Pink Rose Society

Ohio Senate District 3 2026

The marquee Franklin County legislative race — the one seat in the county's state delegation that the maps left genuinely competitive. SD-3 covers the southern and southeastern half of Franklin County plus all of Madison and Pickaway counties.

The matchup

  • Republican: Michele Reynolds (incumbent). Won the seat in 2022 with 52.7%, unseating Democratic incumbent Tina Maharath — the closest-held Franklin-area Senate seat.
  • Democratic: Stacie A. Baker, a Reynoldsburg City Council member, who won the May 2026 primary over Natasha Wheatley-Caffrey.
  • Election: November 3, 2026.

Why it matters

The Ohio Senate is a Republican supermajority (24–9 heading in), so no single seat flips control. What SD-3 tests is whether Democrats can win the suburban Franklin County turf that decides the region's competitive races — the same ground that makes HD-6, HD-10, and HD-11 worth watching. A Reynolds-held seat carried by only mid-single digits in 2022 is the clearest target, and its outcome reads as a barometer for the county's suburban ring.

The county's other Senate seats (context)

  • SD-15: open seat (Sen. Hearcel Craig, D, term-limited) — Latyna M. Humphrey (D) vs. Joseph Healy (R). Columbus core; safe Democratic.
  • SD-25: Bill DeMora (D, incumbent) vs. Don Roberts (R). Safe Democratic.
  • SD-16 (Sen. Beth Liston, D — western/NW Franklin) is even-numbered and not up in 2026.

Sources