The seat is one of three up for election in the fall that will determine whether Democrats can flip the court from its current 4-3 Republican majority.
In November, Forbes will face Dan Hawkins, a Republican judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. Just weeks ago, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children, a decision that temporarily halted in vitro fertilization treatments in the state and sparked a national debate over reproductive rights. A race for one seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year was the costliest state high court campaign on record – $42 million – and eventually flipped control from conservatives to liberals.
But Democrats see an opening after 57% of Ohio voters backed a reproductive rights measure last fall. They plan to draw attention to the court’s influence over the amendment’s future and see the races as a possible way to chip away at the Republican Party’s longstanding control of all three branches of government in Ohio.