Possible exception No. 2: An in-state environmental disaster, say, for example, pollution by natural-gas-fracking underneath state parks and game lands – in a state whose constitution (hard to believe) is pro-conservation.
Few topics can invite more raucous grandstanding than the death penalty, a Stone Age practice that some states have abolished. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 23 states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty.
It’s hard to believe that the Ohio General Assembly’s red-hots would readily repeal the death penalty altogether, especially in an election year. But if Ohio’s spiritual leaders have the oomph to annually reel in roughly $1 billion in (unconstitutional) state aid for nonpublic schools – and they have and do – you’d think death-penalty abolition is a fair Statehouse possibility.
Meanwhile, agreed, on the environmental front, it’s hard to expect that a legislature that has virtually required fracking in state parks and hunting areas would act against fracking this year. But that supposes an ideal world, in which accidents can’t happen. They do, though
And a massive wildlife kill due to fracking-gone-wrong would be huge and negative Statehouse news. For sure, it’d make the 6 o’clock fright-cast, alerting even the slash-and-burn crowd that Bambi’s been orphaned or killed. (Then again, maybe the General Assembly’s ad wizards could deploy the cult cartoon, “Bambi Meets Godzilla,” to highlight Eastern Ohio’s frack-around-the-clock-fest.)
Still, rather than crisis-spurred legislation, if any, the General Assembly’s 2026 session will likely be more a sound-and-light show than an amateur reenactment of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. That is, “debate” will be more about messaging, with Republicans extolling their candidate for governor, Upper Arlington tech whiz/billionaire Vikram Ramaswamy, and with Democrats similarly boosting their candidate for governor, Dr. Amy Acton, of Bexley.
Making this election-year’s Statehouse badminton interesting legislatively, Ramaswamy’s running mate for lieutenant governor is Napoleon Republican Rob McColley, president of the state Senate. (Democrat Acton’s running mate for lieutenant governor: Former Democratic State Chair David Pepper, of Cincinnati.)
The future of Ohio’s death penalty and the state’s ecology aside, other potential substantive matters may intrude on the General Assembly’s calendar.
For example, DeWine and the state Budget director he appointed, Kimberly Murnieks, have been excellent stewards of Ohio’s finances, with Wall Street agencies boosting the ratings of state-issued bonds,.
Meanwhile, though, Medicaid, the federal-state health-care program for low-income people, is the single most expensive undertaking in Ohio’s budget. It provides what amounts to health insurance to more than 1 in 4 Ohioans.
The challenge: Ohio, like every other state, is more a Medicaid administrator than a policy maker; for Big Picture purposes, Medicaid policies are set by Congress and Donald Trump’s administration.
And that limits states’ operational control of Medicaid. Worse: Congressional and Trump administration whims are, to be tactful, just that. And the Congress and Trump have taken actions that may threaten the survival of a dozen-plus rural Ohio hospitals, whistling-in-the-dark notwithstanding.
So given those potential statewide complications on the policy side, the 2026 session is likely to feature more yammering about Ohio’s two-year, pork-barrel construction bill (stadiums, anyone?) and the race for governor rather than – heaven forfend – philosophical principle.
That is, the legislature’s 2026 session may be more about politics than policies. But in fairness, when hasn’t it been that way?
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com.