Ohio
Recent Achievements
OOC educates and empowers voters to achieve significant victories in Ohio.
Built coalitions to influence two 2023 statewide efforts: to defeat a referendum that attacked direct democracy and pass a state constitutional amendment to protect reproductive rights
Led the coalition to protect public education funding in 2023, preserving more than $500M in funding for Ohio’s students
Re-elected three Democrats in competitive districts to the US House in 2024
Helped keep the Democratic margin of loss well below the national average (3.1% rightward shift from 2020 compared to 6% nationally in the presidential race)
In 2024, OOC deployed the largest independent voter registration program in the nation, registering 160,000 voters with a particular focus on engaging Black, working-class, and young people in the community. Hundreds of volunteers within OOC’s organization became trusted messengers sharing the power of voting with friends, family, and neighbors. When it came time to get out the vote, OOC knocked almost 500,000 doors, called 180,000 voters, and distributed 30,000 voter guides on college campuses.
What makes Ohio crucial this cycle
Three competitive Democratic-held US House seats must be protected in order to flip the US House of Representatives
A tight US Senate race is a pick up opportunity for Democrats if they elect Sherrod Brown
Statewide races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state will determine control over electoral processes in 2028
Gaining six seats in the Ohio State House would eliminate the governor’s veto power and deny a Republican supermajority
What Flip the Vote’s support means for 2026
In recent elections, voter turnout has declined among young people and Black voters in Ohio, and OOC has strategic plans to target these demographics in their voter registration efforts, engage newly registered and existing voters multiple times, and get them to the polls by layering relational outreach, digital, and mail engagement.
OOC is already on the ground in Ohio, registering voters and re-engaging community members around the upcoming election. OOC ambitiously plans to register over 130,000 new voters. Each new voter is mailed an OOC-branded “Civic Engagement Welcome Package” with what to bring to the polls and sources for reliable election information. Their door-to-door voter contact program will allow OOC to deepen relationships with new voters and existing community members alike. Flip the Vote’s investment in their work will allow OOC to scale voter registration and canvassing efforts to include additional geographies and reach their 600,000 door goal. Funding from Flip the Vote’s donors will also assist OOC in hiring 65 student organizers across the state's college campuses to register and engage their peers.
Ohio Organizing Campaign (OOC) is a grassroots, people-centered power organization building transformative power with everyday Ohioans for statewide social, racial, and economic justice. The OOC is made up of member-led projects and campaigns that span a broad range of communities and intersecting issues: students, people of faith, people directly impacted by mass incarceration, unemployed workers, child care providers and the families they serve, and people working in the care economy.
“We have seen over and over again the transformation that’s possible when ordinary people decide to step into our power together and fight for a better future for ourselves and the people we love. When politics are centered around people’s interests and not just politicians, the power that gets built lasts way beyond one election or campaign. It is owned by the community.”