Gallia County voted heavily Republican in the Nov. 3 general election even as Ohio chose Democrats at the top of the ticket, according to unofficial results reported by the Associated Press from county and Secretary of State reporting — backing the Republican in every statewide race where Gallia’s county totals are reported, and approving statewide Issue 3 by better than four to one. The AP tally showed 25 of 26 precincts reporting, with about 98 percent of the vote counted and more than 8,600 ballots cast out of 18,121 registered voters, according to the Gallia County Board of Elections’ voter lookup.
In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Jon Husted carried Gallia County with 5,812 votes (67.1 percent) to Democrat Sherrod Brown’s 2,328, with Libertarian William Redpath at 335 and Independent Greg Levy at 187, the Associated Press reported. Brown won the seat statewide. For governor, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy took 5,898 Gallia votes to Democrat Amy Acton’s 2,424 among the candidates listed on the AP’s county page; Acton won Ohio. In the secretary of state race, Republican Robert Sprague won the county with 6,229 votes (72.1 percent) to Democrat Allison Russo’s 2,227 and Libertarian Tom Pruss’s 184 — and Russo likewise won statewide.
Republican David Taylor carried Gallia in the 2nd Congressional District with 6,414 votes (74.4 percent) to Democrat Jen Mazzuckelli’s 2,208, and Taylor won the district, the AP reported. On Issue 3, the photo-ID constitutional amendment, Gallia voted Yes 7,051 (81.9 percent) to No 1,557; the amendment passed statewide.
Some Gallia results are not yet available from official sources. The county board of elections has posted no Nov. 3 results summary, so Gallia’s totals for attorney general, auditor, treasurer, the two Supreme Court seats, State Senate District 17 and Ohio House District 93 were not verified and are not reported here. The board’s official ballot notice shows what Gallia voters decided locally: County Commissioner Tony Hughes, County Auditor Robbie Jacks, Common Pleas Probate/Juvenile Judge Jason Holdren and Appeals Judge Peter B. Abele were each the sole name on the ballot for their offices, and voters in Clay and Perry townships decided fire levy renewals while Springfield Township voted on a liquor option. Those local outcomes become official only through the county canvass.
Everything above remains unofficial. Under the Ohio Secretary of State’s Directive 2026-48, county boards must begin their official canvass between Nov. 8 and Nov. 18 and must complete it and certify results no later than Tuesday, Nov. 24, with qualifying provisional ballots and timely military and overseas ballots included in the final count. The Secretary of State then completes the state canvass and declares Ohio’s results by Dec. 4.
For Gallia County, that means the canvass at the board of elections in Gallipolis over the next two weeks is where these unofficial margins become final — and where the county’s local races and township levies get their official answers.
Photo: Gallia County Courthouse, Gallipolis. Public domain.