The court, which currently has a 4-3 Republican majority, is expected to determine how to implement an amendment to the state constitution protecting abortion rights that voters overwhelmingly approved last year.
She now will face Dan Hawkins, a Republican judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, for what is the court’s only open slot. To flip control of Ohio’s court, Democrats must sweep all three contested races in November, retaining two incumbents — Justices Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart — and the open seat for which Forbes won the nomination on Tuesday. That will be a difficult task, given that the state Supreme Court has been under Republican control since 1986 and the former swing state’s overall politics have tacked right in recent years.
During her campaign, Forbes hinted at the importance of building a Democratic majority on the court, referring to it as a “firewall” in a state that has long been under full Republican political control.The open seat for which Forbes will compete against Hawkins is being vacated by Republican Joe Deters, who was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2022. Deters has decided not to seek reelection but to instead challenge Democratic Justice Melody Stewart for her seat in November.
Besides abortion, redistricting, public education, health care, the environment and criminal justice may also arise as campaign issues.