The 2006 election cycle represented the most competitive election cycle for the Ohio General Assembly in a very long time with several incumbents losing their seats and open seats switching from one party to the other. In looking ahead to 2008 its worth looking at where open seats may occur as a result of term limits. Twenty seven members of the Ohio House of Representatives and 6 members of the Ohio Senate will be unable to run due to legislative term limits – including Speaker Jon Husted. The overwhelming majority of these term limited legislators are Republican – they account for 20 of the 27 term-limited Ohio House members and all 6 of the term-limited Ohio State Senators. Races for open seats (where there isn’t an incumbent running) are generally believed to be more competitive. In this most recent election 3 open seats switched from Republican to Democrat.

Members of the Ohio General Assembly Term-Limited in 2008

Ohio House

Name Party District

James Aslanides R 94
Joyce Beatty D 01
Tom Brinkman R 34
Ken Carano D 59
Jim Carmichael R 03
Thom Collier R 90
Tony Core R 83
Kevin DeWine R 70
George Distel D 99
Steve Driehaus D 31
Keith Faber R 77
Diane Fessler R 79
Larry Flowers R 19
Jim Hughes R 22
Jon Husted R 37
Bob Latta R 06
Bob Otterman D 45
Jon Peterson R 02
Chris Redfern D 80
Steve Reinhard R 82
Michelle Schneider R 35
Bill Seitz R 30
Arlene Setzer R 36
Fred Strahorn D 24
Shawn Webster R 53
John White R 38
Larry Wolpert R 23

20 Republican and 7 Democratic Ohio House members are term-limited in 2008.

The Ohio Senate

Name Party District

Ron Amstutz R 22
Steve Austria R 10
Randy Gardner R 02
Jeff Jacobson R 06
Larry Mumper R 26
Robert Spada R 24

Let me know if I calculated any of these wrong because I came across a lot of conflicting term limit information.