Winning elections for statewide offices in Ohio has been a futile and frustrating task for Democrats lately, in one election cycle after another.
There is currently one Democrat holding a statewide office — Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner.
Ohio had one Democratic senator until the November 2024 election, when longtime incumbent Sherrod Brown lost to Bernie Moreno.
A Democrat hasn’t been in the governor’s office since Ted Strickland, elected in 2006, lost to Republican John Kasich in 2010.
Next year, in 2026, Democrats will have another chance to break the GOP domination in Ohio, but it could be a steep, mountain goat climb in a state that has given its electoral votes to Donald Trump in three straight elections.
Maybe it is time for Ohio Democrats to try something else, something different.
Like an oncologist who wants to run for Ohio Secretary of State.
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An oncologist like Bryan Hambley, who believes GOP legislators and statewide officials can put their thumbs on the scale of elections with partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression tactics.
“I’m running for Ohio secretary of state because I am tired of watching people being disenfranchised by that office and by the legislature,’’ Hambley said. “Ohio voters don’t like to be cheated.”
Hambley, who lives in the Warren County portion of Loveland, is a hematology oncologist for UC Health, who specializes in leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
His wife Jana is a trauma surgeon, and they have two young children, ages 5 and 7.
What drove him to declare his candidacy for Ohio Secretary of State — more than a year before the Feb. 2026 filing deadline — is what the present secretary of state, Republican Frank LaRose, has done to confuse voters through deceptive ballot language.
Hambley says on his campaign website that LaRose’s office has twice written confusing ballot language through the Ohio Ballot Board, which LaRose controls.
In 2023, the ballot board approved misleading ballot language for the reproductive rights amendment, and in 2024 “purposefully misconstrued the outcome for the anti-gerrymandering initiative," Hambley said.
In 2023, the abortion rights amendment was approved by voters, but, in November, the Citizens Not Politicians amendment was defeated.
“No Secretary of State should use their authority over ballot language to voters to get the result they want,” Hambley said.
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By defeating the Citizens Not Politicians ballot issue, the Republicans have preserved a redistricting system that gives them the advantage they need in the Ohio General Assembly, Hambley said.
“But first, they had to sabotage the ballot issue itself,’’ he said.
The Ohio Ballot Board — three Republicans, two Democrats — is controlled by LaRose and includes State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, a Bowling Green Republican and a lawyer who considers herself the legislature’s authority on elections.
It was Gavarone, now the Ohio Senate majority floor leader, who worked with LaRose last year to craft ballot language for Issue 1 that the Citizens Not Politicians group considered to be misleading.
And it is Gavarone whom many in her party believe will be the GOP candidate in 2026 to replace LaRose, who is term-limited out next year.
Gavarone, 58, came up through the ranks in the traditional way — Bowling Green city council; appointment to the Ohio House and elected twice; appointment to the Ohio Senate in 2019, elected in 2020 and 2024.
The only really non-political part of her resume is that she and her husband own a Philly cheesesteak restaurant in Bowling Green called Mr. Spots.
Hambley’s resume is mainly focused on treating serious blood diseases.
But even as active as Hambley has been as an oncologist, he has always found time to help the Democratic Party, particularly in Warren County.
“Bryan is the first in the door and last to leave,” said Kelly Sakalas, chair of the Warren County Democratic Party. “He spent countless hours volunteering and knocking on doors supporting reproductive rights, fighting against gerrymandering, and supporting Senator Sherrod Brown.
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“We are lucky to have him here in Warren County, and Ohio will be lucky to have him as their Secretary of State,” Sakalas said.
But, good candidate or not, Hambley will be battling a mighty strong tide that has been breaking for the Republicans in Ohio for the better part of three decades.
David Niven, a professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, said it is clear the Ohio Democratic Party doesn’t have a deep bench of well-known, well-funded statewide candidates.
“Is it theoretically possible for a Democrat in Ohio running in one of the undercard races to out-perform the ticket?” Niven said, “Yes — but LeBron James is pretty busy right now.”
Still, Niven said, that is not to say that political newcomers like Hambley shouldn’t take a shot at it.
“It is, of course, enormously important that thoughtful people step up and take a stand,” Niven said. “Ohio Republicans have enjoyed an all but free pass to do whatever they want for some time in Ohio — and their maneuvers on the mechanisms of voting are easily among the most extreme in the nation.”
Hambley will not be the only physician on the ballot in next spring’s primary election — Amy Acton, who was Ohio’s director of public health during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
With a little over a year to go before the filing deadline, Hambley knows there may be one or more other Democrats jumping into the primary.
That does not worry him a bit.
“Some things are out of our control,” Hambley said. “We’re not going to spend time worrying about things we can’t control.”
Given how dedicated he is to his medical practice, he said turning his attention to politics was a hard decision to make.
“It was tough,’’ Hambley said. “But, in the end, I don’t think our responsibilities as citizens end at the hospital door. I will give it my best.”
