Ohio House of Representatives - Definition and Overview

Ohio has a bicameral legislature, the Ohio General Assembly, consisting a House of Representatives and Senate (the Ohio State Senate), based on its constitution of 1851. The House of Represenatitives first met in Chillicothe on March 3 1803, under the later superceded constitution of that year. The 126th General Assembly convenes starting in January 2005.

Members are limited to four consecutive two-year elected terms. (Terms are considered consecutive if they are separated by less than two years.) Time served by appointement to fill out another representative's uncompleted term does not count against the term limit.

There are 99 members of the house, elected from single-member districts. Every even-numbered year, all the seats are up for re-election.

On Nov. 18, 2004, two weeks after winning re-election as a member of the Democratic party, Rep. Derrick Seaver announced that he was switching to the Republican party, thus leaving the party distribution in the house at 60 Republicans and 39 Democrats. This represents a gain of two seats for the Democrats.

In the 2004 election, Democrats managed to capture two seats (41st district and 93rd district) by defeating sitting Republicans (the latter being Nancy Hollister, a former lieutenant governor and governor). Democrats captured the open seats in two districts (62nd and 63rd) formerly held by Republicans. Democrats managed to hold onto four open seats (7th, 26th, 52nd, and 96th).

Meanwhile, Republicans defeated the Democratic incumbent in one district (64th) and held onto seven open seats (29th, 46th, 55th, 66th, 88th, 91st, and 98th). Seaver's switch gave the Republicans one more seat (78th).

In the remaining 82 districts, the sitting incumbent successfully held his or her seat.

Leadership

Majority Leadership

Minority Leadership

Members of the Ohio House of Representatives

See also: Ohio House of Representatives membership, 125th General Assembly

Ref: [The House's Web Page. (http://www.house.state.oh.us/)]