Ted Strickland | |
|---|---|
 Strickland in 2008 | |
| 68thGovernor of Ohio | |
| In office January 8, 2007 – January 10, 2011 | |
| Lieutenant | Lee Fisher |
| Preceded by | Bob Taft |
| Succeeded by | John Kasich |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's6th district | |
| In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Cremeans |
| Succeeded by | Charlie Wilson |
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Bob McEwen |
| Succeeded by | Frank Cremeans |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Theodore Strickland (1941-08-04)August 4, 1941 (age 84) Lucasville,Ohio, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Asbury University (BA) University of Kentucky (MA,PhD) Asbury Theological Seminary (MDiv) |
| Signature |  |
Theodore Strickland[1] (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who served as the 68thgovernor of Ohio from 2007 to 2011. A member of theDemocratic Party, he previously served in theUnited States House of Representatives, representingOhio's 6th congressional district (1993–1995, 1997–2007).[2] As of 2026, he is the most recent Democrat to serve as governor of Ohio.
In the2006 gubernatorial election, Strickland was elected to succeed term-limitedRepublican incumbentBob Taft, receiving 60% of the vote and defeatingOhio secretary of stateKen Blackwell.[3] He was narrowly defeated for re-election in the2010 gubernatorial election by former U.S. representativeJohn Kasich.[4]
In April 2014, Strickland became president of theCenter for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization.[5] Strickland left that position in February 2015,[6] and subsequently announced his intention torun for the United States Senate against incumbentRob Portman.[7] He went on to lose by 20 points.
Strickland was born inLucasville, Ohio, the son of Carrie (Carver) and Charles Orville Strickland.[8] He was one of nine children. A 1959 graduate of Northwest High School, Strickland went on to be the first member of his family to attend college.[9] Strickland received aBachelor of Arts degree inhistory with a minor inpsychology fromAsbury College in 1963. In 1966, he received aMaster of Arts degree in guidance counseling from theUniversity of Kentucky and aMaster of Divinity (M.Div.) from theAsbury Theological Seminary in 1967. He then returned to the University of Kentucky to earn hisPh.D. incounseling psychology in 1980. He is married toFrances Strickland, aneducational psychologist.[10]
Strickland worked as a counseling psychologist at theSouthern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.[11] He was an administrator at aMethodist children's home and was a professor of psychology atShawnee State University.[12] Strickland is an ordained minister in theUnited Methodist Church. He was a minister at a Methodist church inPortsmouth, Ohio.[13]
Strickland ran for U.S. representative forOhio's 6th congressional district in 1976, 1978, and 1980, losing twice to long-time incumbentWilliam H. Harsha and later to Harsha's successor and campaign manager,Bob McEwen.
Strickland ran again for the 6th District seat in 1992, once again facing Bob McEwen, who had suffered some political damage by being associated with theHouse banking scandal. The 6th District had been combined with the old 10th District when Ohio lost two seats in Congress following the 1990 census and now covered a huge area stretching fromLebanon, inWarren County, toMarietta, inWashington County on the opposite side of the state. The district proved a difficult place to campaign, representing half a dozen different media markets and home to no large cities and few unifying influences.
Patrick J. Buchanan, Vice PresidentDan Quayle, andOliver North came to Ohio to campaign for McEwen, but Strickland narrowly won in the general election on November 3, 1992. He received 122,720 votes to McEwen's 119,252, a plurality of 3,468 – just over 1.4%.[14] Strickland began serving in January 1993 in the103rd Congress.
Strickland was among the many Democrats who lost their offices in theRepublican surge of 1994, narrowly losing to businessmanFrank Cremeans. Strickland reclaimed his seat two years later in a similarly narrow victory, and took office in January 1997 with the105th Congress. He faced a strong challenge fromLieutenant GovernorNancy Hollister in 1998, but turned it back; in the next three elections he was reelected by large margins, running unopposed in 2004. Strickland served on theEnergy and Commerce Committee and theVeterans' Affairs Committee.
Strickland successfully ran forGovernor of Ohio in 2006, when GovernorBob Taft was term-limited and could not run for re-election. Strickland selected formerOhio attorney general and 1998 Democratic nominee for governorLee Fisher as his running mate. He was sworn in as governor on January 8, 2007.[15]
Strickland won the Democratic primary on May 2, 2006, with 80 percent of the vote.[16]
Strickland's endorsements included theFraternal Order of Police[17] and theOhio Federation of Teachers.[18]
In September 2006, a group called Republicans for Strickland publicly announced their support for Strickland at a press conference.[19]
In the November general election, he was challenged byRepublican secretary of stateKen Blackwell,Libertarian economist Bill Peirce andGreen Party candidateBob Fitrakis. He won the general election on November 7, 2006, by 961,174 votes.[20]
In June 2007, Ohio lawmakers approved a $52 billion budget for fiscal year 2008–2009. In January 2008, facing a revenue shortfall, Strickland ordered a $733 million reduction in state spending, including job cuts and the closure of state mental hospitals. Strickland cut another $540 million from the budget in September 2008. In December 2008, Strickland announced a $640 million budget gap.[21] In 2009, Strickland signed legislation which postponed the last of five scheduled income tax rate reductions from 2009 until 2011.[22] The move used $844 million in anticipated tax refunds to fill the gap in the state budget.[23]
In 2008, he signed the state'srenewable portfolio standard, mandating that 25% of the state's electricity be produced by renewables by 2025.[24] That same year, Strickland signed an executive order overhauling business regulations.[25] In 2010, Strickland supported the renewal of theThird Frontier program in 2010.[26]
During Strickland's tenure, the state's rainy day fund was reduced from $1 billion to 89 cents in order to balance the state budget.[27] Some estimates claim Ohio would have experienced a $7 billion deficit if Strickland had not made such moves and cuts to the Ohio budget.[28]
Strickland signed an executive order in 2007 that unified the state's higher education system by creating theUniversity System of Ohio.[29]
Strickland pushed to cut funding ofschool vouchers, which critics said would reduce educational choice available to the public. He opposed federally subsidized abstinence-onlysex education programs.[30][31]
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In 2007, Strickland signed legislation exempting military veterans' retirement benefits from state taxation.[32] He signed an executive order creating a council to oversee the eventual establishment of theOhio Department of Veterans Services as a cabinet-level agency.[33] In 2008, he signed an executive order creating the Ohio G.I. Promise, which charges in-state tuition to all veterans attending the state's public colleges on the G.I. bill.[34] In 2008, he vetoed legislation which would have given small cash bonuses to veterans of wars in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan from the state's rainy day fund.[35]
Strickland signed an executive order requiring insurance companies to offer policyholders the option to add or keep unmarried children on their insurance policies up to age 28.[36]
On the issue ofcapital punishment, Strickland delayed three executions until further review and commuted five death sentences.[37] Strickland chose not to commute three additional executions, including two that eventually occurred.[38] The March 20, 2007 execution ofKenneth Biros, which Strickland did not commute, was later stayed by theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit inCincinnati. Biros was eventually executed in December 2009.[39] In 2020, Strickland endorsed legislation to abolish the death penalty in Ohio, saying "the system of justice is not perfect, and death is final", and expressed regret that he did not block executions entirely as governor.[40]
Strickland signed Ohio'scastle doctrine legislation in 2008, which established a presumption that a person acts in self-defense when shooting someone who unlawfully enters his or her home or occupied vehicle. The legislation was supported by theNational Rifle Association.[41]
Strickland held office when a constitutional amendment passed allowing casinos to be built inCincinnati,Cleveland,Toledo andColumbus. Although originally opposed to the idea of allowing such types of gambling into the state, potential revenue shortfalls caused him to consider the option.[42] More so, the implementation of video lottery terminals at Ohio racetracks also was considered as a revenue source, and Strickland said for about a year that he would ask the courts to weigh in on whether the executive branch has the authority to implement slots through the Ohio Lottery Commission.[42][dead link]
As governor in 2010, Strickland opposed legislation allowing themedical use of cannabis.[43] After leaving office he reversed his stance on the issue, however,[44] and later in 2015 stated his support forlegalizing recreational use.[45]
The theft of an Ohio government computer backup tape in June 2007 was widely reported in the media after authorities revealed that the tape contained names and Social Security numbers of 64,000 state employees, 84,000 welfare recipients, and tens of thousands of others.[46] In the wake of the theft, Strickland issued an executive order to change the practices for handling state data.[47]
Strickland's director of theOhio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS),Helen Jones-Kelley, was involved in thecontroversial Ohio database searches of Joe Wurzelbacher during the final weeks of the 2008 presidential campaign. She bore ultimate responsibility for the unauthorized background checks run on Wurzelbacher, an Ohio Republican known asJoe the Plumber. Jones-Kelley was suspended without pay by Strickland and investigated by the Ohio attorney general. She resigned in December, and Strickland appointedDouglas E. Lumpkin to replace her.[48][49]
Strickland was mentioned as a possible DemocraticVice Presidential nominee in 2008.[50] He denied that he would accept a position on the ticket if offered.[51]
Strickland spoke on the second night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention. JournalistsPeggy Noonan andDavid Remnick credited Strickland with delivering the best line of the convention: "You know, it was once said of the first George Bush that he was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple. Well, with the 22 million new jobs and the budget surplus Bill Clinton left behind, George W. Bush came into office on third base and then he stole second. And John McCain cheered him every step of the way."[52][53]
Strickland sought re-election as governor in 2010. On January 19, 2010, he choseYvette McGee Brown, a former juvenile court judge from central Ohio, as his running mate.[54] Strickland faced RepublicanJohn Kasich and his running mate,Ohio state auditorMary Taylor, in the general election. Kasich defeated Strickland by 77,127 votes.[55]
In March 2011, Kasich signed Senate Bill 5, which was intended to curtail thecollective bargaining rights of Ohio public employees. Strickland was involved in gathering the petition signatures necessary to warrant a public referendum.[56][unreliable source?] With over two million signatures, the petition put theOhio Collective Bargaining Limit Repeal on the November 2011 ballot, where it passed with more than 60% of the vote.[57]
Strickland became a resident fellow at theHarvard Institute of Politics in spring 2012.[58] Strickland spoke on the first night of the2012 Democratic National Convention in a speech against the policies of Republican nomineeMitt Romney.[59][60]
President Obama nominated Strickland to be one of the alternate representatives to theUnited Nations in September 2013,[61] but his confirmation was delayed through the end of the year by Republican opposition in the Senate.[62]
In April 2014, Strickland became president of theCenter for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization.[5] Strickland left that position in February 2015.[6]
Strickland served as a delegate from Ohio at the2024 Democratic National Convention.[63]
In September 2024, Strickland was one of several former governors to sign an open letter to all 50 current governors urging them to certify their states’ votes after the upcoming November election.[64]
At the2012 Democratic National Convention, whereAntonio Villaraigosa was chairman, the original 2012 party platform caused controversy after it was written, because the lack of typical invocations and references toGod and God-given rights as well as lack of language affirming the role ofJerusalem as the capital ofIsrael. Both of these matters had been included in some previous platforms. On the second day, September 5, Strickland introduced an amendment on the floor of the convention to reinsert language invoking God and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Convention chairman Villaraigosa put the amendment to a voice vote requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. After the first vote was indecisive, Villaraigosa called for a second vote, which was again met with an equal volume of "ayes" and "nos". A woman standing to his left said, "You've got to rule, and then you've got to let them do what they're gonna do." Villaraigosa called a third vote with the same result. Villaraigosa then declared the amendment passed, causing an eruption of boos on the floor.[65]
As Governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland worked to pass renewable energy legislation he says "helped address the issue of climate change."[66] In 2013, he said "the debate on whether climate change exists is over. … The debate now must be focused on how climate change is affecting our communities."[67] In 2015, he said "I believe climate change is a problem; we've got to transition."[68]
On February 25, 2015, Strickland announced his intention to run for theUnited States Senate against incumbentRepublicanRob Portman.[7] On March 31, 2015, former presidentBill Clinton endorsed Strickland.[69] In September 2016, Strickland's campaign was reported to be increasingly faltering. With poor poll results against Portman, at least two majorpolitical action committees withdrew millions of dollars in funding for advertising for Strickland, choosing instead to focus on other major Senate races in which advertising was considered more likely to make a difference.[70]
Strickland lost the 2016 general election to Portman, by 1,121,659.[71]
| Year | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Ted Strickland | 67,067 | 39% | William H. Harsha | 107,064 | 61% | |||||||
| 1978 | Ted Strickland | 46,313 | 35% | William H. Harsha | 85,592 | 65% | |||||||
| 1980 | Ted Strickland | 84,235 | 45% | Robert D. McEwen | 101,288 | 55% | |||||||
| 1992 | Ted Strickland | 122,720 | 51% | Robert D. McEwen | 119,252 | 49% | |||||||
| 1994 | Ted Strickland | 87,861 | 49% | Frank A. Cremeans | 91,263 | 51% | |||||||
| 1996 | Ted Strickland | 118,003 | 51% | Frank A. Cremeans | 111,907 | 49% | * | ||||||
| 1998 | Ted Strickland | 102,852 | 57% | Nancy P. Hollister | 77,711 | 43% | |||||||
| 2000 | Ted Strickland | 138,849 | 58% | Mike Azinger | 96,966 | 40% | Kenneth R. MacCutcheon | Libertarian | 4,759 | 2% | |||
| 2002 | Ted Strickland | 113,972 | 59% | Mike Halleck | 77,643 | 41% | |||||||
| 2004 | Ted Strickland | 223,842 | 100% | (no candidate) | * |
*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1996, write-ins received 16 votes. In 2004, John Stephen Luchansky received 145 votes.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ted Strickland | 2,435,505 | 60.54% | +22.23% | |
| Republican | Ken Blackwell | 1,474,331 | 36.65% | −21.11% | |
| Libertarian | William S. Peirce | 71,473 | 1.78% | ||
| Green | Robert Fitrakis | 40,967 | 1.02% | ||
| Write-ins | 652 | 0.02% | |||
| Majority | 961,174 | 23.89% | +4.44% | ||
| Turnout | 4,022,928 | ||||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John Kasich | 1,889,186 | 49.04% | +12.39% | |
| Democratic | Ted Strickland (inc.) | 1,812,059 | 47.04% | −13.50% | |
| Libertarian | Ken Matesz | 92,116 | 2.39% | +0.61% | |
| Green | Dennis Spisak | 58,475 | 1.52% | +0.50% | |
| Write-ins | 633 | 0.02% | |||
| Majority | 77,127 | 2.00% | −21.89% | ||
| Turnout | 3,852,469 | ||||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Rob Portman (incumbent) | 3,118,567 | 58.03% | +1.18% | |
| Democratic | Ted Strickland | 1,996,908 | 37.16% | −2.24% | |
| Independent | Tom Connors | 93,041 | 1.73% | N/A | |
| Green | Joseph R. DeMare | 88,246 | 1.64% | N/A | |
| Independent | Scott Rupert | 77,291 | 1.44% | N/A | |
| Independent | James Stahl (write-in) | 111 | 0.00% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 5,374,164 | 100.0% | N/A | ||
| Republicanhold | |||||
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's 6th congressional district 1993–1995 | Succeeded by Frank Cremeans |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio's 6th congressional district 1997–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Ohio 2006,2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromOhio (Class 3) 2016 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Ohio 2007–2011 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former Governor | Order of precedence of the United States | Succeeded byas Former Governor |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
