COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State Rep. Laura Lanese, a former member of Ohio House Republican leadership, has unexpectedly decided to not run for re-election in the Aug. 2 state legislative primary.
Lanese, of Grove City, informed the Franklin County Board of Elections and local Republicans on Wednesday of her decision, and announced it more broadly on her official Facebook page on Thursday morning.
She didn’t give a reason for the move, but wrote on Facebook she did so with “mixed feelings” and said she “will miss many aspects of the job.”
Lanese, who took office in January 2017, would have been eligible to run for another two-year term. The Franklin County seat she’s running for leans Democratic, although is winnable for Republicans. Russell Harris, a consultant with the Ohio Education Association who lost against Lanese in the 2020 election, is the lone Democratic candidate to file for the seat, while David Dobos, a former president of the Columbus school board, is the lone remaining Republican.
Lanese is among a shrinking number of moderate Ohio House Republicans, and held the fifth-ranking House GOP leadership position during the previous two-year General Assembly.
Among bills she’s sponsored this session -- none have cleared the Republican-controlled House -- include a proposal to repeal House Bill 6, the nuclear energy bill at the center of a federal corruption probe, the bipartisan House Bill 121, which would eliminate spousal exceptions for some sex offenses and House Bill 690, a bipartisan proposal to require that at least one member of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio be nominated by the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel, the state utility consumer watchdog agency.
Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp in a statement called Lanese a “respected voice for her constituents for many years.” He said Dobos also is an “outstanding” candidate.
In related news, Democratic State Rep. Adam Miller officially is running for the 6th Ohio House District in the Columbus area.
Miller had sued in the Ohio Supreme Court last week trying to force elections officials to let him run for the 6th House District, in a case that could have had broader implications for other prospective legislative candidates. But the Franklin County Board of Elections certified him on Wednesday without the court order.
It’s unclear what the development will have on Miller’s case, which challenged Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s interpretation of a residency requirement for legislative candidates, which has been complicated this year because of the election delays and confusion that’s resulted from Ohio’s dysfunctional redistricting process.
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June 09, 2022 at 09:39PM
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Ohio House Republican Laura Lanese drops out of August election - cleveland.com
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