You’ve probably noticed your electric costs creeping upward. You’ve maybe even read our coverage about it.
But the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog organization that’s critical of investor-owned utilities, noticed a specific labor cost increase: electric companies’ CEO pay.
Here’s what the CEOs of the major, investor-owned electric companies operating in Ohio made last year.
- American Electric Power (central Ohio), Bill Fehrman $36,601,524
- Duke Energy (southwest Ohio), Harry Sideris $13,652,630
- FirstEnergy (northern Ohio), Brian Tierney $13,337,245
- AES (southwest Ohio), Andrés Gluski $9,153,896
Making their move
National House Democrats are making a play for two Ohio Trump districts.
Per plans shared exclusively with Andrew, House Majority PAC, the Democrats’ main super political action committee focused on the House, plans to spend $10.8 million on TV and digital ads in Ohio later this year.
That number includes $4.7 million in spending to target GOP Reps. Mike Turner of Dayton and Mike Carey of Columbus. Both won reelection comfortably in 2024 and currently represent districts that President Donald Trump won by 7 and 10 percentage points, respectively.
Notably, the PAC is spending nearly as much protecting vulnerable longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo ($3 million) as it is targeting Turner ($2.9 million). Most of the spending is on TV ad reservations, which could change over time if the group decides to spend more or less on any given race.
The increased spending follows years of Democrats pulling resources out of Ohio as the state has trended in Republicans’ favor, and it is the latest sign that Democrats believe they will benefit from a favorable national political environment in 2026.
On a related note, the top Senate Republican PAC recently announced plans to spend $79 million defending GOP Sen. Jon Husted, the most the group plans to spend in any battleground state, to help him in the November election against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
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Property tax abolition campaign to show its hand while opposition gets organized
It’s far from clear that the grassroots campaign seeking to abolish property taxes in Ohio will manage to qualify for the November ballot.
That’s not stopping a broad coalition of emergency responders, social service agencies, unions and business groups from launching what looks like the early outline of an opposition campaign against the proposed amendment.
A group called Ohioans to Protect Public Services announced its existence last week, complete with a website and a slick campaign-style ad. The group warns that abolishing property taxes would translate to huge income tax and sales tax increases and/or tens of thousands of job cuts for teachers and first responders.
The development reflects widespread worry about the amendment among tax-funded entities like libraries, schools and parks.
Jen Detwiler, a consultant who’s worked on ballot issue campaigns in the past, called the website a “public education campaign.”
“It’s important for folks to know what the consequences are,” she said.
Meanwhile, Citizens Against Property Taxes, the citizen group behind the proposal to abolish property taxes, plans a press conference in Geauga County next Wednesday. The event will take place behind the Resolute Desk “in the legendary Oval Office replica of Northeast Ohio,” according to the group’s leader, Brian Massie.
Massie has been tight-lipped about his group’s progress, for months saying merely that his group had collected fewer than 200,000 voter signatures. It needs to get roughly 413,000, including a minimum number from 44 counties, before the end of June to qualify for the November ballot. If the group manages to make the ballot, it would be the only ballot issue campaign in recent memory to do so without major financial backing.
In a statement, Massie said that it’s time to provide the campaign’s 5,000 volunteers with a status update.
“It is also time to put the do-nothing politicians on notice,” Massie said.
Downballot blues
Imagine you’re a candidate for a downballot statewide office, campaigning tirelessly across the state and asking everybody you know for money.
With that in mind, consider this new poll conducted ahead of the May 5 primary election by Bowling Green State University.
The poll found remarkably inconclusive results for Republican and Democratic primary elections for Ohio secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer. Democrat Allison Russo hit the poll’s high-water mark, getting 32% support compared to the 8% number for her primary opponent, physician Bryan Hambley, with 60% of voters undecided for secretary of state. (ICYMI, Andrew profiled that race this week as a rare example of an Ohio primary contest featuring two well-funded Democratic candidates.)
Meanwhile, other races like the Democratic attorney general primary between Upper Arlington attorney John Kulewicz (14%) and ex-state lawmaker Elliot Forhan (15%) or the Republican state treasurer primary between state Sen. Kristina Roegner (18%) and ex-state Rep. Jay Edwards (17%) were a shrug-your-shoulders wash, with roughly 70% of the electorate undecided.
The Republican secretary of state primary between state Treasurer Robert Sprague (22%) and ex-Air Force intelligence officer Marcell Strbich (10%) was relatively clearer, but “undecided” still would win by a landslide if it were eligible to run.
David Jackson, a Bowling Green political scientist who worked on the poll, had an unsurprising take: The results show voters aren’t paying close attention to these races and haven’t really thought about them. The candidates will spend what little money they have through the primary trying to mobilize whoever they think is most likely to vote for them.
“I think the Senate race and the governor’s race are collectively taking a lot of the oxygen,” Jackson said.
An anti-vaccine lobbyist and economic developer clash in GOP primary
Because of big-picture forces like rampant gerrymandering and geographic polarization in politics, few Ohio House seats will produce genuinely competitive races in November.
But one Republican primary race, in the Akron suburbs, caught Jake’s eye. Mike Kahoe, a 24-year-old economic developer with ties to the lieutenant governor’s office, is running against Stephanie Stock, the president of Ohio’s preeminent anti-vaccine lobby.
The possibility of someone with a decade of experience attacking Ohio’s vaccination laws reaching public office comes as Republican confidence in vaccines and Ohio’s school immunization rates are waning and also as the once-eradicated and vaccine-preventable measles is on the rise in Ohio and elsewhere in the country.
The winner will face off against Noah Spinner, a corporate attorney from the area.
Supreme Court rules against submeterers said to drive up electric costs
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that submetering companies are public utilities and ought to be regulated as such.
The ruling means tens of thousands of renters could soon enjoy the benefits of price controls and consumer protections that traditional utility companies have been subjected to for decades.
Renters, especially in Columbus, where the industry has concentrated, have long complained of unfair water and electricity prices from the submeterers. Companies such as Nationwide Energy Partners say their customers don’t pay any more than those of American Electric Power, the regional utility.
Ratepayer advocates called it a major win.
“No company gets to sell essential electric service in Ohio without playing by the rules,” said Maureen Willis, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, in a statement. “The court’s ruling enforces that.”
Read more from Jake here.
In the news
Special interest spotlight: Cryptocurrency, sports betting and school-choice interests are among the outside groups funding Ohio political candidates this year. Andrew breaks down who’s giving how much to whom.
Early voting 101: Planning to vote early? Andrew made this Q&A of common questions such as, when do extended in-person voting hours begin, when does your absentee ballot application need to be returned, or which third parties are allowed to handle completed absentee ballots.
Ohio State investigation: OSU investigated itself over Ted Carter. Amy Morona explains why experts say that’s a big deal.
What’s with all the giant letters on Ohio campuses? Amy Morona noticed the trend and reports many colleges are adding the big letters as they rethink how people interact with institutions in the social media era.
School funding ‘unfair’: Leaders from public school districts in Summit County this week shared a clear message: The state’s commitment to their students is broken, given funding policies that direct public dollars to charter and private schools. Read more from Signal Akron’s Carissa Woytach.
