What to expect in Ohio’s state primaries, governor and congressional races

Ohio’s statewide primaries Tuesday will set nominees for governor, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House races, along with contests for a range of other state offices, even as several candidates are already looking ahead to the November general election, the Associated Press said. The races are expected to carry national stakes for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term, with Ohio Republicans and Democrats competing for control of both chambers of Congress.

The Republican gubernatorial nomination centers on tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is challenging internet personality Casey Putsch to replace outgoing GOP Gov. Mike DeWine. AP said Ramaswamy has endorsements from Trump and the Ohio Republican Party and entered the final stretch with a $31 million war chest, including $25 million from his personal funds. Putsch, by contrast, raised about $123,000 and had about $8,700 in his campaign account as of the most recent filing in April.

A third gubernatorial candidate, Heather Hill, was disqualified after her running mate withdrew from the ticket in what AP described as an acrimonious split. AP said Hill’s name will still appear on the ballot, but votes cast for the ticket will not be counted. On the Democratic side, AP said the winner will face Dr. Amy Acton, who is unopposed for the Democratic nomination; Acton was director of the Ohio Department of Health during the early days of the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response until her resignation in June 2020.

In the U.S. Senate race, AP said Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown is seeking to reclaim his previous seat in Washington, while Ron Kincaid will be his opponent for the Democratic nomination. AP said Brown had an enormous fundraising advantage over Kincaid as of mid-April. The general-election matchup would put Brown against Republican Sen. Jon Husted, whom AP said faces no primary challengers; Husted became lieutenant governor when he was appointed to fill the Senate seat JD Vance vacated to become vice president, and AP said the seat will be up again for a full term in 2028.

Ohio’s congressional primaries also include a key Republican contest for the 9th Congressional District. AP said a crowded Republican field will seek to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a 22-term incumbent who narrowly won reelection in 2024 over Republican Derek Merrin in one of the final races to be called that cycle. AP said Merrin is again running for the GOP nomination against a field that includes former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, state Rep. Josh Williams and two others.

The AP preview highlighted county-level influence in that 9th District primary, saying Lucas County, which includes Toledo, is by far the most influential. It said Lucas County contributed more than one-third of the total vote in the 2024 Republican U.S. House primary and said Merrin and Williams are from Lucas County, while Sheahan’s home base is Ottawa County. AP also cited other major counties—Franklin and Cuyahoga for Columbus and Cleveland respectively, and Hamilton, Montgomery and Summit—as playing large roles in statewide primaries.

AP said Trump’s endorsement should boost Ramaswamy, noting Trump carried every county in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare winners only when it determines there is no scenario in which a trailing candidate can close the gap; AP said it will continue covering newsworthy developments such as concessions or declarations of victory until a race is called.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ET, and AP said any registered voter in Ohio may participate in any party’s primary, with Ohio not registering voters by party. AP said about 7.9 million people were registered in Ohio as of Friday, and it provided turnout context from 2022: Republican primaries for U.S. Senate and governor each had about 1.1 million total votes cast (roughly 14% of registered voters at the time), while the Democratic U.S. Senate primary had about 518,000 total votes cast and the Democratic gubernatorial primary had about 509,000.

AP said about 17% of the vote in 2022 primaries was cast before primary day and about 25% was cast before primary day in the 2024 presidential primary. It also said that as of Friday, more than 153,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 122,000 Republican primary ballots had already been cast, and that all 88 counties in Ohio tend to release most early and absentee results in the first vote update of the night, typically before in-person results. AP said recounts are automatic in Ohio if the margin is less than 0.25% of total vote in statewide races or 0.5% in congressional district races, while AP may declare a winner eligible for recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.