ATHENS, Ohio — Athens County voters have cast their ballots in the 2026 general election. Unofficial election night results can be found below.
Governor
Democratic candidate Amy Acton carried Athens County, defeating Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to become governor. In Athens County, Acton received 13,308 votes, nearly twice as many as Ramaswamy’s 6,389.
Acton is a former public health official who guided Ohio’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic leading the Ohio Department of Health from 2019 to 2020 with Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a former pharmaceutical executive who ran for president in 2024 and was tapped by President Donald Trump to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, but stepped down to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.
David Pepper, an attorney from Cleveland, ran with Amy Acton for lieutenant governor. He previously served as chair of the Ohio Democratic Party (2015–2021).
Ramaswamy’s running mate, Robert McColley, became a member of the Ohio Senate in 2017 and was voted president of the state senate in 2025. He previously represented District 81 as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (2015–2017).
Treasurer
Democratic candidate Seth Walsh took the majority of the vote in Athens County, defeating local Republican Jay Edwards. Walsh received 62.8% of the vote (12,721 votes) to Edwards’ 37.2% of the vote (7,509 votes).
Edwards, who is from Nelsonville, previously represented Ohio House District 94 (2017–2024). In the May primary, Edwards defeated state Sen. Kristina Roegner to become the Republican candidate on the ballot.
Smith currently is a member of the Cincinnati City Council and ran unopposed in the May primary election.
Both officials made affordability and economic revitalization a focus of their campaigns.
Attorney General
Democrat John J. Kulewicz led Athens County in the race against Republican Keith Faber, who is Ohio’s 53rd auditor of state. The elected candidate won 12,807 votes; Faber received 7,335. Kulewicz will replace Republican Andy Wilson, who temporarily took the role after David Yost resigned in June.
Faber became Ohio’s 33rd auditor of state in 2019. He previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives (2001–2006, and again 2017–2018), and was a state senator (2007–2016)
Kulewicz has worked as a litigator for over 40 years and is a Upper Arlington city council representative.
Ohio Supreme Court
Athens County cast 12,903 votes for Democrat Marilyn Zayas to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court, elected over Republican Daniel R. Hawkins in the 2026 general election.
Incumbent Justice Hawkins was elected to the state supreme court in 2024, defeating Democrat Lisa Forbes. Hawkins was a Franklin County prosecutor for over a decade.
Zayas has been a visiting judge on the Ohio Supreme Court and a member of Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals since 2016, as well as having been appointed to serve on four other Ohio appellate courts. She was previously an information technology manager at Procter & Gamble.
Democrat and incumbent Jennifer Brunner led her race in Athens County for the Ohio Supreme Court with 12,984 votes after defeating Republican Colleen O’Donnell, who received 7,031 votes in Athens County.
Justice Brunner was elected in the 2020 general election, defeating Republican Judith French. Prior to serving on the state supreme court, Brunner was a judge on the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals (2014–2020).
O’Donnell has served as a federal immigration judge in Laredo, Texas, and was on the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas General Division (2013–2023).
U.S. Senate
Democrat Sherrod Brown received 12,700 total votes in Athens County, winning the race to fill the senate seat for the next three years over Republican incumbent Jon Husted, who received 6,508 votes; Greg Levy, Independent, who received 575 votes; and Libertarian William B. Redpath, who received 544 votes.
Husted, the incumbent candidate, was lieutenant governor in January 2025 when he was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine to fill the senate seat vacated by Vice President J.D. Vance. Husted was previously in the Ohio Senate (2009–2011) and Ohio House of Representatives (2001–2009).
The elected candidate will serve the remainder of Vance’s six year term, and be up for reelection in 2029.
In 2024, Brown lost the senate election to Republican Bernie Moreno, after previously serving three terms (2007–2024). Brown previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Ohio’s 13th District (1993–2007), as Ohio Secretary of State (1983–1991), and in the Ohio House of Representatives (1975–1982).
Levy championed his campaign as a proud socialist, according to his website. Redpath’s campaign centered on “conservative stances on economic issues and generally liberal positions on social issues,” according to his campaign site.
Issue 3
In Athens County, Issue 3 – a constitutional amendment requiring state voters to present photo identification in order to vote – received 10,153 yes votes and 9,822 no votes.
If enacted, the amendment would place identification requirements in the state Constitution requiring in-person voters to provide an approved form of photo identification, and mail-in voters to provide with their ballot photo identification or supplement a unique identifier, such as the last four digits of their social security number. The amendment will describe approved forms of identification, including a passport or passport card, unexpired drivers license or state identification card, a military or National Guard identification card, or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs identification card, according to the ballot.
