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A study shows this key group of Ohio voters may sit on sidelines in the midterm election

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Most pundits are predicting a blue wave across the country this November. But advocates for a particular group of Ohio voters suggest their voices might be missing in this midterm election.

Ohio Black Legislative Caucus Foundation President Shayla Davis (at mic) speaks to the press at the Ohio Statehouse during Black History Month 2026
Ohio Black Legislative Caucus Foundation President Shayla Davis (at mic) speaks to the press at the Ohio Statehouse during Black History Month 2026. [Jo Ingles | Statehouse News Bureau]
The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Foundation (OLBCF) reports that there are more than a million registered Black voters in Ohio. Yet OLBCF Executive Director Shayla Davis said a study shows 603,000 of them don’t vote in midterm elections.

“We see that these organizations that are being led by Black people – they’re doing the work. But it doesn’t necessarily translate back to the community,” Davis said.

Davis said Black lawmakers are doing good work and proposing policies that could help Black Ohioans. But she said voters don’t often realize that: “That’s why this fight is so critical. The community doesn’t realize what the fight is for the Black legislators.”

Davis said it’s important for lawmakers to talk to their constituents about the work they are doing, and why it’s important for voters to cast ballots in primaries and midterm elections.

“There is a resistance. I mean, when you look at the Statehouse, there is a supermajority here. We are trying to break that,” Davis said. “That could change with this midterm election, and this is why it is so important for people to understand what is happening so that they can get involved, feel empowered, and show up to vote because we control who is elected and who gets to have a seat at the table.”

Except for the two-year session in 2009-2010, the Ohio House has been Republican-run since 1994, and the GOP has held a supermajority in 10 of those 16 sessions. Republicans have held the Ohio Senate since the 1983-1984 session, and have been in the supermajority every session since 1992.