Election Day is two months away from Thursday, meaning endorsements are going out in force, including in the race for the Ohio Supreme Court.
Democratic incumbent justices Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart are being challenged by Republican judges Megan Shanahan and Joe Deters. Republican Dan Hawkins and Democrat Lisa Forbes will face off for the third seat, which Deters is vacating, in November.
Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the state's highest court, but could swell it to 6-1 if they win all three seats. Democrats would need to retain their two seats and also win the third for the party to take a 4-3 majority. The bench has been red since 1986.
Four major businesses advocacy associations—the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Business Roundtable, Ohio Farm Bureau, and NFIB Ohio, a small business trade association—endorsed the GOP slate of candidates Wednesday morning.
Chamber CEO and President Steve Stivers said the decision was not about partisan politics. “In this case, they were all three Republicans, but this is not about the party label by the name. This is about judges that have the right judicial philosophy,” Stivers said at a news conference.
That philosophy, NFIB Ohio State Director Chris Ferruso said, is about “justices that are not looking to legislate from the bench, but call balls and strikes.”
The chamber hasn’t endorsed a Democrat for statewide office in any recent election cycles.
The coalition of business associations plans to pour seven-figures into the race, Stivers said, through a 501(c)(4)—often referred to as a dark money group because the groups don’t disclose donors and aren’t under donation amount caps.
The candidates' stances on liability, torts, taxes and redistricting informed their endorsement process. But other potential issues loom large in the race.
Although Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution last year, the supreme court will likely eventually decide whether existing GOP-backed state laws limiting the practice should remain on the books.
Abortion rights activists, including Abortion Forward, have endorsed the Democratic slate of candidates, while anti-abortion Right to Life Ohio endorsed the Republican one.
Only Shanahan weighed in on potential abortion proceedings when asked at the Wednesday event, saying she would follow her oath to follow the state constitution as it's written.
The Chamber of Commerce hasn't yet decided whether it will take a stance on Issue 1, overhauling how the state draws legislative districts, Stivers said.
“We could endorse a 'yes,' we can endorse a 'no,' or we could decide that there's not enough there for us to go either way and choose not to endorse,” he said.
Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Deters to finish Sharon Kennedy's term, which would have ended in 2026, after she was elected as chief justice in 2022. Deters chose to run for a full term against Stewart this year, instead in 2026 for his appointed seat.
