COLUMBUS — Voters on the southern edge of Franklin County will decide Nov. 3 whether Republican Sen. Michele Reynolds of Canal Winchester keeps the Ohio Senate’s 3rd District seat or Democrat Stacie Baker, a Reynoldsburg city council member, unseats her.
The district wraps around the southern outskirts of Franklin County, taking in parts of Reynoldsburg, Groveport and Grove City and reaching south to Circleville and west to London. It leans Republican — one redistricting analysis rates it about 55 percent Republican to 45 percent Democratic — but both campaigns are treating property taxes and housing as the issues that will decide it.
Reynolds, 52, is seeking a second term. A nonprofit executive, business owner and faith leader, she previously served as a Madison Township trustee and as director of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. She chairs the Housing Committee and serves as vice chair of Judiciary and Workforce Development, and she is campaigning on affordability, public safety, workforce development and education.
On property taxes, Reynolds points to her vote for legislation delivering billions in relief, including added help for seniors and homeowners in the Homestead Exemption, and she pledges more reforms against unexpected spikes while protecting school funding. On housing, she cites support for rural housing infrastructure money, residential economic development districts, the Welcome Home Ohio program and restoring the Ohio Housing Trust Fund.
Baker, 44, has served on Reynoldsburg City Council since 2017 and is the city’s representative on the West Licking County Joint Fire District Board. Born and raised in central Ohio, she has 16 years as a Franklin County government employee and degrees from Ohio State and Ohio University. She is campaigning on workforce development, infrastructure, safety, health care and stronger school and child-care funding.
Her property-tax plan goes further: she wants the homestead credit raised dramatically — toward the level Texas offers — the qualifying age lowered from 65 to 60, and the owner-occupied credit increased, arguing that fully funding public education would also ease pressure from school levies. On housing, she backs more money for the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, tax incentives for developers who dedicate a substantial share of units as affordable, and a state source-of-income law barring landlords from refusing tenants over how they earn their income.
The two also split on data centers, a live issue across the district’s fast-growing suburbs. Reynolds says data centers can belong in the district when they are well located, pay their own way and meet state standards that protect residents and the power grid, with local zoning authority preserved. Baker backs a temporary moratorium on large data centers while the state writes enforceable rules on energy and water use, and she wants home rule restored so communities decide for themselves.
Polls are open Nov. 3 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and early voting is available at the Franklin County Board of Elections, 1700 Morse Road. The winner will represent the district for the next four years.
