An Overview of the 2026 Midterm Election
Written By: Brandon N-G TOLEDO, Ohio – Early voting in Ohio is complete, and Election Day is finally here. Every citizen has been encouraged to vote by their peers, friends, classmates, professors, and family members this year.
Every voter has seen tv ads, brochures, and relentless phone calls. Some are attacking the other candidate; others are desperately trying to get you to vote for them and their party.
Each candidate can affect the lives of Ohio citizens. Some of the issues- healthcare, education, inflation, gas prices, and data centers- are what voters have been considering when selecting candidates. Here is a breakdown of the candidates on the ballot and where they stand on key issues.
Candidates
Ohio Senator Race
Sherrod Brown (D)
Jon Husted (R)
Ohio Gubernatorial (Governor) Race
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Ohio’s 9th Congressional District
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Derek Merrin (R)
Healthcare
Sherrod Brown (D)
Some of the bills he has sponsored have become law, including the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, which helped ban pharmacy “gag clauses”, making insurers restrict sharing prices of medical drugs with pharmacists and hospitals, and increase antitrust oversight on companies making similar products to already FDA-Approved medical products. The MOBILE Health Care Act, which helped fund mobile health units without building new medical facilities.
Jon Husted (R)
Assisted in sponsoring several bills that have been introduced in the Senate. He sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2025, which cuts federal funding of abortion programs. He also supported the Alternatives to PAIN Act, which expands Medicare coverage of non-opioid pain medication to seniors. Additionally, he sponsored the HELP Copays Act, which helps cover patients paying out-of-pocket for any high-cost pharmaceutical drugs.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Protecting the Medicare and Medicaid programs from being cut by federal and state governments. She is also launching Ohio RX, a pharmaceutical program to help Ohioans leverage their purchasing power against Medicaid managers to bring down healthcare prices for all Ohioans.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Addressing severe cases of psychiatric illnesses throughout Ohio, “Slicing healthcare costs,” prosecuting fraudulent cases of Medicaid and Medicare. Diversify options for healthcare insurers.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Assisted in sponsoring the Opioid Settlement Accountability Act, which helped keep opioid manufacturers accountable and divert federal funding to crisis support services and more healthcare funding. She also sponsored the Global Fairness in Drug Pricing Act, which made it easier for consumers to find cheaper pharmaceuticals through peer nations.
Derek Merrin (R)
Introduced tax breaks for prescription eyeglasses and contact lenses and helped sponsor the Epinephrine Accessibility Act, which lowered costs and expanded the accessibility of epinephrine to consumers.
Taxes
Sherrod Brown (D)
Supports taxing billionaires and corporations, and opposed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which would have lowered corporate and top-bracket tax rates.
Jon Husted (R)
Co-sponsor of the Working Families Tax Cut Act, which helped working families get their taxes cut, introducing a child tax credit, no taxes on tips and overtime, and the introduction of Trump Accounts–Individual Retirement Accounts for children under 18 years old.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Supports tax cuts for Ohio working families and an earned income tax credit. She is also looking to lower costs for families in Ohio.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Planning on rolling back the Ohio state income tax, decreasing the property tax for homeowners, and providing relief on the gas tax in Ohio.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Criticizes tax breaks for corporations and billionaires. She voted against the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that covered tax cuts for tips and overtime, an increase in budget for the Department of Defense, and stricter oversight and cutting federal funding for social programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
Derek Merrin (R)
Advocates for lower tax rates on working families by cutting income taxes and opposing increases in tariffs.
Local Economy
Sherrod Brown (D)
Would like to rebuild domestic manufacturing and bring industries into Ohio, as well as protect Ohio workers by ensuring fair wages and supporting labor unions. He also supported the American Energy Worker Opportunity Act of 2024, which helped workers who were laid off from dying industries like fossil fuel and coal mining. This act also provided a worker transition into rapidly expanding industries like renewable energy maintenance.
Jon Husted (R)
Focusing on industrial growth in urban and rural Ohio, bringing jobs to Ohioans. He introduced the Upward Mobility Act, which helps reform a lot of public assistance programs and eliminate benefit cliffs–a phenomenon that occurs when a small bump in a worker's salary leads to a massive loss of qualifying for public assistance.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Economic platform has been focusing on working with real-time data that is to connect various local industries and encourage local businesses to grow, thus growing the state economy.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Vague regarding his plans for economic growth because he believes that tax cuts and deregulation would fill in the gaps for growth in Ohio.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Working to lower household expenses like gas and electricity. She supports organized labor and the reintroduction of domestic manufacturing in Ohio.
Derek Merrin (R)
Advocates for domestic production of energy and free enterprise, and is focusing on deregulating and cutting taxes.
Education
Sherrod Brown (D)
Supports public schools and dislikes voucher programs that affect how federal funding is funneled into Ohio’s educational system. He is in favor of increased federal funding in state education, teacher unions, low interest rates on student loans, and student debt relief.
Jon Husted (R)
Created the EdChoice Scholarship program so that Ohio families can have more educational options outside of what is stereotypically available.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Economic platform has been focusing on working with real-time data that is to connect various local industries and encourage local businesses to grow, thus growing the state economy.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Supports merit-based pay for teachers and professors, EdChoice, and skill-based training. He is also planning on integrating a technology and AI literacy curriculum in Ohio schools.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
In favor of more funding for public schools and partnering with teacher unions to push a safer workplace for them. She also supports an increase in STEM exposure in elementary and middle school. Link Toledo’s education system so students can learn 21st-century skills in demand in the current job market.
Derek Merrin (R)
Advocate for parental choice and allowing federal funds to follow students into whatever school–public, private, charter, etc. He also supports pushing alternative options of schooling for Ohio students, focusing education on what is needed in the workforce, and parental oversight of child education.
Inflation
Sherrod Brown (D)
Blames foreign conflicts, tariffs, and corporate price gouging for the cause of growing inflation. He introduced the Shrinkflation Prevention Act into the Senate in 2024, which addresses some of the issues by giving the Federal Trade Commission the authority to reclassify Shrinkflation as a deceptive practice and enforce the act on those corporations that violate it. This act will also address the issue of downsizing products, enforce a clearer price-per-unit disclosure, and reduce the price according to the product.
Jon Husted (R)
Blames Democratic environmental and energy policies for rising prices. His policies addressing inflation mainly affect families, like his tax cuts and his reformation of domestic energy production. Says these will bring more money to Ohioans by cutting away expenses that affect them, and reforming domestic energy will bring more opportunities for private investment into Ohio.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Says her Working Families Tax Cut will help Ohioan families by reducing taxes or anything that could take away more of their take-home pay, like household expenses, utilities, and healthcare premiums.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Attributes inflation to high government spending, frequent money printing, and regulatory practices. He plans to address these issues by cutting costs that will affect take-home salary, like reducing state income and property taxes, and reducing regulations to ensure that utilities and housing expenses are also lowered for the average Ohioan. These methods are similar to what he has used when he was briefly co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Approaches inflation by cutting back on tariffs that affect Ohioan families with everyday expenses, similar to things passed under the Inflation Reduction Act. She plans to invest in domestic energy production for a decrease in long-term utility rates. Cutting funds to be used in foreign wars and bailouts, like the war in Iran and the bailout of Argentina under Javier Milei’s presidency.
Derek Merrin (R)
Plans to reduce inflation by cutting tariffs and taxes across the board and favoring deregulation to bring economic relief. He plans to bring energy back into Ohio so that utility rates are lowered.
Gas Prices
Sherrod Brown (D)
Intends to tackle gas prices by going after federal tariffs and stopping the ongoing conflict in Iran. He sees the conflict as one of the biggest factors in rising gas prices not only in Ohio, but everywhere.
Jon Husted (R)
Is willing to end the war in Iran since it is the biggest cause and has placed a temporary state-level suspension of gas taxes in Ohio to help relieve families of the rising cost.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Advocates for a similar gas tax suspension like Ramaswamy to help Ohioans. Except they won’t be funding the difference with state reserves and transportation funds like what the Republican-controlled House passed earlier this year on September 30th.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Advocates for a 90-day suspension of gas taxes in Ohio; this will impact not only commercial drivers but consumer drivers since it will lead to bigger savings for each group.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Believes that foreign conflicts, trade agreements, and tariffs are the factors in high gas prices. Addressing and fixing these issues by curbing gas prices from hiking upwards, ending the conflict with Iran, and eliminating Tariffs on gas-producing nations. She also helped pass the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act, which helped keep gas corporations accountable by enforcing penalties on them for excessive profiteering by the Federal Trade Commission.
Derek Merrin (R)
Is in favor of the gas tax suspension and ending international conflicts as an attempt to bring down gas prices. He helped push the gas tax holiday in the House earlier in September.
AI & Data Centers
Sherrod Brown (D)
Advocated for Big Tech to pay for its share of energy costs instead of Ohioan families paying the cost. He hasn't called for a moratorium on new data centers.
Jon Husted (R)
Brought data centers into Ohio while serving as Ohio’s lieutenant governor, bringing several tech investments into Rural Ohio. He experienced backlash for this. Supported the Ratepayer Protection Act, which helped rural Ohioans by charging Big Tech companies for upgrades needed to the local grid infrastructure to have the data center.
Dr. Amy Acton (D)
Supports a moratorium on new data centers and full utilities coverage by Big Tech companies, and transparency between data center workers and local communities. She has advocated for environmental policies similar to those mentioned by Ramaswamy.
Vivek Ramaswamy (R)
Has pledged to sign a moratorium on data centers after being elected unless state legislation is enacted. His pledge aims to eliminate, or at least lower, electricity bills for residents living near data centers. He also plans to enact environmental policies to ensure cleaner water and restrictions on where data centers can be built. Despite this, he has financially invested in data center supply chains; he says he will divest once elected.
Marcy Kaptur (D)
Opposes tax breaks for data centers and encourages big tech companies to cover the electricity costs needed to maintain massive data centers.
Derek Merrin (R)
Has advocated for data centers to foot the electric bill instead of local communities, attributing the high cost of utilities to data centers. Although he strongly opposes data centers for his constituents, he has voted for several tax incentives for data center manufacturers.
