A Hamilton County statehouse race is headed for a recount after unofficial results showed Republican Rep. Cindy Abrams ahead by just 19 votes. The margin — 0.03 percent of the ballots cast — is well inside the threshold that triggers an automatic recount, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Abrams faced Democrat Jonathan Bradner, a pastor with a master’s degree in ethics and justice, in the race for Ohio’s 29th House District, which includes parts of Harrison, Mount Healthy and North College Hill, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Abrams’ race is one of four Ohio House races headed for a recount, though Democrats have already broken the House’s veto-proof Republican majority by flipping eight seats.
Abrams was appointed to the seat in 2019 and has never had a race this tight, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported: she won with 98 percent against a write-in candidate in 2020, ran unopposed in 2022, and won with 57 percent in 2024. The Enquirer reported it called Abrams but did not immediately receive a response.
The result will not be final until the Hamilton County Board of Elections completes its official canvass. Board Executive Director Sherry Poland told the Cincinnati Enquirer the results will be clearer the week of November 16, when the board canvasses the ballots and determines whether the recount is needed.
About 10,000 provisional ballots countywide remain to be cured, and absentee ballots had to be received by the board by November 7, Poland told the Cincinnati Enquirer. An automatic recount is triggered when the margin is equal to or less than 0.5 percent, she told the Enquirer — a threshold the 19-vote margin clears easily.
“Dig in friends, because we may not know the results until November 18th,” Bradner told supporters on his Facebook page, in a post quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. What happens next: the board’s canvass the week of November 16, followed by the recount if the margin holds — with the district’s representation for the next two years hanging on a handful of ballots.