CCD Wins Emergency Relief Blocking Ohio GOP From Suppressing Voter Choice in Its Own 2026 Primary

On March 20, 2026, led by lead counsel Mark Brown, CCD filed suit on behalf of Samuel Ronan, a candidate for U.S. House seeking to run in Ohio's May 5, 2026 Republican primary, to challenge the decision of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and the Franklin County Board of Elections removing Ronan from the ballot. That same day, Chief Judge Sara D. Morrison of the federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio entered an order directing the Defendants to place Ronan back on the ballot.

Ronan had qualified to run in the Republican primary, but a protest to his candidacy was filed in the name of Republican voter Marc A. Schare.

Schare's protest alleged that Ronan was not a genuine Republican even though he is a member of the party. Based on Ronan's past political speech, the protest asserted that he had not truthfully declared, as required by Ohio law, that he is "a member of the Republican Party" and that "if elected to said office ... I will support and abide by the principles enunciated by the Republican Party."

In other words, Schare's protest sought Ronan's removal from the ballot on the ground that his past political speech made it impossible for him to swear truthfully that he is a Republican.

Such an ideological purity test has no basis in Ohio law and violates the First Amendment.

Chief Judge Morrison appears to have agreed. In her March 20, 2026 order, Judge Morrison concluded that Ronan and his co-plaintiff "are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim," and they "will suffer irreparable harm absent this Order."

Interestingly, during a hearing on the protest before the Ohio Board of Elections, Schare admitted under oath that he did not prepare his protest, did not hire his lawyers, and did not know who did.

Schare's attorneys strongly objected to this line of questioning. Soon after the hearing, however, they admitted that the Ohio Republican Party had retained them and was paying their attorney's fees.

So the Ohio Republican Party, as the true party in interest in the case, filed a protest to remove a candidate from its own primary ballot, without disclosing that it was behind the protest.

The Franklin County Board of Elections split along party lines, with the two Republicans voting in favor of the protest and the two Democrats voting against it.

Ronan had moved for the recusal of Republican Board member Meredith Freedhoff on the ground that she is Chair of the Franklin County Republican Party, which officially supports Ronan's opponent in the primary, the incumbent Michael Carey. The county party has also contributed $500.00 to Carey's campaign, and Carey's campaign paid the county party more than $10,000.00 in December 2025. Freedhoff nevertheless declined to recuse.

As a result of the board's tie vote, the matter went to Secretary LaRose to break the tie. LaRose, a Republican, voted in favor of the protestor.

Because the Court's March 20, 2026 order restoring Ronan to the ballot was a temporary restraining order, it expires after 14 days. The parties are therefore briefing the case on an emergency basis to determine whether the Court should enter a preliminary injunction that will secure Ronan's placement on the ballot for the May 5, 2026 primary.

But this case has already exposed one critical fact: the Ohio Republican Party is willing to take secretive action to suppress voter choice within its own closed primary.