Ohio Republicans choose Senate President Matt Huffman as new House Speaker; final vote set for next year

The speaker-elect came down to speak with reporters after the vote, sharing his enthusiasm for the next General Assembly.

“The one thing that I see with this group of 65 is really some incredible talent and real-world skills in terms of businesses. I think that we’re going to cultivate that and really do some good things,” Huffman said.

He had been the leader of the Senate for four years, ruling effectively, before he hit his term limit.

Huffman also announced his leadership slate:

Current Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) has decided not to seek reelection, opening the floor up to the two members.

Huffman will be a very different leader than Stephens. He is very focused on legislation around the private school voucher system. Also, he would likely eliminate the income tax, which could double the sales tax – he has support from big businesses. He wants to crack down on unions. Huffman wants to change universities to prevent so-called liberal bias and supported the August special election from the beginning, even suggesting that the amendment to raise the threshold could be made on a future ballot. His leadership team has said that voters didn’t actually know what they were voting for when they legalized marijuana, so they should be able to change the policy.

“I certainly have my own issues or things that I’d like to do — you all know what those are: school choice, reform of higher education, professional licensure reform, a whole number of tax reform items,” the speaker-elect said. “It’s going to be an exciting, exciting time for me in the House.”

Huffman also wants to change marijuana policy in the state to drastically limit THC. This doesn’t sit right with state Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Wintersville).

“I think marijuana policy for the most part has been decided by the voters — I support what they decided,” Ferguson said. “I’ll probably be a leading voice on that going into the next General Assembly.”

Several members told us that just because the vote was unanimous, doesn’t mean everyone is happy.

“There are a lot of people behind me that continue to be behind me,” Ferguson said. “And those people are still behind President Huffman for the floor vote.”

Ferguson didn’t want Huffman as speaker, and was set to root for state Rep Tim Barhorst (R-Fort Loramie). However, some lawmakers report major confusion in how to nominate for speaker, and Barhorst’s team either didn’t do it correctly or backed out of nominating.

“I have congratulated President/Speaker-Elect Huffman. Clearly, this is not the outcome I was hoping for,” Barhorst said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the next GA to deliver a conservative agenda for Ohio.”

But the story may not end there. The final vote will be in early Jan., when Democrats get to weigh in on the speaker. If you remember, Democratic support is how Stephens became speaker.

“I do think that there’s some reconciliation that needs to happen,” Huffman said.

I asked Huffman whether the members who don’t vote for him should be worried about retribution. He said that wouldn’t happen.

“It’s not logical when you have a group of 65 people, in a greater body of 99, but with 65 Republicans who of course don’t agree on everything but agree on many things,” Huffman said. “You can’t set people aside because of those issues.”

He then referenced how state Sen. Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) didn’t support him for Senate president, yet Huffman still appointed him as the chair of the Finance Committee.

“We’re going to start fresh in January of ‘25,” Huffman said. “There are several things I want to present to the caucus as changes as to how the House would operate – and we need a whole number of things, basically things that I’ve done here in the Senate,” Huffman said.