State Rep. Allison Russo, a Democrat from Upper Arlington, announced Thursday that she wants to be Ohio’s next Secretary of State. Her declaration is a sign that the logjam of candidates considering statewide office is starting to break, allowing the party to assemble its ticket for next year’s mid-term elections.
Russo said in an interview that she was inspired to run for the job in part by her experiences serving on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, a panel of elected officials who draw the state’s political district lines.
The current maps were the subject of a lengthy legal saga at the beginning of the decade and continued through last year when Republicans, who control state government, ultimately ignored orders from the Ohio Supreme Court to keep the maps in place.
Dr. Bryan Hambley, a physician and political newcomer from Cincinnati, has been campaigning since January for the Democratic nomination for the office, setting up a primary battle with Russo.
Hambley said he welcomes Russo into the race and said he plans to continue his candidacy until the primary election in May.
“Democracy is at its best when there’s a competition of ideas,” Hambley said.
Russo avoided commenting directly on Hambley but highlighted her experience in Columbus as an important qualification.
“I know all of [Republicans’] tricks and schemes that they do in the space of diminishing voting rights, manipulating ballot language so that it’s confusing,” Russo said. “We need someone who can walk in on day one and know what they’re up against and know what kind of work needs to be done.”
What does the Secretary of State do?
The Ohio Secretary of State is Ohio’s top elections officer. The office’s responsibilities include directing county elections boards on how to carry out voting procedures, helping write language for statewide ballot issues, and following a recent state law change enforcing alleged violations of elections law.
The Secretary of State also holds one of the seven seats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission.
Two Republicans also are running for the office: State Treasurer Robert Sprague and retired military officer Marcell Strbich. The Democratic and Republican primary election will be held in May, with the winners facing off in November 2026. The job will be open since Frank LaRose, the Republican current secretary of state, can’t run for reelection because of term limits.
More about Allison Russo
Russo, a healthcare policy analyst, was elected to the legislature in 2018 in her first run for public office. She raised her profile when she ran for Congress in 2021, losing a race for a solidly Republican district that includes Columbus.
Her fellow House Democrats elected her as minority leader in 2022, a position she resigned in June as she prepared to run for statewide office. She’s long been considered a potential rising star within her party, given her political prominence in Columbus, which increasingly is the center of Democratic politics in Ohio. She isn’t allowed to run for reelection due to term limits.
Russo, 48, previously has said she didn’t imagine getting involved with politics until later in her life. She said this week that she considered taking a step back, including to allow her to spend more time with her family.
But, she said, “I feel that we’re at a point in time, much like I felt when I ran for office the first time, that we need people stepping up and doing the work and committing to fighting for people and fighting for Ohioans,” Russo said.
More about Bryan Hambley
Hambley, 40, first got involved in politics in 2016 as an activist opposing President Donald Trump, who at the time was the Republican presidential frontrunner.
He said he was involved in activism again last year helping campaign for the redistricting reform amendment that would have replaced the Ohio Redistricting Commission with a nonpartisan citizens’ panel.
Hambley said he was struck by how much ballot language LaRose and other Republicans crafted for the amendment affected its chances of passing. Main planks of his platform include writing what he described as “clear, accurate ballot language” for constitutional amendments and pushing for another redistricting amendment in 2027.
Hambley said his campaign has gotten a positive response across the state.
“I think we need new voices in the Ohio Democratic Party,” he said.
Ohio’s Democratic ticket is taking shape
Russo’s announcement comes a few days after Sherrod Brown, who lost his seat in the U.S. Senate last November, announced his plans for a comeback by challenging the Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted in next year’s election.
Brown’s decision answered a major question for Democrats after a lengthy period of speculation: Would Brown lead the party ticket by running for governor or would he attempt to run for his old office?
The uncertainty around what Brown might or might not do affected the decision making of other Democrats down ticket, including Russo, who needed to weigh the strength of the overall statewide ticket in an increasingly Republican state.
Russo said she made her decision to run for Secretary of State “a few weeks ago” but alluded to how Brown previously had loomed over the election.
“People’s patience is definitely worn thin,” Russo said. But, she added, Ohio’s Democratic ticket remained unsettled leading up to 2018, the state’s last competitive election, until the December before the election.
The party still doesn’t have a candidate for state auditor or state treasurer. Its only attorney general candidate is Elliot Forhan, a former state lawmaker from the Cleveland area who was defeated in the Democratic primary election in 2024 after he fell out of favor with the party.
The top of the ticket might be unsettled too.
Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health department director, is the party’s lone candidate for governor. Tim Ryan, a former congressman and 2022 U.S. Senate nominee, has said he will decide by the end of September whether he also will run for governor.
“People are anxious, and Democrats especially want leadership on the ticket,” Russo said while discussing the impact of Brown’s decision. “But I think if we’re patient for just, you know, a little bit longer, I think things will shape up in a way that I think we can all get behind.”