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Rep. Jo Ann Davidson on the Ohio House floor in 1981.
Rep. Jo Ann Davidson (R-Reynoldsburg) on the Ohio House floor in 1981. [Karen Kasler | Ohio Channel]

The history-making Republican who was the first and only woman speaker of the Ohio House dies

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Jo Ann Davidson, the first woman to be speaker of the Ohio House and a fixture of state Republican politics for decades, has died.

Jo Ann Davidson was born in Indiana, and in 1938 her newly-widowed mother moved the family to Findlay when Davidson was 11. Davidson eventually moved to Reynoldsburg with her husband, and served as a Reynoldsburg City Councilmember for 10 years before winning a House seat in 1980. Democrats were the majority then, with longtime speaker Vern Riffe in charge.

But after the so-called “Republican Revolution” swept the GOP into national and statewide offices in 1994, Davidson was elected speaker.

The following year the Ohio Statehouse was reopened after a major renovation. In a speech from the dais to commemorate the event, Davidson noted that in 1861, lawmakers voted to allow women into the House to hear President Abraham Lincoln speak.

“When you consider that the motion to allow women into the House chamber passed, although not by a unanimous vote, and my guess it might not pass by a unanimous vote today,” Davidson said as laughs filled the chamber.

Davidson was considered a conservative Republican, especially on fiscal policy, but she supported abortion rights and unions. She had to wrestle with her GOP colleagues throughout her term as speaker, culminating in a battle for the gavel in 2000.

Former House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson sits on a bench at the Statehouse in 2017.
Former House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson at the Statehouse in 2017. [Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]
As she was leaving office after term limits were approved by voters, she had planned her successor to be the late Bill Harris of Ashland. But Larry Householder, then a two-term representative from Perry County, lobbied Republicans in contested primaries and got enough support to beat Harris, who ended up being appointed to the Senate and eventually became its president.

Davidson was the first chair of the Ohio Casino Control Commission in 2011 and was a trustee for several universities. She ran presidential campaigns at a time when Ohio was a competitive swing state that no Republican had lost but still won the White House. She helped bring the 2016 Republican National Convention to Cleveland, though she supported then-Gov. John Kasich over Donald Trump.

Davidson was inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2018, and singled out women officeholders she’d worked and served with.

“These are the women that are doing what needs to be done. They’ve given of themselves to do that,” Davidson said. “My goal is to reach out and be sure that every woman is empowered and has a chance to do that.”

Over the last 24 years, the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute has trained hundreds of women for public service and elected office.

Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement: “Jo Ann dedicated her life to public service and the people of Ohio, a model public servant who was full of wit, intelligence, class, and skill. She was a trailblazer in the truest sense.” He ordered flags lowered to half-staff in her honor until sunset on the day of her funeral, which has not been scheduled.

Jo Ann Davidson was 97.