A sheriff rematch. A historic prosecutor's race. Here are the local elections to watch

The primaries are over, and Cincinnati-area voters can now look ahead to November's drama. And there will be plenty when it comes to local political races.

A former sheriff switched parties and will face the sheriff who ousted him four years earlier. A former state representative hopes to become the first Democratic prosecutor in Hamilton County in 92 years. And a county office that wasn't supposed to be on the ballot suddenly is.

Here are races to watch in the Cincinnati region for the November election.

Hamilton County Dems look for first prosecutor in 92 years

During the past two decades, Democrats have taken control of Hamilton County politics, winning all but two countywide seats. Hamilton County prosecutor, one of the most powerful political positions in the region, has eluded them for a long time. Republicans have controlled it since 1932.

Democrats hope Connie Pillich, a former state representative and Air Force veteran, will become their first county prosecutor in 92 years.

Ohio Supreme Court: How Joe Deters ended up on the state's highest court without any judicial experience

She will face Republican incumbent Melissa Powers, who has served as prosecutor since January 2023 when Republicans appointed her to replace longtime prosecutor Joe Deters. Deters served as prosecutor for 24 years, winning reelection multiple times as the county around him turned blue.

This year, the Republicans will have to keep the seat with someone not named Deters after Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him to the Ohio Supreme Court in January 2023.

Prior to her appointment as the county prosecutor, Powers had served as a judge for 16 years in Hamilton County, first on the municipal court then as a juvenile court judge. She did not run for reelection in 2022. Powers worked as an assistant prosecutor in Hamilton County from 1991 to 1998.

Pillich, of Montgomery, served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2009 to 2014. She also worked six years as a Hamilton County Public Defender and was co-chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party for a short time in 2018.

Rematch for Hamilton County sheriff

Jim Neil wants his job back, this time as a Republican. The race for Hamilton County sheriff is a rematch of 2020 between Neil and the incumbent, Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey, 66, a Democrat from Columbia Tusculum.

Four years ago, both Neil and McGuffey were Democrats and Neil was the incumbent sheriff. Since he won election in 2012, Neil and the Democratic Party grew apart, particularly after Neil appeared at a Donald Trump rally in 2016. The Hamilton County Democrats in 2020 opted to endorse McGuffey in the Democratic primary, a rare circumstance of an incumbent failing to get the party's endorsement.

After losing the Democratic primary, Neil, 65, of Sayler Park, switched from Democrat to Republican in 2022.

McGuffey's election in 2020 made national headlines. She's the first openly LGBTQ and woman sheriff in Hamilton County history.

2020 Ohio Election: Charmaine McGuffey beats Jim Neil in Hamilton County sheriff's race

Both McGuffey and Neil have a long history with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. Neil joined the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department in 1981, McGuffey in 1983. Neil promoted McGuffey to major in 2013, a year after he was elected sheriff.

The relationship went south from there. It culminated in Neil firing McGuffey in 2017. McGuffey sued her boss, claiming she was fired for raising concerns about the use of force and her orientation as an openly gay woman.

Neil claims he fired McGuffey for creating a hostile work environment.

The county settled the case in December 2020 just before McGuffey took office as sheriff for $474,999 in attorney fees and lost wages and benefits paid to McGuffey. The county did not admit wrongdoing.

How competitive will Ohio's 1st Congressional District be?

U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman flipped Ohio's 1st Congressional District seat for the Democrats two years ago and will defend it for the first time this year. He faces Orlando Sonza, 33, a Republican from Springfield Township.

Republican Rep. Steve Chabot held the seat for all but two of the previous 28 years before losing to Landsman in 2022.

Sonza hasn't held elected office before but has worked as an assistant prosecutor in Hamilton County. Landsman, 47, of Mount Washington, was on Cincinnati City Council prior to his election to Congress.

The district is still one of the more competitive in the state but leans Democratic by about two percentage points, according to Dave's Redistricting, a website that compiles voter statistics in various political subdivisions.

Republican lawmakers, under constitutional reforms passed by voters, had to include all of the predominantly Democratic Cincinnati in the district. The Republican stronghold of Warren County remained in the district.

As a result, the race has drawn the attention of national Democrats and Republicans. On the night of the primary after Sonza became the official Republican nominee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a statement slamming Sonza's support for a national abortion ban, legislation that would ban in vitro fertilization and same-sex marriage as being "wildly out of step with Southwest Ohio."

The National Republican Congressional Committee released a statement calling Landsman "flawed and extreme."

Sonza has appeared to soften his stances on a national abortion ban. Sonza posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the issue of abortion is settled federally and that "it's up to the states to govern themselves accordingly."

Sonza, in an emailed response to The Enquirer, also said he "fully supports protecting and increasing access to IVF and fertility-related services for families." As for same-sex marriages, Sonza also said the Respect for Marriage Act, which protected same-sex marriage across the country and was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, is the law of the land. "I respect the law," Sonza said in the email.

Auditor's death leads to an open sea in Hamilton County

The death of former Hamilton County auditor Brigid Kelly on March 26 from esophageal cancer shocked the local political world and left an unexpected open seat for a major county office.

Days before her death, Kelly recommended Democratic state Rep. Jessica Miranda, of Forest Park, as her replacement. The Hamilton County Democratic Central Committee, made up of about 300 people, will decide in April whether to appoint Miranda or someone else as auditor. That person, or someone else of the Democrats' choosing, will have to run for election in November.

The Hamilton County Republicans will also have an opportunity to nominate a candidate to run for auditor on the November ballot. The deadline to get a candidate on the ballot is Aug. 12.

A group of state House races up for grabs

Several state House races could provide interesting matchups.

28th House district, Hamilton County

The vacancy in the Hamilton County auditor position might leave an open seat in Hamilton County.

If Miranda becomes Hamilton County auditor, Miranda's seat in the 28th House District is up for grabs. The 28th District includes Forest Park, Sharonville, Blue Ash and other communities in northern Hamilton County.

It leans slightly Democrat, which accounted for 53% of the voters, according to Dave's Redistricting.

If the Democrats appoint Miranda to auditor, Miranda has recommended Symmes Township social worker Karen Brownlee take her place in the Ohio House. Brownlee ran for Symmes Township trustee in 2023 and lost.

Brownlee, or whomever the Democrats choose, will face Republican Jenn Giroux, a Symmes Township nurse who owns the Catholic Shop in Madeira and is an ardent anti-abortion activist. Giroux lost a state House race in 2022 against Democrat Rachel Baker.

27th House district, Hamilton County

Baker, who is finishing her first term as a state representative in the eastern Cincinnati suburbs of the 27th District, also has a race against well-known Republican Curt Hartman, an Anderson Township Republican, attorney and former Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge.

47th House district, Butler County

Two pastors will battle each other for the state House in Butler County. Republican Diane Mullins faces Vanessa Cummings for House District 47, which covers the city of Hamilton and the northern part of Butler County.

What Mullins has said from the pulpit could draw attention to this race.

Mullins has referenced antisemitic conspiracy theories in her sermons at Calvary Church and told her congregation not to read or watch secular news.

She also implied that a communist cell was responsible for placing sculptures in the city of Hamilton and falsely claimed that the sculptures are taxpayer-funded.

Mullins unseated incumbent Rep. Sara Carruthers in the Republican primary March 19. Carruthers was one of the 22 Republicans who voted with Democrats to elect Republican Jason Stephens as Speaker of the House in 2023, prompting a rebuke from the Ohio Republican Party. Carruthers was one of four of the "Blue 22" Republicans who lost their seats on March 19.

Cummings, her Democratic opponent, is a motivational speaker, corporate trainer and pastor at Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Hamilton. She served on Oxford City Council from 1994 to 2000.

The GOP candidate in this race has a significant advantage, with 62% of the voters being Republican, according to Dave's Redistricting. Trump won the county with 61% of the vote in 2020.

Tough time for tax levies

The increase in property values and tax bills might spell doom for any property tax levies on the ballot this November. Levies on the March 19 primary ballot didn't fare well, with only four of the 15 levies and bond issues passing in Hamilton County and the surrounding counties. Deadline for any levies to get on the ballot is Aug. 7.

The general election is Nov. 5.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What are the big Cincinnati races in the 2024 general election?