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November 13th 2025. Len’s Political Note #766 Greg Landsman Ohio 01
2026 General Election
Greg Landsman
Ohio redistricted in the middle of the decade. Not because Texas redistricted to gain five Republican seats. Not because California redistricted to gain five Democratic seats back. Not even because Missouri redistricted to gain a Republican seat. Not because other states are considering partisan redistricting.
Ohio has redistricted because Ohio law requires it.
Based on a constitutional amendment passed In 2018, the state legislature has the initial responsibility for creating Congressional districts. A joint committee submits a proposed map of districts to the legislature. That map goes into effect if three fifths of both the House and the Senate AND if the proposal is approved by at least half the largest minority party (The Democrats).
That effort to get bi-partisan approval was not achieved for 2022. When that happens, the responsibility goes to a seven-member backup commission which is made up of specific public officials or public officials’ appointees. The current commission, reflecting who has been elected, has a 5-2 Republican majority, That committee can pass a map only if there is a bi-partisan vote, One Democrat and three Republicans would get it passed. That did not happen for the 2022 districting. When that failure happens the decision returns to the legislature – but the legislature no longer has bi-partisan restrictions, The legislature only needs a majority vote for the new map. There is on limitation. That map, at the beginning of the decade, is good for only two elections. The map the Ohio legislature passed was only good for 2022 and 2024,
For 2026, the process, began again for a map that would last until 2030. For 2026, the legislature again failed to get a majority of Democrats to vote for a proposed map. But, as explained by the Democrats on the backup commission, if the legislature could create districts without limitations, what it might create would be a worse gerrymandering. The two Democrats voted to approve the Commission’s new map of Congressional Districts as did all five Republicans,
While there are a few districts affected in a minor way. A couple of heavily Democratic districts became more Democratic, for instance, Several Republican districts became more Republican. Three Districts, however, are important to talk about.
Ohio 09, an already Republican leaning district that includes part of Toledo, was made even more Republican by the backup Commission. The district is represented by 79 year old Democrat Marcy Kaptur, a moderate Democrat with roots in the Catholic left. She already holds the record for the longest serving woman in Congress. Ohio Republicans thought they had redistricted her out of office for 2022, but the Republican who won the primary embarrassed himself with lies about his military service. The Republican who ran in 2024 had no such major defects, but he lost by 2,382 votes, less than a single percentage point. DONATE to the Marcy Kaptur campaign. She will need every bit of help she can get in 2026. See Len’s Political Note #718.
Ohio 13 is a tossup district the commission made tilt slightly Democratic. It is represented by 39 year old Emilia Sykes, the scioness of an African American family. Her father and mother have both represented Akron in the state legislature. A former state legislator herself, Emilia Sykes was first elected to Congress in 2022. The probable Republican candidate for 2026, who apparently was expecting an easy ride as a result of redistricting, has withdrawn from the race. Someone else will materialize. This is not an automatic win for Emilia Sykes. DONATE to her campaign. See Len’s Political Note #728.
Ohio 01 is a district that the 2022 redistricting had given a slight (D+3) lean making it possible for Democrat Greg Landsman to challenge a long time Republican Congressman successfully, The backup Commission’s redistricting for 2026 gave the district a R+5 lean. If Greg Landsman is going to keep his seat, it will require hard work and resources.
Greg Landsman had a substantial career before attempting his own electoral politics and running for the Cincinnati City Council. As an undergraduate at Ohio University, among his volunteer activities was work with Democratic Governor Ted Strickland. After graduating, he went to Washington where he worked for Nancy Pelosi. At that time, she was campaigning among her colleagues to become the first woman to serve as whip for Congressional Democrats.
Landsman joined Bill Bradley’s 2000 Presidential campaign. Having chosen a candidate who did not win, he taught Spanish in Virginia before continuing on to Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2007, he got a Master’s Degree from Harvard’s Divinity School.
Greg Landsman married and, not long after he got the divinity degree, returned to working for Governor Ted Strickland as head of a newly created Department of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives which was part of Strickland’s anti-poverty effort. Eventually Greg Landsman chaired Ohio’s Anti-Poverty Task Force. The Task Force goals included creation of a state Earned Income Tax Credit; expansion of Medicaid coverage to parents and children; increased home energy assistance; and the eventual revision of federal poverty guidelines.
In 2010, Greg Landsman became Executive Director of the Cincinnati version of the Strive Partnership which was intended to involve corporations in ending poverty. In 2015, shortly before joining the City Council, he created his own anti-poverty group that led a coalition to ensure children’s access to high quality preschools. Interestingly, his anti-poverty group also funded efforts to help children of Ethiopian Israelis.
Greg Landsman is a man of integrity. But he did have a lapse. In 2017, the second time he ran, he was elected to the Cincinnati City Council. He was reelected in 2021. In 2018, Mayor John Cranley asked Harry Black, the City Manager, to resign. Greg Landsman and four other Members of the nine-person City Council texted each other. They were looking for a way to keep the City Manager in his job. A public records suit obtained the texts and emails and a local judge found this Gang of Five had violated Ohio’s Open Meeting Law.
That was not the end of it. The State Auditor got involved as did a state appointed Special Prosecutor. More texts and emails were released. By the time a Special Master had reviewed all of those communications, including communications unrelated to the City Manager dispute, two council members (one a Gang of Five member and one not) were charged with seeking a bribe, another was prosecuted for destroying phone records, and Greg Landsman was heard wondering whether all that messaging was legal.
Cincinnati voters were probably not at all certain that text messages and emails really were Open Meeting violations. The Prosecutors were right. If the majority of a public body communicates with each other toward making a policy or personnel decision outside of a meeting, in any state that has an Open Meeting Law, they would be violating that law.
Even if the voters in Cincinnati were convinced that Greg Landsman had violated the law, they forgave him. In one of the few districts that the Ohio legislature had not gerrymandered to ensure a Republican victory, Greg Landsman was elected to Congress. In 2022, he defeated long-time incumbent Steve Chabot.
National and Cincinnati Democrats had agreed. Greg Landsman had been their best possible candidate, the Democrat most likely to be able to get a win in 2022. He is the son of a teacher and an executive from Federated Department stores. After he lost the City Council race in 2013, he developed boxing as a new hobby. He used boxing as a metaphor for politics. He talked about the need to jab, to move, and to act quickly, the need for perseverance and grit. Despite the metaphor and the Open Meeting fiasco, on the City Council he was a peacemaker.
On the City Council, Greg Landsman made a housing proposal so substantial, people assumed he was running for mayor. He followed up his experience as head of an anti-poverty business partnership which had already introduced a comprehensive preschool proposal and proposed further support of early childhood education.
Greg Landsman was able and willing to rebuild bridges. In one of the disclosed texts, one of the Gang of Five, but not Greg Landsman, had accused Deputy Mayor Christopher Smitherman of using his wife’s diagnosis and eventual death from cancer for political gain. On live camera, in a Council meeting, Smitherman repeated his disdain for those comments during a debate about whether even more texts should be revealed. Greg Landsman responded on live camera. He spoke to Smitherman directly and apologized – a real apology, not the kind we see so often in public. Emotional, Smitherman accepted the apology and told Greg Landsman he had brought dignity to the City Council.
Elected to Congress in 2022, Greg Landsman took office in January, 2023. In February, Ohio had a terrible train accident. In East Palestine, not in his district, he was active in finding a response and supported the Rail Act, as did members of both parties. The new law required more frequent inspections and promised stronger penalties for those responsible for such accidents.
Later in his tenure, Greg Landsman worked to make it possible for small business owners to be eligible for unemployment insurance and to strengthen mental health programs, and to find ways to. prevent suicide, especially among veterans – all bipartisan proposals. Working with Ohio members of Congress including the moderate to progressive Emilia Sykes and the relatively far right Max Miller, together they worked to allow the use of federal law enforcement grants to recruit new members of the police and to pay recruitment bonuses.
Greg Landsman’s campaign website lists priorities. His first priority issue is lowering costs for families. He touts his participating in reducing the cost of insulin and decreasing the cost of some prescription drugs for seniors. His second priority is creating jobs and strengthening the economy. He particularly notes the need to make child care affordable, to offer job training, and to increase the minimum wage. And his third priority is reproductive health and rights – protecting women’s medical choices.
Greg Landsman is a moderate Democrat, well positioned to sustain himself in a district that has suddenly developed a lean toward the Republicans. DONATE. Help him win thr 2026 election.
OTHER OHIO RACES
OHIO
United States Senate Special Election. Sherrod Brown wants to return to the United States Senate. The 72 year old, three term Senate spokesman for workers lost 46.5 to 50.1 to Bernie Moreno, a 58 year old Colombian immigrant and owner of several car dealerships. Ohio’s other incumbent Senator left office in 2024 as well. JD Vance was elected Vice President. Governor Mike DeWine appointed his Lt. Governor, Jon Husted, to replace Vance. Sherrod Brown is running against Husted in a special election for the opportunity to complete the remaining two years of what had been Vance’s sjx year term.
Sherrod Brown raised $7 million by September 30. Jon Husted, raised a bit less than $6 million. The most recent poll, from mid-October, had Sherrod Brown leading 49-48. a contrast to an August poll when he trailed 50-44. Help Sherrod Brown reclaim his place in the Senate. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #750.
Amy Acton
Governor. Although there are hints that former Congressman Tim Ryan might run, former state medical director and child of poverty and divorce Dr. Amy Acton is the only Democrat in the race for this seat — open because Governor Mike DeWine is term limited. Dr. Amy Acton is compared to Dr. Anthony Fauci by her admirers and her detractors. Her Republican opponent is Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk’s DOGE collaborator until they had a falling out. A mid-October poll had her trailing Ramaswamy 50-47. With support, she could catch him, though she will never have the financial resources he has. Ramaswamy’s net worth is $1.3 billion. A Pennsylvania billionaire has donated $10 million to a campaign PAC. On June 30, Amy Acton reporting having raised $1.35 million. With your help and others, she can raise enough to compete. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #724.
Secretary of State. Two interesting Democrats are running for this position. Idealist country doctor Bryan Hambley announced early for this position and I wrote Len’s Political Note #715 about him. A more practical politician, Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, has recently announced. She is a terrific candidate about whom I wrote when she ran for Congress in 2022. See Len’s Political Note #393. DONATE to Hambley. DONATE to Russo. Defeat State Treasurer Robert Sprague as one of a few term limited Ohio electeds who are attempting a game of musical chairs.
Attorney General. John Kulewicz, long distance swimmer, partner in a large Columbus law firm, and member of the executive committee of the state Democratic Party, his only elective office has been as a local city councilor. Retiring from his law practice, he wrote a book and traveled to all 88 counties in the state on a listening tour as he considered his candidacy for Attorney General. For several months it appeared that the only Democrat in the race was Elliot Forhan, a one-term volatile legislator who was stripped of his committee roles by Minority Leader Allison Russo and prevented access to the House by the Republican Speaker after he visited the home of a fellow member of the House to complain and quarrelled with others. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Keith Faber, former State Auditor as Ohio officials, faced with term limits, have been playing a kind of electoral game of musical chairs. DONATE to John Kulewicz’ campaign. With him on the ballot, Democrats will have a strong slate of state wide candidates.
A REPUBLICAN HOUSE SEAT THAT COULD BE FLIPPED IN 2025
Aftyn Behn
Tennessee 07. The Republican incumbent has resigned. The primary has been held. Democratic State Rep Altyn Behn is the Democratic nominee. State cabinet member Mark Van Epps is the Republican nominee. Tennessee Republicans had “cracked” the Nashville seat that elected Democrats and gave Tennessee 07 enough Democrats so there is a possibility of a Democratic win, but not a likelihood. Aftyn Behn took on the Tennessee legislature pressing them to move discipline of legislators and legislative staff to the Attorney General’s office. Mark Van Epps exercised some control over elected and appointed officials as the official responsible for must state purchasing. The election is scheduled for December 2. DONATE to support Aftyn Behn. See Len’s Political Note #758
