Dayton Statehouse Battlegrounds 2026

Montgomery County's competitive Ohio House seats sit in the suburban ring around Dayton — Kettering, Washington Township, Huber Heights — where the swing county actually swings.

The seats

• HD-36 — Andrea White (R, incumbent) vs. Rose Lounsbury (D). Kettering-area suburbs; a Republican incumbent in genuinely divided turf. Battleground.
• HD-37 — Tom Young (R, incumbent) vs. Tom Herner (D). Washington Township / south Montgomery; Herner won a close Democratic primary. Battleground.
• HD-39 — Daquan Neal (D) vs. Mark Campbell (R). Open — Republican Phil Plummer left it to run for the state Senate. North Montgomery (Huber Heights, Vandalia, Englewood); a Huber Heights councilman (Campbell) against Neal. Open-seat battleground.

The Dayton-core seat HD-38 (Desiree Tims, D) is safe Democratic; HD-40 (Rodney Creech, R), weighted toward rural Preble County, leans Republican.

Why it matters

These suburban seats are where Montgomery County's split registers in the Ohio House — the level at which a swing county produces swing races, even as the congressional seat above stays safely Republican. They join the Cincinnati and Cleveland-area suburbs as the statehouse turf both parties actually contest.