Kathleen Clyde, a former public official from Northeast Ohio, is taking command of an Ohio Democratic Party looking to bounce back in 2026 from a string of worsening elections losses. 

Clyde, a former state lawmaker and ex-Portage County commissioner, was elected to the post Tuesday night by the party’s executive committee members. She replaces Summit County Councilwoman Liz Walters, who announced last month that she’s resigning to run a Democratic data firm and party vendor based in Washington D.C. Clyde will finish Walters term, which runs through the end of the year.

Clyde became the new state party chair with the backing of Sherrod Brown, the former U.S. Senator who remains influential within the party, even after losing in the November election. Brown and his allies urged committee members behind the scenes to back Clyde while lobbying against a competing candidate, state Sen. Bill DeMora. DeMora ended his candidacy last week, saying he’d determined he didn’t have a path to victory. 

Brown’s hands-on approach with internal party operations also may be a sign that he’s leaning toward running for office next year. Many state Democrats want him to run for governor or U.S. Senate. But Brown has kept his plans close to the vest. Some Democrats are privately rankled that Brown put his thumb on the scales by helping install an ally to lead the state party without making his future political plans clearer. 

The party was united though on Tuesday, as DeMora and most other candidates dropped out, besides Tamie Wilson, a former congressional candidate. Clyde won the vote 108-1.

Clyde pledged to lead the party to greener pastures, including vowing to work to reconnect with rural voters who have left the party and Black voters who have become increasingly disengaged. She said she hoped the party would unite heading into the 2026.

“We will speak up, stand tall and organize like our future depends on it, because it does,” Clyde said.

Why it matters who runs the Ohio Democratic Party

Being the leader of the state Democratic Party comes with prominence and visibility, even in an increasingly Republican state like Ohio. But the job’s actual influence over the electorate has been eclipsed by candidates speaking directly to voters through social media and political influencers such as podcasters. Still, the state party plays a key role in fundraising, recruiting candidates, deciding which elections to prioritize and coordinating with local party leaders. The state’s governor or top political candidate typically helps call the shots, although the uncertainty surrounding Brown’s plans calls that into question. 

The Ohio Democratic Party’s executive committee includes its 66 central committee members, who are chosen by voters. The party chair, with approval from the central committee, chooses another 80 executive committee seats, a mix of elected officials, labor leaders, activists and others. The executive committee in turn then votes on picking a chairman to run the party. 

Who is Kathleen Clyde?

Clyde, an attorney who now lives in the Columbus area, previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2011 until early 2019. She ran for Secretary of State in 2018 as part of a slate of candidates Ohio Democrats viewed as a winning candidate slate. She holds a law degree, from Ohio State University, focusing on elections law. She works for the RISE Together Innovation Institute, a social justice advocacy group in Columbus backed by the Franklin County government. 

But besides Brown, Clyde and other state Democrats running for partisan statewide offices, all lost in 2018. Clyde continued to be viewed as a potential rising star after she was appointed in 2020 to the Portage County commission and got a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. She lost her election bid that November. She ran for her old Ohio House seat in the 2022 election but lost again. 

Clyde’s local election losses came as Democrats slipped in Portage County generally, although she outran other Democrats on the ticket locally when she ran for office there.

Clyde’s backers, including Brown, call her a smart and dedicated Democrat who knows how to run a political campaign and fundraise for it. The party’s priorities ahead of next year’s election include trying to win the governor’s office and U.S. Senate races, protecting the five congressional seats held by Democrats, defending their lone remaining statewide elected official – Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner – and reducing the Republican supermajority in the state legislature. 

But the statewide candidate slate, a building block of any party’s election plan, remains unsettled. Many potential candidates are waiting to see what Brown does, as part of a broader process of trying to gauge whether the national political climate will leave a path for Democrats in Ohio. For now, Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health department director, heads the sparse Democratic ticket. 

Clyde told reporters following the meeting that she expects more candidates to make themselves known “soon.” She didn’t answer directly when asked what she thinks Brown will do next.

“We have a lot of great candidates and elected officials to fill that ticket out, and we’ll be finding out more about that very soon,” Clyde said.

Republicans, meanwhile have no shortage of candidates, led by Vivek Ramaswamy, a billionaire biotech entrepreneur and political personality who’s currently poised to easily win the GOP primary election for governor.

Clyde the latest politico to lead the Ohio Democratic Party

Tuesday night’s vote installs Clyde as chair until the middle of next year, since she is filling an unexpired term vacated by Walters.

Clyde’s professional background is similar to party leaders of the recent past, who generally have been elected officials and not just political operatives. Her predecessors include Chris Redfern, who was a state legislator when he was elected in 2006, and David Pepper, who was a former Cincinnati city councilman and unsuccessful statewide candidate when he got the job in 2015. Walters was a Summit County councilwoman when she was picked to lead the party in 2021.

Clyde also is the second woman to lead the state party, following in Walters’ footsteps.