Here’s how Matt Huffman won the contentious battle for Ohio House speaker

Several House GOP lawmakers, as well as others involved in the speaker’s fight, painted a picture of Huffman working steadily over the past couple years – with some help from deep-pocketed allies – to win over a House Republican caucus that Stephens consistently struggled to unite after his controversial election as speaker in January 2023.

By the time a third faction of House Republicans launched a futile, last-minute attempt to run the relatively unknown state Rep. Tim Barhorst of Shelby County, both Huffman’s and Stephens’ respective camps had long recognized that Huffman had built an insurmountable advantage among House Republicans, according to multiple sources.

While this story will lay out several reasons for Huffman’s victory and Stephens’ defeat, one overarching reason for Huffman’s win – offered by his backers and critics alike – was that House Republicans are anxious to reunify their caucus and end the drama and infighting that has helped make the current legislative session the most unproductive in decades.

Stephens’ struggles

The beginning of the end for Jason Stephens came at the beginning – Jan. 3, 2023, the very first day of the 135th General Assembly. Even though House Republicans, who controlled more than two-thirds of the chamber, had previously voted to back state Rep. Derek Merrin of suburban Toledo for speaker, Stephens won the speaker’s vote with the support of House Democrats and about a third of House Republicans who disliked Merrin ideologically and personally.

Stephens’ usurpation upset a majority of House Republicans – both because Stephens defied the caucus vote for Merrin and by doing it by striking a deal with House Democrats.

While Stephens tried to mend some of those fences in the following months, he faced unceasing hostility from several GOP lawmakers – including state Reps. Ron Ferguson of Jefferson County, Phil Plummer of Dayton and Brian Stewart of Pickaway County – that made it impossible for him to unify the caucus behind him.

“We didn’t back down. It wasn’t fun,” Plummer said in an interview. “You know, it was very unproductive.”

Stephens and the 21 House Republicans who voted for him as speaker also quickly faced blowback from conservative activists and GOP leaders around the state. Billboards sprung up along highways condemning the so-called “Blue 22,” and the Ohio Republican Party passed a resolution censuring them.

In the face of this criticism, Stephens’ big stand came in this year’s March primary election. The speaker and his allies amassed and spent millions of dollars on behalf of their favored candidates against rivals (most of whom were considered to be anti-Stephens), but four “Blue 22” lawmakers ended up losing their seats. It was an unsubtle warning to House Republicans about what might happen to them in two years if they voted for Stephens as speaker this time around.

“Even though there were people that respected the way that (Stephens) has led the House over the last two years, because of the censure and the primary races, the whole gamut, there’s just people that were going to be too scared to be with him – publicly, anyway,” said one Republican source, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about private conversations.

Plummer and Stewart said Stephens had several opportunities to unify the caucus over the past two years but instead made moves that further alienated his critics, such as unceremoniously unseating some House GOP committee chairs for backing some primary opponents to pro-Stephens incumbents.

“He would punish members. He would hold up bills. At every point, he decided to try to strong-arm people,” Stewart said.

Plummer also said that Stephens told him a month ago that he was ready to again strike a deal with Democrats to secure another two years as speaker.

“He said, ‘I can’t tell you I’m not going to,’” Plummer said.

The Plain Dealer/cleveland.com has reached out to spokespeople for Stephens for comment on this story and specific allegations made about him.

Stephens, in an interview with The Plain Dealer/cleveland.com last April, called critics like Plummer and Stewart “pirates” and accused them of working in bad faith to undermine his attempts to reunite the caucus.

“Every time we have tried to have open discussions and dialogues, people want to kick us in the shins and accuse me of doing something that is not true,” Stephens said.

Huffman’s quiet campaign

Amid this disarray in the House, Huffman soon began quietly laying the groundwork needed for any successful legislative leadership campaign: introducing himself to new House members, raising money, and building connections.

“It’s a game of relationships, right?” said the Republican source. “(Huffman) didn’t waste any time starting.”

State Rep.-elect Kellie Deeter, a Norwalk Republican who won election to the House for the first time earlier this month, said that she decided months ago to vote for Huffman as speaker.

“I think the main issue for me, personally, (and) the freshman class, is looking for someone with the ability to unite the caucus, and that’s a priority for me,” said Deeter, a nurse anesthetist and medical spa owner.

However, Deeter said that even though she largely kept that decision to herself, neither Huffman nor Stephens pressured her for her vote.

Like Deeter, Huffman is also technically an incoming freshman House member. But he has moved back and forth between the Ohio House and Senate since 2007 — a commonly used tactic to elude Ohio’s term-limits rule, which restrict lawmakers to serving only eight years at a time per chamber.

Unlike some past speaker candidates who very publicly campaigned for the job, Huffman did his best to keep his moves behind the scenes, and he and his small political inner circle remained tight-lipped about his plans.

Until the March primary, the main indication of Huffman’s interest in House speaker came via campaign-finance reports, which showed his campaign made maximum contributions to many candidates challenging pro-Stephens incumbents.

But some outside groups stepped in to help pro-Huffman candidates, such as Americans for Prosperity’s Ohio chapter and a Texas-based group called Make Liberty Win, which spent $2 million against pro-Stephens primary candidates.

Despite the primary losses, Stephens worked hard during the summer to get the votes needed to remain speaker, traveling to GOP lawmakers’ districts and meeting with them in their homes, according to a Republican source. However, the source said, Stephens realized by late summer that he wasn’t going to win.

“He’s not a dumb guy by any imagination, so he knows how to count votes,” the source said.

Campaign-finance data shows that Stephens’ political fundraising and spending fell off noticeably in the summer and fall of 2024.

Last-minute challenge

While Stephens’ chances of remaining speaker began to fade, Ron Ferguson began working to make sure that Huffman didn’t run unopposed.

Ferguson has consistently been one of Stephens’ most vociferous critics, and he has connections to some of the deep-pocketed outside groups that helped anti-Stephens candidates (though Ferguson has downplayed his role in that work).

Rather than back Huffman, Ferguson considered running for speaker himself. But instead, state Rep. Tim Barhorst, a well-liked but comparatively unknown Shelby County Republican and a Ferguson ally, threw himself in the race just a couple days before the caucus vote.

Different sources gave different predictions about how many lawmakers would back Barhorst’s 11th hour campaign. But during the caucus vote, Barhorst’s bid unexpectedly fizzled out when no one spoke up to put his name into consideration, according to multiple lawmakers in the room.

Looking ahead

After the vote, Huffman told reporters that he hopes House Republicans will set an “aggressive, conservative agenda” under his leadership next session.

“I do think that there’s some reconciliation that has to happen,” Huffman said of the House GOP caucus.

But there are signs that such reconciliation might not extend to Stephens, who will still be in the legislature next year as a regular member.

Huffman said it would “make sense” for Stephens to become chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, given his past experience as a county auditor. But, Huffman added, he would prefer to keep state Rep. Bill Roemer, a pro-Huffman Republican from Richfield, in that job.

A GOP source predicted that Stephens will likely be given little to nothing to do for the next two years.

“Anything more than that would be a win (for Stephens),” the source said.

Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.