COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman has finally announced a long-expected move — his interest in running to unseat House Speaker Jason Stephens in January 2025. He suggested to reporters today that the current leader is not doing a good enough job and said that Democrats have reached out to him about a possible speaker run.
Now that the primary election is over, the statehouse is abuzz with who is going to win the speakership race.
Huffman (R-Lima) is at the end of his Senate term, having spent eight years as a senator with four as president. He is running unopposed for a House seat — and eyeing the speakership role that becomes available every two years.
Huffman (R-Lima) has long been considered a challenger to Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) for House speakership. He has a faction of supporters within the House currently, and candidates have told News 5 that Huffman has helped support their bid to knock out the Stephens team incumbents.
Stephens will likely remain speaker next term if his allies stay loyal.
Despite being two of the most powerful politicians in the state, and members of the same party, the pair have been fighting about seemingly everything since the fall.
Huffman and Stephens have been making polite jabs at each other during press gaggles, but Huffman was more forward while talking to reporters Wednesday, showing a clear shift in rhetoric from the typical passive aggressive.
“Do you think that speaker Stephens did a good job over the past year and a half – and if not, is that why you're considering running for speaker?” News 5's Morgan Trau asked Huffman.
“Well, I'm not standing in his shoes… I think that it's very, very difficult to lead and legislate when he was elected in the manner that he was,” Huffman responded. “I think if you're going to get elected that way, then it's difficult to say ‘I'm also the leader of the Republican caucus.’”
Stephens, with the help of Democrats, snatched the coveted Ohio House Speaker job from a far-right lawmaker who was already elected speaker in a non-official party vote.
Huffman said Stephens hasn't held as many sessions as there “traditionally” are, seemingly insinuating that the speaker wasn’t doing his job.
Stephens did not appreciate these comments.
"There are clearly other motives behind this analysis. Under this leadership team, the House has passed a number of policies that help people and have been applauded by national conservative organizations. We look forward to the Senate passing these bills, so that the Governor can sign them into law," Stephens said.
The House and Senate both have numerous bills ready to be passed by the other chamber — but each of the leaders refuses to take them up.
“One of the reasons I'm interested in [running for speaker] is… We need to make sure that the majority of the Republican caucus is supporting whoever the speaker is,” he said. “If Speaker Stephens had a majority of the caucus, even if I wasn't going to vote for him, then that's who I would vote.”
Some of these plans are already in motion.
“We have to have a lot of firming up conversations, but I certainly am committed to making sure whether it's me or anyone else, that whoever is elected speaker is elected by a majority of the majority caucus,” he said.
This drama stems from January 2023 and how Stephens came to power. The Republican caucus had previously chosen state Rep. Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) as speaker months before the full House floor vote.
Twenty-two Republicans (known "affectionately" by the other faction as the "Blue 22") and 32 Democrats voted for Stephens for speaker during the actual vote, while the majority of Republicans voted for Merrin. Stephens, still a conservative, is significantly more moderate than Merrin – he is also more moderate than Huffman.
Click here for an in-depth play-by-play and a history of Republican squabbling.
Stephens has been attacked since the vote for partnering with Democrats.
“I absolutely will be speaking to Democrats,” Huffman said, adding that all 99 members of the House get to vote for speaker. “I absolutely will be – a few of those folks have contacted me first thing Wednesday morning.”
News 5 reached out to Democratic leadership to confirm but has not heard back.
Huffman and supporters have said that it is fine to involve the other party, but you still need to have a majority of your own caucus and not let the other party choose the speaker.
He said it's important to have a good relationship with the entire chamber, anyway – like he has done with both Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio and former leader Kenny Yuko.
“I'm this president of the Senate for 33 members, not just the folks in my caucus,” he added. “If a state senator needs something, I'm gonna do it for them.”
This is how Abraham Lincoln governed in a very difficult time, he said, saying that people need to get together and talk to each side.
“I would do the same thing if I ended up being speaker of the House,” Huffman said.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
