COLUMBUS, Ohio — Election day is less than two weeks away, and one of the State Senate Districts Spectrum News 1 is keeping a close eye on is in northeast Ohio.

Republican Jerry Cirino is finishing up his first term representing Senate District 18. It’s a district that leans Republican by the slimmest of margins and is giving hope to Democratic challenger Katie O’Neill.


What You Need To Know

  • Ohio's 18th Senate District is up for grabs this election day

  • The candidates are Republican State Sen. Jerry Cirino, and Democratic challenger Katie O'Neill

  • Whoever wins this election day could ultimatley change the way the district looks

The map of the 18th Senate District looks very different than it did four years ago when Cirino won his first term in office. Now, it covers all of Lake County and the southeast portion of Cuyahoga County. According to Dave’s Redistricting, a research group that analyzes the composition of legislative districts, just under 52% of voters in the district have voted for Republicans since 2016.

Cirino is 72-years-old and is re-running for a second term. He comes from a business background and ran companies that make medical devices. Cirino says he didn’t run for political office until he was 65-years-old.

"In my first four years," Cirino said, "I focused a lot on higher education reform. We are still working on some of that, and I certainly have spent also a lot of time and effort on economic development issues."

Cirino says he has worked with the state legislature to come up with solutions to reduce taxes for Ohio’s businesses.

"We did eliminate for 92% of the filers the commercial activity tax for Ohio businesses," Cirino said. "For the business that they conduct in the state of Ohio, and even for those who still have to pay and file for that tax, we've reduced it by 25%."

Cirino says election integrity and nuclear energy are among his priorities. However, it’s the education reform that has him in the spotlight. Last year, he introduced Senate Bill 83. The legislation passed the Ohio Senate, but hasn’t been brought up for a vote in the Ohio House. It would prohibit mandatory diversity and equity inclusion training on college campuses. It would also limit faculties ability to collectively bargain while also stopping professors from influencing students’ beliefs.

"It promotes free speech," Cirino said. "It promotes balanced presentation of information to our students."

"Senator Cirino has decided to create Senate Bill 83," O’Neill said. "And that is attacking our colleges and universities, our teachers, their tenure, their collective bargaining, their lesson plans."

Katie O’Neill is an environmental lawyer who was born and raised in northeast Ohio, and she’s the daughter of former Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill. She’s running against Cirino and is pushing for a different type of education reform. She believes Ohio’s K-12 schools need a better funding formula.

"We need more funding for counselors in schools," O’Neill said. "We need translators, right? Here in Paynesville, they have got translators at their schools because we have a large population that needs it."

O’Neill says she cares deeply about the environment, and would be a voice for renewable energy statewide. She also believes in environmental cleanup across the entire state and also cited the 2023 toxic train derailment of East Palestine and the environmental clean-up that’s still happening.

"Our General Assembly opened up our state parks and public lands to fracking," said O'Neill. "And that is a betrayal of the public trust and a theft of our public wealth and health."

Ohioans will decide on the fate of this district in less than two weeks on election day.