Gavarone considers running for secretary of state

SANDUSKY — State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, said she might enter the race for Ohio's secretary of state position next year. The incumbent is Frank LaRose, a Republican, who is term-limited in 2026. There are already two announced candidates in the 2026 race for the office: • On the Republican side, former state Senator Niraj Antani, who is from Miamisburg, announced a few days ago he is running. • There's also a Democratic candidate, Dr. Bryan Hambley, a physician from the Cincinnati area who specializes in treating leukemia. The Ohio secretary of state oversees state elections, appoints members of election boards, reviews proposals for state ballot issues and deals with other election matters. Campaign finance reports are turned in to the office. The secretary of state also maintains records of required business filings. Weighing her options Gavarone confirmed her interest on Monday to the Register but said it may be a while before she makes a final decision. "I've been approached by leaders from throughout the state asking for me to consider a run," she said. Gavarone then ran down some reasons why she's qualified for this position, which oversees statewide elections as well as registers companies to do business in Ohio. "I'm proud to have authored successful legislation to strengthen Ohio's elections by finally requiring a photo ID to vote, ensuring stringent post-election audits and listing the partisan affiliation for Supreme Court justice candidates on the ballot," Gavarone said. "I plan to spend the next few months traveling the state to meet with election officials and party leaders as I weigh a potential run." Gavarone, whose northern Ohio district includes Sandusky and Port Clinton, won a new four-year term in the Ohio Senate last fall, so if she ran for another office next year, she would have her current job to fall back on if she didn't win. An attorney and businesswoman, Gavarone, 58, has been active in politics for many years, serving in the Ohio House before moving to the Ohio Senate in 2019. As she mentioned in her statement to the Register, Gavarone has authored many bills dealing with elections that have been signed into law in the last few years. She also sits on the Ohio Ballot Board, allowing her to chime in on the language presented to voters in state questions. For example, she authored language for last fall's redistricting reform proposal, which voters rejected, that said it would require gerrymandering to provide the political balance in drawing up legislative districts. Opponents criticized the wording, but it was upheld in an Ohio Supreme Court decision. The other candidates Antani, described in news reports as the first Indian-American and the first Hindu to serve in the Ohio Senate, ran for the U.S. House last year but came in tenth in an 11-person Republican primary in Ohio's Second District. Republican David Taylor won the election in the southern Ohio district, replacing Brad Wenstrup. Hambley, making his first race for election office, says he wants to end gerrymandering. "Our broken system for drawing political districts allows incumbent politicians to decide the boundaries of their own districts, enabling them to draw their way to a safe seat and unchallenged power," he said on his campaign website, hambleyforohio.com.