Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima). (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Only photo and original article republished.)
Ohio Republican legislative leaders reject President Donald Trump’s push to federalize elections.
House Speaker Matt Huffman, known as the state’s most effective lawmaker, has flatly blocked any efforts by the president to take over Ohio elections.
Trump made comments about the election last week, saying it should be “nationalized” and complaining that blue states and cities were unable to conduct elections honestly.
“The states are the agents of the federal government in elections,” he told reporters. “I don’t know why the federal government isn’t doing this.”
Trump’s comments came a day after Ohio Republican Sen. Jon Husted said on CNN that Ohio’s election was going well but asked for more oversight in other states.
“They don’t have photo ID in California,” Husted said. “They don’t properly maintain California’s voter rolls.”
He and Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, both support the federal legislation, nicknamed the “SAVES Act.” Among other provisions, proof of citizenship is required to register to vote. Individuals must present a birth certificate or passport.
“Senator Moreno is a strong supporter of measures to protect election integrity,” Moreno spokesman Reagan McCarthy said when asked about his views on federalizing elections. “He is a proud co-sponsor of the SAVE Act and will work with anyone to ensure elections are accurate, fair and secure.”
But outside Washington, D.C., state legislative leaders are fighting back.
Asked whether Ohio should relinquish presidential power, Huffman said: “Ohio should be in charge of Ohio’s elections.”
While other Republicans wavered at Trump’s comments, Huffman said no and insisted Ohio knew how to conduct an election.
“I don’t think states should abandon their elections under any circumstances,” he said. “On the one hand, are the federal government going to step in and conduct township trustee elections? Are they going to step in and decide who runs for school board or treasurer or thousands of other elections?”
The House speaker has previously dismissed Trump’s ideas, saying, for example, that the president would not pressure him to release congressional maps that the White House wants.
However, Huffman, who was involved in the redistricting lawsuit, asked a federal court to step in and rule that the Legislature could control mapmaking. The federal court ruling supersedes a bipartisan Ohio Supreme Court ruling that Republicans needed to stop gerrymandering.
In response to an unrelated question, Huffman made an aside about the separation of Congress from the states.
“The federal government does things that the federal government does, and state governments do things…” said Hoffman. “Unfortunately, a lot of things the federal government does are not federal functions.”
Atiba Ellis, an election law expert at Case Western Reserve University, explained that Trump does not have the authority to federalize elections.
“If Congress chooses to make changes to federal elections, and only federal elections, Congress can do that,” Ellis said. “The president cannot declare that Republicans or anyone can take over elections.”
The professor said all he can do is push states to follow the federal law.
“Congress can make laws governing federal elections, and states must abide by them,” he said. “When you put that together, there’s a little bit of unity in that sense.”
House Minority Leader Danny Isaacson, D-Cincinnati, warned that this has happened before.
Months ago, the state eliminated a four-day grace period for mail-in ballots as the Supreme Court grappled with a similar issue. Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, who often disagrees with Trump on the most controversial issues (e.g., alleged election fraud, COVID-19, vaccines, LGBTQ+ rights, redistricting, Haitian and Somali immigration, etc.) said he signed the bill “reluctantly” believing Ohio’s elections are safe and the laws are sound.
“Ohio’s current leadership has been acting at the behest of Donald Trump and limiting people’s right to vote,” Isaacson said.
Over the past few years, Ohio has passed a number of bills affecting voters, including restricting drop box access and requiring photo ID. Several laws have been heard or are pending in federal courts.
Isaacson was asked if Huffman’s comments against handing state power to the federal government gave him any assurance.
“Unfortunately, Ohio’s leaders, particularly the Secretary of State, currently do not demonstrate the will and desire to increase Ohioans’ access to the polls,” he responded. “…I don’t have a lot of confidence hearing from people who have passed bill after bill that would limit the voting rights of people in Ohio.”
Meanwhile, Hoffman is adamant that Ohio will remain in power.
“I don’t think this should have happened,” Huffman said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose has touted the state as the “gold standard” for elections, with dozens of his audits showing no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Ohio is a national model for election administration, but as the president rightly noted, some other states have failed to meet minimum standards for election integrity, such as citizenship verification and voter identification,” LaRose spokesman Ben Jindel said when asked about letting Trump take over Ohio’s elections. “That’s why Secretary LaRose is a strong supporter of federal legislation that sets these minimum standards, particularly the SAVE Act.”
The future of election oversight
The leading candidates in the 2026 secretary of state race, those who have filed campaign finance reports, were asked to respond to Trump’s remarks.
“There are several states that don’t take election security as seriously as Ohio does,” 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 Treasury Secretary Sprague supports this.”
The team did not respond when asked if that meant the federal government should selectively take over cities or states.
Republican Marcel Strebich explained that elections have been federalized thanks to provisions such as the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act.
“The idea that this is just a state function is simply wrong. That’s not what the Constitution says. Congress retains the authority to enact election regulations,” Strbich said. “The Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act all supersede state laws. So it’s a myth that states control elections. They manage elections.”
He added that Trump is trying to get states to comply with voter roll maintenance regulations.
Democratic Rep. Alison Russo disagreed.
“Our U.S. Constitution provides that the administration of the election process is a state function. President Trump’s alarming escalation of attacks on election integrity, and his rhetoric about federalizing the election process, should be a fifth alarm bell to anyone who cares about fair, free, and secure elections,” Russo said. “It’s clear that his intent is to control our elections so that he can manipulate the results the way he wants, not as the people decide.”
Democrat Brian Hembley said Trump’s comments were indicative of a larger problem.
“Politicians have long used their power to manipulate our elections for their own ends, and this proposal from President Trump is just that: an attempt to seize control of state elections,” Hembley said. “Ohio’s elections are safe and secure and should continue to be conducted by our state officials.”
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This article is Originally published Published on News5Cleveland.com and published in Ohio Capital Magazine under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, this article is owned by Cleveland WEWS and therefore cannot be freely reprinted by other news outlets.
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