Ohioans affiliated with both major political parties will decide next month who will run in the fall to be the next secretary of state. On the Democratic side, the contest pits an oncologist specializing in leukemia against the former leader of Democrats in the Ohio House.
After eight years, the five statewide executive offices are all open, as the Republicans who occupy them are term limited, That includes Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
Since January 2025, Cincinnati leukemia doctor Bryan Hambley has been campaigning to take over for him. He said he's gone to more than 200 events in his trusty set of wheels.
“The best political vehicle in the state of Ohio is a Toledo-made, UAW (United Auto Workers) made Jeep Wrangler with a rag top. Because you pull back the top, and it's a perfect parade vehicle," Hambley said in an interview. "So I bought it with 16,000 miles on it last March, and we just crossed 63,000 miles on it."
Miles and maps - redistricting maps - are on Hambley’s mind in this campaign: "I'm running for secretary of state because gerrymandering is the upstream problem in Ohio's democracy."
For eight months, Hambley was the lone candidate in the race. Then in August, Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) jumped in.
"I'm running for secretary of state because I believe so strongly in the power of voting, and ensuring that every single Ohioan has access to fair, free and secure elections," Russo said in an interview.
Hambley says there are two key differences between him and Russo.
“First, Rep. Russo unfortunately voted with Republicans in 2023 for unconstitutional gerrymandered maps. I believe that was a mistake," Hambley said, referring to Russo's role on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which voted unanimously for a compromise Congressional map in October 2023. "Second, I think, especially for secretary of state, corporate PAC money is an upstream problem in our democracy. These corporations have far too much power. That's why I have committed to raise more money than any Democrat ever for a down-ballot office, and to do it without taking one dime of corporate PAC money.”
Russo said she waited until August to join the race because she didn’t want to leave her leadership post until the state budget process was over. She also said she doesn't believe she caved in her Ohio Redistricting Commission vote.
"I felt like I made the smart and the right decision at the time, because the reality is our redistricting process is absolutely broken. It is not going to function the way that it should," Russo said. "So the choice I had to make was, do we continue to put the pen in the hands of this Republican majority who refuses to draw fair districts and allow them to continue to gerrymander more, or do we make some negotiations? And those negotiations were key because they restored the citizen-led referendum process, and it actually gives us a pathway to breaking the supermajority in 2026.”
Russo said she agrees redistricting reform is important and she wants to see another ballot issue, but she's clear she doesn't think the secretary of state should advocate for one.
“That's not my job as the secretary of state. It's to give those efforts, regardless of what they are, a fair shot," Russo said.
Hambley said he’s worked with a medical team in Cincinnati to improve the cancer care available to patients. And he believes he has the cure for Democrats in Ohio.
“We have had a disaster for my party, the Democratic Party in Ohio over the last decade," Hambley said. "We need to rebuild. We need to do it by building teams, not just individual candidates running for their own ambition. We need to have a long term vision."
Russo said her legislative experience is what’s needed in this moment.
“We need a secretary of state that's going to come in on day one with the experience and ready to do the job, and to be the guardrail to both this legislature that we see that is openly hostile to voting and to the president of the United States himself, who every day shows that he wants to interfere with our election process," Russo said.
But Russo and Hambley agree that they will endorse whoever wins the Democratic primary. That victor will go on to face the winner of the Republican primary for secretary of state, which features term-limited Treasurer Robert Sprague against retired Air Force lieutenant and elections activist Marcell Strbich.
