Ohio gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014

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Ohio Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: May 6, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

November 4 Election Winners: John Kasich Mary Taylor

Incumbents prior to election: John Kasich Mary Taylor

Ohio State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General Down Ballot Treasurer, Auditor

Current trifecta for Republicans

State executive offices in Ohio

The Ohio gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014. Incumbents John Kasich (R) and Mary Taylor first won election in 2010 and ran for re-election successfully in 2014.^[1] Kasich and Taylor defeated Democratic candidates Ed FitzGerald and Sharen Neuhardt as well as Green Party candidates Anita Rios and Bob Fitrakis to new four-year terms.^[2][3]

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Ohio utilizes an open primary system. In an open primary system, a voter does not have to register with a political party beforehand in order to vote in that party's primary. In Ohio, voters select their preferred party primary ballots at their polling places on Election Day.^[4][5][6][7]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Candidates

General election

John Kasich/Mary Taylor - Incumbents ^[8]
Ed FitzGerald/Sharen Neuhardt^[9][10]
Anita Rios/Bob Fitrakis^[11][12]

Lost in primary

Larry Ealy/Ken Gray^[13]

Disqualified

Dennis S. Spisak/Suzanne Patzer^[14]
Charlie Earl/Sherry Clark^[15][16]

Declined to run or withdrew

Tim Ryan - U.S. House Rep. Ohio's 13th Congressional District^[17][18]
Betty Sutton - Former 13th District House Rep.^[17][19]
Richard Cordray - Director of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and former attorney general, state treasurer^[17]
Todd Portune - Hamilton County Commissioner^[20][21]

Results

General election

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Kasich/Mary Taylor Incumbent	63.6%	1,944,848
	Democratic	Ed FitzGerald/Sharen Neuhardt	33%	1,009,359
	Green	Anita Rios/Bob Fitrakis	3.3%	101,706
Total Votes				3,055,913
Election results via Ohio Secretary of State

Primary election

Democratic primary

Governor/Lt. Governor of Ohio - Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ed FitzGerald/Sharen Neuhardt	83.1%	366,056
Larry Ealy/Ken Gray	16.9%	74,197
Total Votes		440,253
Election results via Ohio Secretary of State.

Republican primary

• Uncontested

Race background

Incumbent Republican John Kasich appeared to be vulnerable in late 2013, as it looked like he would face a primary challenge from the right and a general election made difficult by a full slate of Ohio Libertarian Party candidates. These challenges faded in early 2014, as Kasich faced no primary challengers and the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate was disqualified. Though he still faced two opponents, Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and Green Party candidate Anita Rios, polling in May 2014 showed Kasich with improved ratings and a growing lead.^[22]

In August 2014, The Washington Post reported on a series of setbacks for FitzGerald, including poor fundraising, a long-delayed driver's license, an unusual occurrence with a foreign trade representative, and major staff turnover.^[23] These events affected FitzGerald's poll numbers, as Kasich's lead widened from single digits to 30% in September, according to a Columbus Dispatch poll.^[24]

Potential candidates

See also: Ballot access requirements in Ohio

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan had been considered a strong potential Democratic candidate for the 2014 Ohio gubernatorial election but ultimately opted against entering the race in March 2013. He decided that challenging incumbent Gov. John Kasich was not worth forfeiting his seat in the U.S. House, particularly in light of his reappointment to the influential Appropriations Committee in the 113th Congress.^[25][26]

Tea Party primary challenge

Ted Stevenot, an Ohio Tea Party leader, had planned to announce a primary challenge to incumbent Governor Kasich.^[27] In early January 2014, however, Stevenot and his running mate, Brenda Mack, decided not to challenge Kasich.^[28] In his prepared statement, Stevenot said that his running mate's financial history, which had been the subject of recent critical news coverage, was not part of his consideration to withdraw.^[29]

Ballot disqualifications

Libertarian Party

The Libertarian Party of Ohio had intended to file a full slate of candidates to contest each election. However, due to the number of signatures rejected on their ballot access petitions, no candidate ended up qualifying.^[30]

On March 7, 2014, the Libertarian gubernatorial ticket was stricken from the ballot, having initially received the secretary of state's approval following a legal challenge from a self-identified Libertarian voter.^[31] The challenge alleged that Charlie Earl's signature-gathering effort had been led by Democrats; however, this allegation was not the basis of Secretary of State Husted's decision. Husted found that some of the signature gatherers had failed to properly identify their employer on the correct form and therefore rejected the signatures they had gathered.^[32] Ballot Access News reported that the decision could impact future elections: "With no gubernatorial candidate on the November ballot, the party will lose its status as a qualified party."^[33] The Libertarian Party of Ohio failed to win an injunction against this disqualification twice at the district court level and, after a similarly unsuccessful appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency relief that would have allowed Charlie Earl to appear on the May 6 primary ballot. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case.^[34] On May 2, the Supreme Court rejected the petition.^[35] On June 4, a petition for re-hearing before the full Sixth Circuit was rejected, leaving an appeal to the district court as the only possible source of redress.^[36][37]

Green Party

Both of the Green Party's candidates were also disqualified for signature-related issues. Two alternative candidates filed to run as write-ins on the Green Party line: Anita Rios and Bob Fitrakis for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. To get on the November ballot, Rios and Fitrakis needed to receive 500 write-in votes in the primary on May 6. They succeeded and participated in the general election.^[38]

Polls

Potential match-ups

Money in the race

Mid-year campaign financial reports detailing the first six months of the year were due on July 31, 2013. Incumbent Kasich reported about $4.4 million on hand at the end of June, raising nearly $2.6 million in the first half of the year. Challenger Ed FitzGerald brought in over $600,000, leaving him with $544,000 on hand.^[39]

Campaign media

Ed FitzGerald

John Kasich

Past elections

2010

Governor/Lt. Governor of Ohio, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Kasich/Mary Taylor	49%	1,889,186
	Democratic	Ted Strickland/Yvette McGee Brown Incumbent	47%	1,812,059
	Libertarian	Ken Matesz/Margaret Ann Leech	2.4%	92,116
	Green	Dennis Spisak/Anita Rios	1.5%	58,475
	Write-In	David Sargent	0%	633
Total Votes				3,852,469
Election results via Ohio Secretary of State

2006

Governor of Ohio, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ted Strickland	60.5%	2,435,505
	Republican	J. Kenneth Blackwell	36.6%	1,474,331
	Non-Partisan	William S. Peirce	1.8%	71,437
	Non-Partisan	Robert Fitrakis	1%	40,967
	Write-In	James Lundeen	0%	579
	Write-In	Larry Bays	0%	73
Total Votes				4,022,892
Election results via Ohio Secretary of State

Voter turnout

Political scientist Michael McDonald's United States Elections Project studied voter turnout in the 2014 election by looking at the percentage of eligible voters who headed to the polls. McDonald used voting-eligible population (VEP), or the number of eligible voters independent of their current registration status, to calculate turnout rates in each state on November 4. He also incorporated ballots cast for the highest office in each state into his calculation. He estimated that 81,687,059 ballots were cast in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, representing 35.9 percent of the VEP.^[40] By comparison, 61.6 percent of VEP voted in the 2008 presidential election and 58.2 percent of VEP voted in the 2012 presidential election.^[41]

Quick facts

• According to PBS Newshour, voter turnout in the 2014 midterms was the lowest since the 1942 midterms, which took place during the nation's involvement in World War II.^[42]

• Forty-three states and the District of Columbia failed to surpass 50 percent turnout in McDonald's analysis.

• The three states with the lowest turnout according to McDonald's analysis were Texas (28.3 percent), Tennessee (28.6 percent), and Indiana (28.8 percent).

• Maine (58.5 percent), Wisconsin (56.5 percent), and Colorado (54.5 percent) were the three states with the highest turnout.

• There were only 12 states that increased voter turnout in 2014 compared to the 2010 midterm elections.^[43]

Note: Information from the United States Elections Project was last updated on December 16, 2014.

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $26,020,774 during the election. This information was last updated on April 3, 2015.^[44]

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
John Kasich Mary Taylor	Ohio Governor		$21,414,148
Ed Fitzgerald Sharen Neuhardt	Ohio Governor		$4,602,489
Anita Rios Bob Fitrakis	Ohio Governor		$4,137
Larry Ealy Ken Gray	Ohio Governor		$0
Grand Total Raised			$26,020,774

Key deadlines

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Ohio + Governor + elections"

See also

• Governor of Ohio
• Lieutenant Governor of Ohio
• Ohio state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Governor of Ohio
• Ohio Lieutenant Governor

Footnotes

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