Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose claimed victory Wednesday, Nov. 4, in the race for Ohio Auditor of State.
LaRose, a Republican, led Democrat Annette Blackwell by about 72,000 votes with 100% of precincts reporting unofficial results, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. Some 102,148 provisional ballots remained outstanding.
Unofficial results
As of Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, 2026. Source: Ohio Secretary of State website, via Ohio Capital Journal.
Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
Frank LaRose | Republican | 2,310,105 | 50.79% |
Annette Blackwell | Democratic | 2,237,955 | 49.21% |
Precincts reporting: 100%
Provisional ballots outstanding: 102,148
Results are unofficial. The state must still certify the count after tallying remaining provisional and overseas ballots.
Why it matters locally
The Auditor of State is Ohio's chief compliance officer, responsible for auditing more than 5,900 public entities statewide, according to cleveland.com. That includes cities, townships, school districts and public libraries. Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights and their school districts all fall under the office's oversight.
The auditor can declare fiscal watch or fiscal emergency when local governments meet statutory financial-distress criteria.
LaRose posted on X that his margin "falls outside of the mandatory recount requirement and considers all outstanding overseas and provisional ballots," the Columbus Dispatch reported.
What LaRose has pledged
LaRose campaigned on a platform of accountability, affordability and transparency, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. He said performance audits can help keep costs down by improving government efficiency.
One proposal could directly affect local governments. LaRose said he wants to require performance audits in certain circumstances for local governments. Those audits are mandatory for certain state agencies but largely optional for local government entities, LaRose said.
LaRose also pledged to use artificial intelligence within the auditor's office to detect fraud and waste, while monitoring AI's potential to cause problems for local governments.
He acknowledged public trust in governmental institutions is "at an all-time low" and pushed for an "Ohio Taxpayer Fraud Bounty Program" to encourage public reports of corruption, the Ohio Capital Journal reported.
The candidates
LaRose, 47, has served as Ohio's secretary of state since 2019. Term limits barred him from running again for that office. He previously served in the Ohio Senate from 2011 to 2019 and is an Army Green Beret. He ran for U.S. Senate in the 2024 Republican primary but lost to Bernie Moreno.
Blackwell, 64, is the mayor of Maple Heights, a Cleveland-area city of roughly 23,000. She took office less than a year after the state auditor's office placed the city in fiscal emergency and helped Maple Heights emerge from it by 2020, cleveland.com reported. She said that experience gave her perspective she planned to use in leading the office.
LaRose will replace Auditor Keith Faber, a Republican who has served since 2019. The auditor also holds a seat on the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission, which draws state legislative district lines.
