Editing Ohio Republican Party (section)

==History==
[[File:1876 Republican National Convention - Ohio.jpg|thumb|The Republican National Convention at Cincinnati 1876]]
After the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Ohio politics was dominated by the Republican Party, and Ohio Republicans also played key roles in the national party. As the national Republican Party changed from a party affiliated with Northern states into a staunchly [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] party, so did the Ohio Republican Party.

===Early years===
[[File:Ulysses S Grant by Brady c1870-restored.jpg|thumb|right|President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] (1869–1877)]]
[[File:President Rutherford Hayes 1870 - 1880.jpg|thumb|right|[[Rutherford B. Hayes]] (1877–1881)]]
[[File:James Abram Garfield, photo portrait seated.jpg|thumb|right|President [[James A. Garfield]] (1881)]]
[[File:William Howard Taft, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front.jpg|thumb|President [[William H. Taft]] (1909–1913)]]
[[File:William McKinley by Courtney Art Studio, 1896.jpg|thumb|right|President [[William McKinley]] (1897–1901)]]
[[File:Warren G Harding-Harris & Ewing.jpg|thumb|right|President [[Warren G. Harding]] (1921–1923)]]

Early Ohio Republicans such as [[Salmon P. Chase]] staffed many important national offices. Chase coined the phrase "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men".<ref>{{cite book |last=Blue|first=Frederick|title=Salmon P. Chase A Life in Politics |publisher=The Kent State University Press |isbn=0-87338-340-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/salmonpchaselife0000blue/page/n5/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}</ref> Starting in the 1880s, Ohio's [[Mark Hanna]] was a significant power in the back rooms of the national Republican party. In the 1890s, Hanna led the conservative wing of the party against [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s progressive movement.

In the 60 years from 1860 to 1920, Ohioans headed the Republican presidential ticket nine times, losing only twice. In 1912, [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Woodrow Wilson]] won with 40.96 percent of the vote, the Republican ticket was split, with Theodore Roosevelt leaving to start the [[Bull-Moose Party]]. In the 1916 election, Wilson won again with 49.24 percent of the vote.

During the next three presidential elections, the Republican candidate won Ohio, until 1932 when [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] won the state. FDR would win Ohio in [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]], [[1936 United States presidential election|1936]], and [[1940 United States presidential election|1940]].<ref>{{cite web|author=David Leip |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |publisher=Uselectionatlas.org |access-date=2011-12-14}}</ref>

===Post New Deal===
The national political upheaval that ushered in the [[New Deal]] era in the 1930s benefited the [[Ohio Democratic Party]]. Party politics in Ohio became very competitive, with Republicans and Democrats trading victories at all levels.

During this time [[Robert A. Taft]], known as "Mr. Republican," became the leader of the conservative wing of the Republican party during a time when progressives controlled both major parties, and one of the most popular Senators in Ohio history.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, Republicans still won the majority of elective offices in Ohio. Starting in the 1960s Ohio Democrats began to win more elections with rulings from the [[United States Supreme Court]] that required district representation be based on population and not land sized. The equalization of legislative districts shifted power to Ohio's cities and away from rural farmers. By the mid-1980s, Ohio government at all levels was dominated by Democrats.

By 1990, the Republicans had won a majority on the [[Ohio Apportionment Board]], which draws district lines for federal and state legislative seats. The 1992 adoption of term limits by referendum further strengthened the party's hand and 1992 marked the last victory by a Democrat ([[John Glenn]]) in a statewide race until 2006.

===State of the party===
Redistricting after the 2000 census combined with Ohio's term limits laws had Republican officeholders at the federal and state levels struggling with each other to draw federal congressional districts to create safe seats, with the interests of incumbent US representatives clashing with the interests of state legislators facing term limits looking to Congress for their next jobs. About 43 percent of the voters voted for Democrats in 2000.

Joe Hallett wrote in the ''[[Columbus Dispatch]]'' (January 13, 2002):
<blockquote>
Redistricting should be a happy process for Republicans.... But the task has hardly been gleeful. Contrarily, it has turned into an embarrassment for Republicans.... Eight-year term limits, more than the state budget, are to blame. These days, state lawmakers constantly are scouting their next jobs.... [V]isions of Congress dance in their heads. They want districts ready-made for their ascensions. Meanwhile, congressional incumbents constantly angle for districts they can't possibly lose.</blockquote>

Although term limits were pushed by conservative Republican activists in the 1980s, they forced the retirement of Republican [[List of Speakers of the Ohio House of Representatives|Speaker]] [[Jo Ann Davidson]] (R-Columbus) from the House of Representatives in 2001 as well as the leader of the conservative wing of the party, Deputy Speaker [[William G. Batchelder]] (R-Medina).

In 2001, Republicans sought [[United States House of Representatives]] seats held by Democrats [[Sherrod Brown]] and [[Ted Strickland]]. The state legislature considered redrawing their districts. Critics allege the motivation was to aid in Republican victories. When Democrat Brown threatened to run for governor in 2002, if he lost his seat through redistricting, the legislature scrapped redistricting plans. Republican Governor Taft won re-election. Taft was challenged by [[Cuyahoga County, Ohio|Cuyahoga County]] commissioner [[Tim Hagan]]. Both Brown and Strickland held onto their congressional seats.

By 2004, Republicans held all six statewide executive offices (governor/lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, and treasurer), a two-thirds majority in the state [[Ohio State Senate|senate]] and [[Ohio House of Representatives|house]], a 5–2 majority on the [[Ohio Supreme Court|Supreme Court]], both seats in the US Senate, and 12 of Ohio's 18 seats in the US House of Representatives. In 2006, Democrats began to retake some statewide offices. These include all of the executive offices except State Auditor (including the governorship going to [[Ted Strickland]] over Republican challenger [[J. Kenneth Blackwell]]) and one of the seats in the US Senate ([[Sherrod Brown]] defeating incumbent [[Mike DeWine]]).

Ohio Republicans still held ten seats in the US House of Representatives, one seat in the U.S. Senate, and a majority in both houses of the [[Ohio General Assembly]]. Between the election of [[Robert Cupp]] in 2007, the death of Chief Justice [[Thomas Moyer]], and the appointment of Democrat [[Eric Brown (judge)|Eric Brown]] in 2010, Republicans had controlled all seven seats on the Ohio Supreme Court previously.

In 2008, Democratic presidential candidate [[Barack Obama]] defeated Republican [[John McCain]] in Ohio.

In 2010, Republicans regained all of the statewide elected executive offices, including the governorship with the election of [[John Kasich]], and regained the majority in the state House of Representatives and retaining the state Senate. Republicans also retained their seat in the U.S. Senate with the election of [[Rob Portman]] and retained a majority of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition, 8th District Representative [[John Boehner]] was elected [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]], making him third in line of succession (and the highest ranking Republican) to the [[President of the United States|Presidency of the United States]].

In November 2011, Gov. [[John Kasich]]'s law that limits public worker's union bargain abilities was voted down by the people of Ohio.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carr |first=Julie |url=http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2011/11/09/news/doc4eb9e420815ad301290735.txt |title=Ohio voters reject Republican-backed union limits |publisher=news-herald.com |access-date=2011-12-14}}</ref> This was a major blow to the platform that Gov. Kasich ran on in 2010.

=== Pro-Donald Trump turn ===
In 2017, [[Donald Trump]] helped to install Jane Timken as head of the Ohio Republican Party.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Balmert|first=Jessie|title=Ohio GOP calls on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to resign for impeaching ex-President Trump|url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/05/07/ohio-gop-vote-censuring-rep-gonzalez-over-trump-impeachment-vote/4953443001/|access-date=2021-05-11|website=The Enquirer|language=en-US}}</ref> When she left to run for the Senate, the Ohio Republican Party replaced her with former Trump Ohio campaign manager Bob Paduchik.<ref name=":0" />

In 2021, the Ohio Republican Party called on Republican House Representative Anthony Gonzalez to resign after he voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting a pro-Trump mob to [[January 6 United States Capitol attack|storm the U.S. Capitol]].<ref name=":0" /> The party also voted to censure Gonzalez.<ref name=":0" /> The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that the Ohio Republican Party "has increasingly become the party of Trump."<ref name=":0" />

On December 1, 2023, the Ohio Republican Party became the first state Republican Party to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2024.<ref name="2024Trumpendorse">{{cite news |last1=BeMiller |first1=Haley |title=Ohio Republican Party endorses Donald Trump for president in 2024 |url=https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2023/12/01/ohio-republican-party-endorses-donald-trump-for-president-in-2024/71770115007/ |access-date=2 December 2023 |work=The Enquirer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201221007/https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2023/12/01/ohio-republican-party-endorses-donald-trump-for-president-in-2024/71770115007/ |archive-date=1 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="2024Trumpendorse2">{{cite news |last1=Sanderson |first1=Emily |title=Ohio GOP endorses Donald Trump in 2024 presidential run |url=https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-gop-endorses-donald-trump-2024-presidential-run/46011946 |access-date=2 December 2023 |work=WLWT |date=1 December 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that the endorsement was "a rare move that underscores the former president's grip on state GOP officials."<ref name="2024Trumpendorse" />

Ohio GOP Chair [[Alex Triantafilou]] in January 2025 commented on [[2024 Ohio Issue 1|Issue 1]] on gerrymandering, where Triantafilou said that "we did our job" because "a lot" of voters were "confused by Issue 1", which means voters "don't know", thus Triantafilou concluded: "Confusing Ohioans was not such a bad strategy."<ref>{{Cite web |last=LaPointe |first=Roger |title=Ohio GOP Chair: 'Confusing Ohioans was not such a bad strategy' |url= https://www.thenews-messenger.com/story/news/local/2025/01/14/ohio-gop-chair-brags-confusing-ohioans-during-election/77669351007 |access-date=April 14, 2025 |website=Fremont News-Messenger |date=January 14, 2025 |language=en-US}}</ref>