Ohio House Speaker Matt Hoffman, R-Lima. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo with original article only.)
Ohio’s Republican legislative leader is defying President Donald Trump’s push to federalize the election.
House Speaker Matt Huffman, known as the most influential lawmaker in the state, apparently shut down any presidential bid in the Ohio election.
Trump commented on elections last week, saying they should be “nationalized” and complaining that blue states and cities can’t hold elections honestly.
He told the journalists, ‘In the election, the agent of the federal government is the province. “I don’t know why the federal government wouldn’t do that.”
While on CNN the day after Trump’s comments, U.S. Sen. John Husted, Ohio Republican, said the Ohio election went well, but pushed for more monitoring in other states.
“They don’t have photo ID in California,” Hustedt said. “They don’t keep their voter rolls properly in California.”
Both he and fellow Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno are supporting the federal legislation, dubbed the “Savings Act.” that, among other provisions, proof of citizenship is required to register to vote. Individuals must present their birth certificate or passport.
“Senator Moreno is a staunch supporter of measures to protect the integrity of our elections,” Moreno’s spokesman, Reagan McCarthy, said when asked what he thought about federalizing elections. “He is a proud co-sponsor of the SAVINGS Act and will work with anyone to ensure elections are fair, fair and secure.”
But outside of D.C., statehouse leaders are pushing back.
“The state of Ohio should be in charge of the state of Ohio’s elections,” Hoffman said when asked if Ohio should cede power to the president.
While other Republicans danced around Trump’s comments, Hoffman insisted that Ohio would run its election, saying no.
“I don’t think states should give up their elections in any way,” he said. “For one thing, is the federal government going to come in and run township trustee elections? Are they going to come in and decide who’s running for school board, or fiscal officer, or thousands and thousands of other elections?”
The House speaker has previously dismissed Trump’s ideas, such as when he said the president would not pressure him to produce the congressional map the White House wants.
Huffman, however, has been a part of redistricting cases in which he has asked federal courts to step in and help rule on how the legislature can control map-making. This federal court ruling overturned a bipartisan Ohio Supreme Court ruling that required Republicans to stop gerrymandering.
Answering an unrelated question, Hoffman talked about Congress and the division of states.
“There are federal things that the federal government does and things that the state government does…” Huffman said. “There are a lot of things that the federal government does that are unfortunately not federal functions.”
Case Western Reserve University election law expert Atiba Ellis said Trump does not have the authority to federalize elections.
“If Congress chooses to make changes in the context of federal elections, and federal elections only, Congress can do that,” Ellis said. “The president cannot declare that the Republican Party or whoever can take the election.”
What he can do, the professor said, is push states to mirror federal law.
He said, ‘Congress can make laws regarding federal elections, which the states will have to follow. “When you bring these together, there’s a bit of unity in that sense.”
House Minority Leader Danny Isaacson, D-Cincinnati, warned that it had happened before.
Several months ago, the state waived its four-day grace period for mail-in ballots, as the Supreme Court was dealing with a similar issue. Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine, who disagrees with Trump on many controversial issues (alleged election fraud, COVID, vaccines, LGBTQ+ rights, redistricting, Haitian and Somali immigrants, for example), said he was “reluctant” to sign the bill, arguing that Ohio’s elections and laws are safe.
“The current leadership in Ohio is acting at the behest of Donald Trump to restrict people’s right to vote,” Isaacson said.
Over the past several years, Ohio has passed several bills affecting voters, including limiting Dropbox access and requiring photo ID. Many laws have been heard or are currently before the federal courts.
Isaacs was asked if he felt any reassurance from Hoffman’s comments against giving state power to the feds.
“Unfortunately, Ohio’s leaders right now, including the Secretary of State in particular, have not shown the will and desire to increase access to the ballot for Ohioans,” he responded. “…It doesn’t give me much confidence to hear from people who have passed bill after bill to limit access to the ballot for the people of Ohio.”
Meanwhile, Huffman is adamant that Ohio will hold the reins.
“I don’t think it should happen,” Hoffman said. “I don’t think it will.”
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, has touted the state as the “gold standard” of elections, saying dozens of his audits have shown no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Ohio is a national model for election administration, but as the president rightly points out, some other states are failing to meet minimum standards of election integrity, such as citizenship verification and voter ID,” LaRose spokesman Ben Kindel said when asked about Trump’s involvement in Ohio’s election. “That’s why Secretary LaRose is a strong supporter of federal legislation that sets these minimum standards, particularly the SAVINGS Act.”
Future Election Supervisor
The front-runners in the 2026 secretary of state race, who have filed campaign finance reports, were asked for their reactions to Trump’s comments.
“There are a lot of states that don’t take election security as seriously as Ohio,” said Dalton Throckmorton, a spokesman for Republican state Treasurer Robert Sprague. “President Trump has been urging Congress to pass legislation requiring photo ID to vote, and Treasurer Sprague supports that.”
The team did not respond when asked if that meant the federal government should choose cities or states.
Republican Marcel Strabich said elections are already federalized because of provisions such as the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
“The notion that this is the only state function is wrong. The Constitution doesn’t say that. Congress has the right to enact election laws,” Strabich said. “The Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act all supersede state laws. That’s why it’s a myth that states control elections. They manage elections.”
He added that Trump is trying to get states to comply with the maintenance of voter rolls.
Democratic House Rep. Alison Russo couldn’t disagree more.
“Our U.S. Constitution specifies that the administration of our election process is a state function. President Trump’s alarming escalation of attacks on election integrity and his comments about federalizing the election process should be a five-alarm fire for anyone who cares about fair, free and secure elections,” Russo said. “It is clear that his intention is to seize control of our elections so that he can manipulate the results to his liking, not as the people decide.”
Democrat Brian Hambly said Trump’s comments signaled a bigger problem.
“Politicians have long used their power to manipulate our elections for their own purposes, and President Trump’s proposal is just that: an attempt to usurp the power to take control of elections from the states,” Hambly said. “Ohio’s elections are safe and secure, and should continue to be run by our state officials.”
Follow up WEWS Statehouse reporter Morgan Trow on X and Facebook.
This was the article Originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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