The vote that made Larry Householder the Speaker of the Ohio House again 14 years after he left that position was the end of the months-long battle to lead the chamber, but it’s the beginning of some new work and potentially some more big changes ahead.
Householder got half of his 52 votes from Republicans, half from Democrats. Ryan Smith won a majority of the Republican caucus but only got 46 votes total. Householder says votes for the rest of the new leadership team in the House will come in time.
“I think both of these caucuses right now are fractured," he said. "I’ve actually encouraged the Democrats to take their time as well in looking at their leadership.”
Democrats selected Fred Strahorn as their leader in an informal leadership vote last month. But Strahorn supported Smith, and 26 of his 38-member caucus backed Householder – leading to speculation that a shakeup among the minority leadership could be possible.
