COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio House Republicans have chosen their speaker-elect for the 136th General Assembly: current Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) is now Ohio House Speaker-elect.
House Republicans took the vote behind closed doors on Wednesday evening.
“What was really neat was just seeing the unity in the caucus,” Rep. Jim Hoops (R- Napoleon) said.
This was a highly anticipated race that came after two years of Republican infighting but the race for speakership ended up being uncontested. Current House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) dropped out of the race 48 hours before Wednesday’s vote, giving up the chance of keeping his seat.
Rep. Tim Barhorst (R-Fort Loramie) was also eyeing the position but did not get nominated during the vote on Wednesday evening.
In a statement, Barhorst said there was “confusion around how the nominators were to get recognized,” but said he still looks forward to the next general assembly.
“I have congratulated President/Speaker-Elect Huffman,” Barhorst wrote in a statement. “Clearly this is not the outcome I was hoping for. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the next GA to deliver a conservative MAGA agenda for Ohio.”
Huffman has been Senate President for the past four years, where he has a fraction of the members he will have in the House. He said when he is sworn in at the start of the year, it is his job to represent all 65 Republican members.
“Not just in legislation or not just who's going first here, but also to defend them when somebody takes a crack at them,” he said. “We have to be brothers and sisters here, the 65 people, and that's my expectation. As you all heard me say more times than you want to hear, I can't tell anybody what to do. I can only ask them and that will be my ask and my expectation.”
Huffman said he thinks the Republican infighting will not be as big of an issue in the next General Assembly.
“People are going to get along a lot better, and they're going to get the things to get done because that's the way it is with everything in life,” Huffman said. “If you're not making people angry, they're more likely to do what you want to do, whether it's the governor, the Senate, your fellow members of the House.”
As far as priorities go, Huffman said those “come from the caucus” and if a “significant majority” want to do something, it will get done. Huffman also listed some of the things he wants to get through.
“School choice, reform of higher education, professional licensure reform, a whole number of tax reform items,” he said. “And I see that we've got a lot of experts in the House already who can help with that. So, it's going to be an exciting, exciting time for me in the House to come over and work with all these folks.”
Huffman, for example, is a big proponent of Senate Bill 83, a massive higher education reform bill that Stephens has held up during his time as speaker, and as of Tuesday, still has no intent of moving it forward.
Huffman has also pushed for major reforms to the state’s adult-use marijuana program, which Stephens also stalled in the House. Huffman also supported several bills that opponents call anti-trans, like the “bathroom bill” and ban on gender-affirming care for minors (Stephens also supported those).
Huffman is also expanding his leadership team, adding three positions. Huffman said that is to garner better communication.
“Being able to communicate, especially on increasingly complex issues, making sure that people get feedback or at least know what's going on, that's one of the things that helps eliminate upset stomachs,” Huffman said. “If you keep people waiting and if you don't tell them what's going on, you're going to have more problems with a large group of people. So, I think we need more communicators.”
All the positions are still not technically officially; there will be floor votes in each chamber at the start of the new year. Typically, it is a given that whoever is elected behind closed doors will win the House floor vote at the start of the year as well, but that did not happen at the start of this general assembly, though several members said they are confident there will not be a repeat of that.
Here are the other positions in both chambers, all elected behind closed doors this week:
Ohio House Majority:
Ohio House Minority: All Ohio House minority positions remain the same for the next GA as they are currently.
Ohio Senate Majority:
Ohio Senate Minority: Ohio Senate Minority leadership remains nearly the same for the next GA.
