Results below are unofficial. County boards of elections certify the final counts within 21 days. Last updated November 4, 2026.
Ohio election results 2026 brought a night of firsts. Ohioans elected their first woman governor, returned a familiar face to the U.S. Senate, wrote voter ID rules into the state constitution, and — in town after town — voted to ban large data centers. Turnout in Ohio’s three largest counties passed the 2022 midterm mark, and every statewide result below is based on the unofficial counts reported by the Ohio Secretary of State and the Associated Press.
Ohio Election Results 2026 at a Glance
- Governor: Amy Acton (D) defeats Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
- U.S. Senate: Sherrod Brown (D) defeats incumbent Jon Husted (R)
- Issue 3 (voter ID amendment): Passes with about two-thirds of the vote
- Ohio House: Republicans lose their supermajority
- Data centers: At least 14 Ohio municipalities vote to ban or restrict them
Governor: Amy Acton Makes History
Democrat Amy Acton won the governor’s race with roughly 51% of the vote to Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s 46%, with Libertarian Don Kissick taking just over 3%. The Associated Press called the race on election night.
Acton, a physician who led the Ohio Department of Health under Republican Governor Mike DeWine during the early COVID-19 pandemic, becomes the first woman ever elected governor of Ohio. (Nancy Hollister, a Republican, served 11 days as governor in 1999 but was never elected to the office.) She is also the first Democrat to win the governor’s office since Ted Strickland in 2006, ending a 20-year run of Republican governors in a state Donald Trump carried three times.
The race was one of the most expensive in Ohio history, with spending topping $100 million, and it drew national attention in the final weeks. Acton succeeds DeWine, who was term-limited, and takes office in January 2027.
U.S. Senate: Sherrod Brown Returns to Washington
In the Senate race, Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated Republican incumbent Jon Husted by roughly 49% to 47% in one of the closest statewide contests of the night. NBC, CNN and the Associated Press all called the race for Brown.
The result sends Brown back to the Senate seat he held for 18 years before losing it in 2024. Husted had been appointed to the seat in 2025 and was seeking election to it in his own right.
Issue 3: Voter ID Goes Into the Constitution
State Issue 3 passed easily, with about 66% voting yes to 34% no in final unofficial results. The amendment writes Ohio’s photo ID requirement for in-person voting into the state constitution — the requirement has existed in state law since 2023, but it now cannot be removed by the legislature alone.
What it means in practice, which IDs count at the polls, and what could still change for mail-in voting are covered in our full guide to Ohio Issue 3 and what it means for voters.
Republicans Lose Their Ohio House Supermajority
For the first time since 2013, Republicans have lost their supermajority in the Ohio House, according to unofficial results from the Franklin County Board of Elections and the Secretary of State. In central Ohio’s contested races, Democrat Shelby Kimball flipped House District 60 in Delaware County, defeating incumbent Republican Brian Lorenz, and Democrat Stacie Baker defeated incumbent Republican Michele Reynolds in Senate District 3. Incumbent Democrats Mark Sigrist (House District 10) and Crystal Lett (House District 11) held their seats.
With a Democratic governor holding veto power and no supermajority to override her, Ohio’s legislative balance shifts meaningfully for the first time in over a decade.
Notable Congressional Races
- In Ohio’s 15th District, Democrat Don Leonard upset Republican incumbent Mike Carey, a Columbus-area congressman, in one of the night’s surprises.
- Democrat Joyce Beatty retained her Columbus seat, and Republican Troy Balderson kept his.
- Republican Dave Joyce was re-elected in the 14th District, a seat he has held since 2013.
- In Cincinnati, Democrat Greg Landsman was re-elected with more than 54% of the vote.
- The Summit County race in Ohio’s 7th District, where union iron worker Brian Poindexter led incumbent Max Miller late on election night, remained too close to call in early counts.
Data Center Bans Sweep Ohio Towns
Election Day 2026 was also a referendum on data centers. Ohio had more data center ballot measures than any other state — 21 measures across 18 communities — and voters backed restrictions almost everywhere. At least 14 municipalities passed bans or new limits, including outright bans in Hubbard, Sunbury, Pataskala, Urbana, Defiance, Upper Sandusky, Piqua, Granville, Conneaut and Trenton.
Most bans target facilities using more than 25 megawatts of power — roughly the electricity demand of 20,000 homes. Granville’s ban passed with about 82% support, Pataskala’s with 74%, and Trenton’s with almost 80%. A planned Amazon Web Services facility on land just outside Trenton now faces an uncertain future. The fight is not over: a group called Conserve Ohio is preparing a statewide constitutional amendment to ban the largest data centers on the 2027 ballot.
Turnout, Incidents and Local Issues
Turnout in Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties surpassed the 2022 midterm with hours of voting still left. In Lucas County, voting at Beverly Elementary School in Toledo ran until 9:15 p.m. after bomb threats prompted the school’s closure earlier on Election Day.
School money split across the map. Levies passed in Cuyahoga Falls, Stow-Munroe Falls and Tallmadge, among others, while Upper Arlington voters rejected a $273 million bond issue for new middle schools. In Madison Township, voters approved a fire levy with 56% support but rejected a police levy. Hamilton County elected Cincinnati Councilmember Meeka Owens as its new commissioner.
What Happens Next
County boards of elections will certify official results within 21 days. Acton and the new state officeholders take office in January 2027, and the new General Assembly will be seated the same month. Full official figures for every race are published on the Ohio Secretary of State’s official election results pages.
This post will be updated as results are certified.
