Ohio Statehouse Elects 'Moderate' Republican for Speaker with Democrat Support

The Ohio statehouse elected a “moderate” Republican with help from Democrats on Tuesday over the Republican caucus’s initial choice for the top spot.

Ohio state Rep. Jason Stephens (R) won the speakership in the statehouse on a 54-43 margin over state Rep. Derek Merrin (R), who was considered the speaker-elect after he won the unofficial vote from his caucus only three months ago. Stephens won support from all 32 Democrats in the statehouse and another 22 other Republicans, while Merrin only received 43 votes, which all came from Republicans.

According to Cleveland.com, over the last few days, Stephens and his allies won support from the Democrats to propel him into the speakership. Without the support from the Democrats, Stephens’ bid for the speakership against Merrin would have split the vote, and neither candidate would receive a majority of the votes needed.

After the vote to elect Stephens occurred on Tuesday, he told the statehouse, “I pledge to respect and to work with each and every one of us to address the many concerns of our state.”

Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer explained:

Merrin was expected to move the House even farther to the right than the GOP-dominated chamber has been in recent years, backing measures that, to date, haven’t passed – including a near-total abortion ban, an anti-union “right-to-work” bill, a proposal to phase out Ohio’s income tax, and a “backpack bill” that would expand school vouchers. Stephens, while conservative, is not considered to be as far to the right as Merrin.

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It’s the second time in four years that a Republican has been elected speaker of the Ohio House thanks to votes from Democrats. In 2019, Democrats provided Larry Householder the votes he needed to unseat then-Speaker Ryan Smith, though they later came under criticism after Householder was arrested the following year and charged with overseeing a $60 million bribery scheme.

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As speaker, Stephens will have broad power over which bills are voted on by the lower chamber and which die in committee. State lawmakers will have to pass a massive new two-year state budget plan this year and have a number of controversial issues to tackle, from abortion to taxes.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D) also told reporters that the Democrats in the statehouse only decided roughly two hours before the vote that they would support Stephens, ultimately propelling him to victory. She added that “no grand deal” was made with the now-speaker for their support.

However, she did say, “there were lots of discussions about things and areas of agreement on issues” and noted that both Republicans vying for the top spot reached out to her about securing Democrat support. Reportedly, Merrin only won support from his conference after a third candidate in the closed-door caucus vote dropped out and threw his support towards him over Stephens.

A similar situation to the one that happened in Ohio has been floated in the U.S. House of Representatives to elect a so-called “unity speaker” after the Republican House majority failed to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Tuesday and part of Wednesday.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), who nominated incoming House Minority Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for the speakership position, said on Wednesday that Democrats would be open to working with Republicans to elect a speaker. “We would look at that, but I haven’t seen any proof that Republicans are willing to engage,” he stated.

U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been unable to secure a majority of the voters after a small fraction of Republicans continuously voted for their own pick, restricting him from getting the majority needed.

With the top spot in the U.S. House still vacant, members cannot be sworn in to officially start the 118th Congress, which would likely include investigations to hold the Joe Biden administration accountable.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.