After bitter defeats last year, Ohio Democrats are biding time as GOP moves full swing into 2026

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The first television ads dropped this week in the Ohio governor's race that's still more than a year off. The early onslaught by a super PAC allied with Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy drove home how quickly the former bellwether state 's ruling Republicans are seizing the spotlight and staking claims to five statewide executive offices that are opening in 2026.

All that urgency begs a question: Where are Ohio Democrats?

Fresh off a pair of difficult losses last year — the bitter defeat of three-term U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, and the rejection by voters of the anti-gerrymandering amendment known as Issue 1 — the party's efforts at building anything close to a winning 2026 ticket have so far been muted, and for some, moving too slowly.

Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director who helped guide Ohio through the early days of the pandemic, is running for governor as a Democrat — methodically building financial support and a statewide campaign. Though she gained recognition appearing on daily COVID-19 briefings that aired statewide in early 2020, Acton also is a newcomer to politics who lacks the political might of someone like Brown, who before last year had reliably won statewide victories going back decades.

Meanwhile, only two other Democrats — southwest Ohio oncologist and first-time candidate Brian Hambley for secretary of state, and tainted former state Rep. Elliot Forhan for attorney general — have launched campaigns.

The lack of activity accompanies Democrats’ broader struggles nationally to coalesce around a strategy for countering actions by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk and their Republican allies in Congress. The debate over how to respond has divided party leaders, with some advocating for lying low — even as crowds of angry citizens throng congressional town halls, clog Capitol Hill phone lines and stage protests and marches in the streets. Others want to see the party combat November’s bitter defeats at both the national and state levels more strenuously.

“People are being quiet right now and sort of circling the wagons and kind of trying to figure out how to respond,” said Dr. J. Cherie Strachan, director of the University of Akron’s Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.

As he exited the Senate in December, Brown vowed he'd be getting back to politics in some way. That prospect is among reasons that other aspiring Ohio Democrats are biding their time, according to several party insiders granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Others say it's Republicans who are starting too early, not Democrats who are late.

It's unclear if Brown will run, and, if he does, what office he might seek. It could be the governorship, setting up a contested primary with Acton. It could be the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance, which successor Jon Husted must defend next year. Brown recently offered a treatise of sorts in The New Republic magazine for restoring the national Democratic Party with a pro-worker message, prompting speculation he might even be aspiring to the presidency.

Once Brown's plans are known, plenty of other Democrats will be ready to go, predicted Greg Beswick, a former Ohio Democratic Party executive director. Though it's been 20 years since Democrats won a statewide executive office in Ohio, he said the party is watching for falling approval ratings for Trump and Musk to create opportunities in 2026.

“I do think that they’re going to be able to recruit folks and be able to run when they start seeing these items,” he said. “I think it’s been easier for the Republicans, quite frankly. It’s the shuffling of the deck of folks that want to make sure they keep a job.”

That shuffle includes Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost running for governor, Auditor Keith Faber running for attorney general, Secretary of State Frank LaRose running for auditor and Treasurer Robert Sprague running for secretary of state.

Besides Brown, other high profile Democrats believed to be weighing runs in 2026 are: former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, who lost a tighter than expected Senate race to Vance in 2022; Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, who won key Republican concessions for her party last session; and former U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach, a former Ohio attorney general candidate who led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under President Joe Biden.

Katie Seewer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party, said they anticipate at least one Democratic candidate will emerge for each of the statewide races. She said the party has been seeing lots of enthusiasm at organizing events across the state.

“People are fired up and ready to go,” she said.

Strachan said contested primaries would strongly benefit the party, by garnering media attention and energizing voters.