Despite a history of losing in Ohio, Democrats say they are optimistic about this year’s election.

A Democrat has not won an executive branch race for state office since a 2008 special election for attorney general.

That came two years after Democrats had remarkable gains in the state, largely because of the unpopularity of the Republican brand, particularly George W. Bush, who was then the president.

It was short-lived for Democrats with Republicans winning all the statewide races in 2010 with close contests for governor and attorney general.

But except for Sherrod Brown in 2012 and in 2018, no Ohio Democrat running with their political affiliation on the ballot has won a single statewide race.

And even Brown lost his 2024 reelection bid.

So much has changed in Ohio since Republican Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016. Trump is the only Republican in history to win Ohio, which was once a presidential bellwether state, three consecutive times.

But even before Trump, Republicans enjoyed tremendous success among voters since the 2010 election for executive branch seats — governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor and treasurer — followed by blowout victories in 2014 and 2022 while Democrats were competitive in 2018, but they still lost.

Besides Brown, no Ohio Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race since Howard Metzenbaum in 1988.

When Democrats won Ohio Supreme Court races in 2018 and 2020 without party affiliation on the ballot, Republicans changed the law. With party affiliation on the ballot since 2022, Republicans haven’t lost a single Ohio Supreme Court race.

Brown is back again, running against Republican Jon Husted for the U.S. Senate seat the latter was appointed to in January 2025.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur with the endorsements of Trump and the Ohio Republican Party, will face Casey Putsch in the GOP primary for governor.

Ramaswamy is the heavy favorite.

The winner will face Democrat Amy Acton, the former state health director during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. No other Democrats have filed or announced their intentions to run against her in the May primary. Filing deadline is Feb. 4.

Democrats feel good about both the governor and Senate races.

But alarms should be ringing about the party’s weak candidates for attorney general, treasurer and auditor. They are as unknown as the 2022 Democratic statewide executive branch candidates who were crushed by incumbent Republicans.

When I spoke to Democratic Party Chairman Kathleen Clyde right after the Nov. 4 general election, I asked if she had concerns about the down-ticket candidates, particularly because the party hadn’t announced anyone for treasurer or auditor at the time. Clyde said she was confident about the party finding quality candidates for both positions.

Yet the party waited a couple of months to announce candidates for those two positions, and the names left even the most-hardcore Ohio Democrat wondering who they are.

The party tried to recruit better-known candidates for the spots, but it was unsuccessful.

Instead, the party quietly announced on Jan. 7 that Seth Walsh, a Cincinnati councilman since December 2022, would be the treasurer candidate. In the November election, Walsh finished sixth out of 27 candidates for nine Cincinnati council seats.

That was followed Jan. 13 by the announcement that Mayor Annette Blackwell of Maple Heights, a city of about 23,000 residents in Cuyahoga County, would be the auditor candidate. I have lived about 60 miles from Maple Heights for the past 31 years, and I’ve never heard of the city until a couple of weeks ago.

Blackwell will face two-term Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, for auditor, while Walsh will face the winner of the Republican primary.

Three Republicans have declared for treasurer: state Sen. Kristina D. Rogener of Hudson; Niraj Antani of Miamisburg, a former state representative and state senator; and Jay Edwards of Nelsonville, a former representative.

The attorney general race isn’t much better for Democrats.

The party has two candidates: John J. Kulewicz, an Upper Arlington City Council member first elected in 2019, and Elliot Forhan of Brooklyn Heights, a former one-term state representative reprimanded and stripped of his committee assignments by his own party’s Ohio House.

Two-term state Auditor Keith Faber is the Republican nominee for attorney general.

State Rep. Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, who served as House minority leader, and Bryan Hambley, a Warren County doctor, are running as Democrats for secretary of state.

Of all the Democratic down-ticket candidates, Russo is the best known.

On the Republican side, two-term state Treasurer Robert Sprague and Marcell Strbich, a retired Air Force officer, are running for secretary of state.

With the filing deadline coming in two weeks, do not expect Democrats who anyone would recognize to run for a down-ticket seat. That doesn’t bode well for the party.

David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.