2018 Ohio's 12th congressional district special election

A special election for Ohio's 12th congressional district was held August 7, 2018, following the resignation of Republican U.S. Representative Pat Tiberi. The Republican Party nominated State Senator Troy Balderson for the seat while the Democratic Party nominated Franklin County Recorder Danny O'Connor. Balderson led O'Connor in preliminary results; however, the race was not officially called on election night. Counting of outstanding ballots began on August 18 and was completed on August 24. The outstanding ballots did not change the margin enough to trigger an automatic recount, so Balderson was declared the winner on August 24.

Background
On October 19, 2017, nine-term incumbent Republican representative Pat Tiberi announced that he would leave office before January 31, 2018, in order to lead the Ohio Business Roundtable. On January 3, 2018, he announced that he would officially resign January 15. On January 5, Ohio Governor John Kasich set the primaries for the special election for May 8, and the general election for August 7. The winner of this special election would serve for five months until January 2019, unless also elected in the regularly scheduled November general election.

Ohio's 12th congressional district at the time was located in the central portion of the state and included all of Delaware, Licking, and Morrow counties as well as portions of Franklin, Marion, Muskingum, and Richland counties. The district had been in Republican hands for all but one term since 1939, and without interruption since 1983.

Nominee

 * Troy Balderson, state senator

Eliminated in primary

 * Kevin Bacon, state senator
 * Lawrence Cohen, accountant
 * Jon Halverstadt, real estate investor
 * Tim Kane, economist, former air force intelligence officer
 * Melanie Leneghan, Liberty Township Trustee
 * Pat Manley, architect
 * Carol O'Brien, Delaware County Prosecutor

Declined

 * Andrew Brenner, state representative (running for state senate)
 * Anne Gonzales, state representative (running for state senate)
 * John Kasich, Governor and former U.S. Representative
 * Clarence Mingo, Franklin County Auditor (endorsed Kevin Bacon)
 * J. D. Vance, author and venture capitalist

Nominee

 * Danny O'Connor, Franklin County Recorder

Eliminated in primary

 * Ed Albertson, businessman and nominee for OH-12 in 2016
 * Jackie Patton, nurse
 * John Peters, special education teacher
 * John Russell, farmer and nominee for State Representative in 2016
 * Zach Scott, former Franklin County Sheriff
 * Doug Wilson, health care professional

Withdrew

 * Crystal Lett, healthcare advocate

Declined

 * Jeremy Blake, Newark city councilman (running for state representative)
 * Jay Goyal, former state representative and small business owner

Withdrawn

 * Jonathan Veley, attorney

Candidates

 * Troy Balderson (Republican), state senator
 * Joe Manchik (Green), small business owner
 * Danny O'Connor (Democratic), Franklin County Recorder

Results
O'Connor dominated the district's portion of Franklin County, home to the largest share of the district's population. However, he could not overcome a 4,800-vote deficit in normally heavily Republican Delaware County, the largest whole county in the district. Still, this was the closest that a Democrat had come to winning the district since 1982.