UNITED STATES SENATOR
Candidate: Sherrod Brown (Democrat, Incumbent)
Bio: Sherrod Brown is an incumbent U.S. Senator representing Ohio. He is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a former Ohio Secretary of State, and a former Member of the Ohio House of Representatives.
Candidate: Bernie Moreno (Republican)
Bio: Bernie Moreno is a Westlake businessman who was born in Bogota, Colombia. He moved to the United States in 2005 and became an American citizen at age 18. Moreno graduated from the University of Michigan and has owned and operated car dealerships. He first ran for the U.S. Senate in the Ohio Republican primary of 2022 but dropped out in February of that year.
OHIO SUPREME COURT
*Republicans currently hold a 4-3 majority. If Democrats win all three races, it would become a 4-3 Democratic court. If Republicans win all three races, it would become a 6-1 Republican court.
Candidate: Michael P. Donnelly (Democrat, Incumbent)
Bio: Michael P. Donnelly is a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2019. His current term ends on December 31, 2024. Donnelly received his undergraduate degree from John Carroll University and his J.D. from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1992 and began working as an assistant prosecutor for Cuyahoga County. In 1997, he left that role to become an attorney at the firm of Davis & Young, where he worked until 1999. He then joined the firm of Climaco, Lefkowitz, Peca, Wilcox & Garofoli, working as a private practice attorney until his election to the common pleas bench in 2004. Donnelly was a judge on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division in Cleveland, Ohio, from 2005 to 2018.
Candidate: Megan E. Shanahan (Republican)
Bio: Megan E. Shanahan is a judge of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas General Division in Ohio. She assumed office on April 13, 2015. Her current term ends on January 14, 2029. Before her appointment to the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, Shanahan served as a municipal court judge for the Hamilton County Municipal Court. She also previously served as an assistant prosecutor for the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office and for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, and as a prosecutor for the Mt. Healthy Mayor’s Court.
OHIO SUPREME COURT
Candidate:Melody Stewart (Democrat, Incumbent)
Bio: Melody Stewart is a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court. She assumed office in 2019. Her current term ends on January 1, 2025. Stewart received her undergraduate degree in music from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. She then received her J.D. from the Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and her Ph.D. from the Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. After working as an assistant law director, Stewart began a career in education. She lectured, taught, and worked as an assistant dean at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. She later joined the faculty of this school and taught classes on ethics and professional responsibility, criminal law, criminal procedure, and legal research, writing and advocacy. Stewart also worked as the director of student services for the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and taught at the University of Toledo College of Law and Ursuline College. Stewart was a judge on the Eighth District Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, from 2007 to 2018. She was elected to the court on November 7, 2006, and was re-elected in 2010 and 2016.
Candidate: Joseph Deters (Republican)
Bio: Joseph Deters is a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 7, 2023. His current term ends on December 31, 2024. Deters served as the Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney from 1992 to 1999 and again beginning in 2005. Prior to this, Deters was clerk of courts for Hamilton County. Deters graduated from St. Xavier High School, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Deters was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court in 2023, but is challenging Stewart for her position instead of running for to fill out the term of his own current seat.
OHIO SUPREME COURT
Candidate: Lisa Forbes (Democrat)
Bio: Lisa Forbes is a judge of the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals. She assumed office on January 1, 2021. Her current term ends on January 1, 2029. Forbes earned a bachelor’s in public policy from Cornell University in 1985 and a J.D., summa cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1992. During law school, Forbes served first as an associate editor on the law review and then as executive notes editor. Forbes’ career experience includes working as a partner in the Cleveland office of the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP.
Candidate: Dan Hawkins (Republican)
Bio: Dan Hawkins is a judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas General Division in Ohio. He assumed office in 2019. His current term ends on January 6, 2025. Hawkins earned a B.S. in criminal justice from Bowling Green State University in 1998 and a J.D. from The Ohio State University in 2001. His career experience includes working in the Franklin County prosecutor’s office and then as a judge in the Franklin County Municipal Court before becoming a judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.