A look at what’s on the primary ballot

While the candidates for U.S. president have already been decided, central Ohio voters will still help determine contested candidate races for the U.S. Senate and House, Ohio House, as well as some county officeholders and local municipal and school issues in Tuesday’s primary election.

The biggest race statewide is the battle among three candidates seeking the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in the Nov. 5 general election — a race that could help determine which party controls that chamber in 2025. For Democrats, the biggest statewide race involves choosing which of two candidates should be the party nominee to fight for one of three contested Ohio Supreme Court justice seats in November.

The Dispatch 2024 Primary Voter Guide is here with information to help voters make their decisions at the polls, which will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. You can find your polling place at voteohio.gov.

After the polls close, come to Dispatch.com for the results on all the U.S., state and county contested candidate races (except party committees) and on municipal and school issues across central Ohio.

U.S. Senate

Three Republicans are battling for their party’s nomination: Matt Dolan; Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose, whose office oversees the state’s elections; and Bernie Moreno, who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. The winner will face Brown in November.

Ohio Supreme Court

In the only contested primary battle for three seats up for election this year on the state’s highest court, Democrats will decide between two appeals court judges for their party’s nominee. Tenth District Appeals Judge Terri Jamison, who lost her bid for the high court in 2022, and 8th District Appeals Judge Lisa Forbes are battling to see who will face unopposed Republican Dan Hawkins, a Franklin County Common Pleas judge, in the Nov. 5 general election.

President of the United States

Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump have already won enough other states to secure their respective parties’ nominations for what is expected to be another raucous battle in November based on the sniping during and after Biden’s recent State of the Union address. However, Ohio voters will still find party challengers listed on their primary ballots.

Franklin County prosecutor

In a historic race and the only one among Franklin County officeholders, three Black attorneys are vying for the Democratic nomination to replace current Prosecutor Gary Tyack, a Democrat who is retiring. They are: Delaware City Attorney Natalia Harris, who lives in Columbus; Columbus City Council member Shayla Favor, a former assistant city attorney; and Anthony Pierson, deputy chief counsel in Tyack’s office who has Tyack’s support.

At the request of the Columbus NAACP and others, the Franklin County Democratic Party Executive Committee chose not to endorse from among the three candidates. The Democratic winner will face the lone Republican on the primary ballot, Columbus defense attorney John P.M. Rutan, in November.

Ohio House contested races in Franklin County

● 3rd House District: Three Democrats are competing for the party nomination: Abdirizak Diini, a Somali community activist; Ismail Mohamed, a 31-year-old Columbus attorney; and Julie Trabold, 35, a nurse and political activist from Columbus’ Clintonville neighborhood. No Republicans are on the primary ballot.

● 5th House District: Three Democrats — Marco Miller, Meredith Lawson-row and Leo Almeida — are competing for their party’s nomination to replace incumbent Richard Brown, who is competing to become a Franklin County Common Pleas judge. There are no Republican candidates on the ballot, though a GOP candidate nearly won the seat last time around.

● 6th House District: Seven Democrats — Brandon Barcus, Patrick Barnacle, Eli Bohnert, Christine Cockley, Adhanet Kifle, Kawther Mussa and Elijah Williams — are competing to see who will face unopposed Republican Hussein Jabiri in November. Incumbent Rep. Adam Miller is not seeking reelection, instead choosing to run for the 15th Congressional District seat.

● 10th House District: Democrats Sarah Pomeroy and Mark Sigrist are competing for their party’s nomination, while Republicans Brian Garvine and Shafi Shafat are competing for their party’s nomination. Although incumbent Republican David Dobos’ name will also appear on the GOP ballot, he officially withdrew as a candidate after he was accused of lying on his resume after it was revealed that he did not in fact graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as he had long claimed.

● 12th House District: The district includes only a portion of western Franklin County, and all of Madison and Pickaway counties. Pickaway County Republicans Patty Hamilton and incumbent Brian Stewart are competing in the March 19