EdChoice, Betting Apps and Data Centers: The Ohio Issues Behind the 2026 Ballot

With Election Day 17 days away, most of the attention in Ohio is on two races: Sherrod Brown versus Jon Husted for the U.S. Senate, and Amy Acton versus Vivek Ramaswamy for governor. Both are close. Most September and early October polls have the Democrats ahead, inside or just outside the margin of error, and nearly a quarter million Ohioans had already voted by October 13.

But the most consequential Ohio news this week happened outside the campaigns. Three stories landed in five days, and each one asks the same question: who gets to decide, and who pays?

A court says Ohio is running two school systems

On October 15, Ohio's Tenth District Court of Appeals ruled that EdChoice, the state's largest private school voucher program, violates the Ohio Constitution. The constitution requires a "thorough and efficient system of common schools." The court found that EdChoice funds a separate, privately run system with limited state oversight, one that many rural Ohioans help pay for but cannot easily use.

About 180,000 students participate since the 2023 expansion opened vouchers to nearly every family. Opponents put the cost at more than 1 billion dollars a year. Supporters, including House Speaker Matt Huffman, argue that parents, not districts, should control their child's share of education funding, and that school choice has survived court challenges before.

Nothing changes for families yet. The program continues during the appeal, and the case is headed to the Ohio Supreme Court. Two of that court's seats are on the November ballot. Very few voters will connect those two facts, and that may be the most important thing to understand about this ruling.

Ohio versus the prediction markets

On October 2, the Ohio Casino Control Commission sent cease and desist letters to ten companies, including Polymarket, Robinhood and Coinbase, that let users trade on the outcomes of sports, elections and world events. Ohio's position is that these are sportsbooks operating without the licenses, fees and taxes that legal Ohio sportsbooks pay. The companies argue their products are federally regulated event contracts that only the CFTC can police.

The legal fight may reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The political fight is already here: Coinbase has given 33.2 million dollars to the Fairshake super PAC, which Politico reports plans to spend 30 million dollars against Brown. The industry being regulated is also one of the biggest spenders in the election that decides its regulators.

The data center question both candidates now agree on

A bill to cut Ohio's data center sales tax break in half stalled this summer after drawing 534 lobbying registrations. An independent study by Scioto Analysis found the current arrangement barely breaks even, with a benefit cost ratio of 1.04, while Ohio data centers now use more electricity than every home in the state combined. The same study credits the industry with 96,000 jobs since 2013.

What stands out is the convergence. Ramaswamy now opposes the sales tax break. Acton proposes a moratorium unless projects cover the full cost of their utility demands. The debate in Ohio has shifted from whether to put conditions on data centers to what those conditions should be.

What this means for voters

The gas tax holiday, a 90 day pause costing about 726 million dollars, will show up at the pump. These other stories will not. They will show up in school budgets, electric bills, and court decisions years from now. Whichever way you lean, the people you elect on November 3 will be the ones answering these questions.

I break down all of this, plus polling for every Ohio congressional district, on this week's Purple Political Breakdown, Ohio Edition.

Listen to the full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/will-sherrod-brown-beat-jon-husted-ohio-polls-for-senate/id1626987640?i=1000796804074