Ohio attorney general candidates push for non-partisan leader in office

The candidates running for Ohio Attorney General are focusing their early campaigns on their legal experience as two Democrats head toward a May primary, and the sole Republican candidate looks to the November general election.

The three people vying for the job see the state’s chief legal officer as the bastion of law enforcement in the state, and say politics should take a back seat to making sure the justice system serves all Ohioans equally.

John Kulewicz

Attorney and Upper Arlington City Council member John Kulewicz has the endorsement of the Ohio Democratic Party in the race. He said more than four decades as an attorney have shown him what the office of attorney general needs.

“The attorney general is the chief law officer of the state of Ohio,” Kulewicz told the Capital Journal. “The attorney general is called upon frequently to make split-second decisions that are of great importance to the people of Ohio, and experience makes a real difference when you’re in that capacity.”

A Columbus native, Kulewicz came back to the city after attending law school and clerking for a federal judge, landing in private practice. He said he recognized the value of public service, leading to two successful campaigns for Upper Arlington City Council.

In this bigger statewide campaign, the attorney said he’s spent the better part of a year visiting all 88 counties in Ohio, receiving feedback from Ohioans about what they want to see in the state.

“It became clear to me that at this point in our history in Ohio, we need a lawyer, not a politician, to serve as attorney general,”Kulewicz said.

He plans to focus on “price-fixing monopolies that are raising the prices that we pay for the necessities of our lives,” and pointed to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as a group that needs to be held accountable, should he be elected.

The regulatory agency has been in the news for the last several years after a public corruption scandal resulted in the conviction of House Speaker Larry Householder other Republican staffers, and a criminal case against the late former PUCO chair, Sam Randazzo. Members of the utility company FirstEnergy have been sitting in a trial related to the scandal this month which ended in a hung jury on March 31.

“As chief law officer of the state of Ohio, I would do everything I could to uphold the rule of law to make the economy of Ohio work for everybody in Ohio, and make sure we root out corruption in Columbus and elsewhere in the state,” Kulewicz said.

Elliot Forhan

Athens native Elliot Forhan is an attorney living in the Cleveland area, but voters may know him better as a former state legislator. As a legislator from 2023-2024, Forhan said he sought to hold everyone’s feet to the fire, inside and outside of the Ohio Democratic Party. So much so, that he sued legislative members of his party in a defamation lawsuit that is still outstanding as he makes a run for the Attorney General’s Office.

“Just to be clear, beating Republicans is my number one priority, but I believe that accountability is for everyone,” Forhan said. “We Democrats need to keep our house clean as well.”

He also continues to stand by statements he made early in his campaign for attorney general, in which he said he would “kill” President Donald Trump by prosecuting him and obtaining a conviction resulting in the death penalty.

“I don’t think I said that I wanted to, I think that I said that I will,” Forhan told the Capital Journal when asked if he still stood by the comments, before confirming that he does stand by them.

The comments run alongside his attitude on how the state’s attorney general should lead the office, and the sentiment he said he’s heard from voters amid his campaign: “Fight.”

“I believe that if the laws don’t apply to everybody equally, including the rich and the powerful, the president of the United States, if that’s not true, then our laws don’t mean anything at all,” Forhan said.

Outside of the conviction of the president, Forhan said the first lawsuit he wants to file if he’s elected to the job is to “enforce the guarantee under the Ohio Constitution for full and equal funding for public schools.”

Keith Faber

Current Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber is unopposed in the Republican primary. Through spokesperson Matt Dole, Faber declined to be interviewed for this story, with Dole saying the campaign planned to “allow the Democratic primary play out before we engage in interview profiles about the race.” Dole told the Capital Journal the campaign “will be very different depending on the outcome.”

In written comments, Faber said he’s running for state attorney general to “hold criminals accountable and put the safety and security of law-abiding citizens above criminals.”

“I’m going to support our law enforcement and bring to court those who prey on vulnerable Ohioans – whether through cyber fraud, human trafficking, or some other illegal means,” Faber said in a statement.

Faber has been state auditor since 2019. He was a private attorney in Celina before heading to the Statehouse to serve as a state representative from 2001 to 2006 and 2016 to 2018. He was a state senator starting in 2007, and served as Senate president from 2013 to 2017.

As auditor, his focus has been to “uncover waste, fraud, and abuse in a completely bipartisan way,” according to Faber.

“In the same way, as attorney general, I’ll enforce the law and hold criminals accountable regardless of their politics,” Faber wrote in statements to the Capital Journal. “Being the state’s chief law enforcement officer requires the same ability to work in a viewpoint neutral way to maintain the order and security of our communities.”

Ohioans can register to vote until April 6, with absentee and early in-person voting for the May 5 primary beginning April 7.

Military and overseas voting began March 20.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 5, and absentee/early in-person voting for that election starts Oct. 6.