paula Hicks-Hudson	Democratic hold
13th	Running		Nathan Manning			Incumbent Republican re-elected
15th	Running		Hearcel Craig			Incumbent Democrat re-elected
17th	Term-limited		Bob Peterson		Shane Wilkin	Republican hold
19th	Running		Andrew Brenner			Incumbent Republican re-elected
21st	Not running		Dale Martin		Kent Smith	Democratic hold
23rd	Running		Nickie Antonio			Incumbent Democrat re-elected
25th	N/A		None[b]		Bill DeMora	Democratic notional hold
27th	Running		Kristina Roegner			Incumbent Republican re-elected
29th	Running		Kirk Schuring			Incumbent Republican re-elected
31st	Term-limited		Jay Hottinger		Al Landis	Republican hold
33rd	Running		Michael Rulli			Incumbent Republican re-elected

Detailed results

District results by vote share

District 1

The 1st district is based in Northwest Ohio stretching south to the cities of Findlay, Ottawa and Van Wert. The incumbent was Republican Rob McColley, who would become the Majority Leader of the Ohio Senate. McColley was first elected in 2016. He was re-elected in 2022.

Ohio Senate District 1 elections, 2022

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rob McColley (incumbent)	11,523	100.0
Total votes	11,523	100.0
General election
	Republican	Rob McColley (incumbent)	104,274	100.0
Total votes	104,274	100.0
	Republican hold		Swing	26.7[c]

District 3

The 3rd district is based in Franklin County stretching around the county from Prairie Township in the west of the county through Grove City, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna and north to the wealthy suburbs of New Albany and Westerville. The incumbent was Democrat Tina Maharath, who was first elected in 2018. She was defeated in 2022 by Republican Michele Reynolds.

Ohio Senate District 3 elections, 2022

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tina Maharath (incumbent)	6,848	100.0
Total votes	6,848	100.0
Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michele Reynolds	6,327	100.0
Total votes	6,327	100.0
General election
	Republican	Michele Reynolds	61,723	52.4
	Democratic	Tina Maharath (incumbent)	56,023	47.6
Total votes	117,746	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing	2.7

District 5

The 5th district is based in Montgomery County stretching north to include Piqua and Troy and south to include Eaton and Trenton. The incumbent was Republican Steve Huffman, who was first elected in 2018. He was re-elected in 2022.

Ohio Senate District 5 elections, 2022

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Huffman (incumbent)	9,132	100.0
Total votes	9,132	100.0
General election
	Republican	Steve Huffman (incumbent)	99,741	96.4
	Independent	Nancy Kiehl (write-in)	3,742	3.6
Total votes	103,483	100.0
	Republican hold		Swing	43.5[c]

District 7

The 7th district is based in Cincinnati stretching through Eastern Hamilton County and north to include all of Warren County. The incumbent was Republican Steve Wilson, who was first elected in 2016. He was re-elected in 2022.

Ohio Senate District 7 elections, 2022

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Dallas	9,622	100.0
Total votes	9,622	100.0
Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve Wilson (incumbent)	13,497	99.3
	Republican	Austin Kaiser (write-in)	92	0.7
Total votes	13,589	100.0
General election
	Republican	Steve Wilson (incumbent)	95,414	61.6
	Democratic	David Dallas	59,563	38.4
Total votes	154,977	100.0
	Republican hold		Swing	4.5

District 9

The 9th district is based in Cincinnati stretching north to include most of Springfield Township. The incumbent was Democrat Cecil Thomas, who was first elected in 2014. Democrat Catherine Ingram was nominated as the Democratic candidate in the March primary. She was elected in 2022.

Ohio Senate District 9 elections, 2022

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Catherine Ingram	11,112	100.0
Total votes	11,112	100.0
Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Orlando Sonza Jr.	2,892	100.0
Total votes	2,892	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Catherine Ingram	78,639	72.8
	Republican	Orlando Sonza Jr.	29,418	27.2
Total votes	102,057	100.0
	Democratic hold		Swing	3.5

District 11

Ohio Senate District 11 elections, 2022

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Paula Hicks-Hudson	10,210	100.0
Total votes	10,210	100.0
Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tony Dia	5,202	100.0
Total votes	5,202	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Paula Hicks-Hudson	64,761	55.3
	Republican	Tony Dia	52,384	44.7
Total votes	117,145	100.0
	Democratic hold		Swing	14.1

District 13

Ohio Senate District 13 elections, 2022

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Anthony Eliopoulos	7,422	100.0
Total votes	7,422	100.0
Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nathan Manning (incumbent)	8,910	67.3
	Republican	Kirsten Hill	4,321	32.7
Total votes	13,231	100.0
General election
	Republican	Nathan Manning (incumbent)	74,213	57.7
	Democratic	Anthony Eliopoulos	54,417	42.3
Total votes	128,630	100.0
	Republican hold		Swing	5.0

Close races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 27, 2.22%
2. District 3, 4.84% (gain)

Outgoing incumbents

Republicans

• District 17: Bob Peterson was term-limited.
• District 31: Jay Hottinger was term-limited.

Democrats

• District 9: Cecil Thomas was term-limited.
• District 11: Teresa Fedor retired to run for lieutenant governor of Ohio.^[5]
• District 21: Sandra Williams was term-limited.
• District 25: Kenny Yuko was term-limited.

See also

• 2022 Ohio elections
• List of Ohio state legislatures

Notes

1. Incumbent Democrat Teresa Fedor resigned October 31, 2022. Paula Hicks-Hudson was appointed to fill the vacancy after her victory in the general election.
2. This district was reassigned to Franklin County from Cuyahoga County following redistricting. The previous incumbent was Democrat Kenny Yuko, who was term-limited.
3. Seat was contested in the previous election.