The Ohio GOP's civil war just entered a hot new phase of hostilities

The yearlong civil war between two Republican factions in the Ohio House of Representatives entered an expensive new phase this month when the party's campaign arm, the Ohio House Republican Alliance, began what cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer reports is a $743,000 TV ad campaign to help six of Speaker Jason Stephens' supporters in the March 19 primary.

Stephens, who secured the top job last year with the support of the chamber's Democratic minority, is not one of the candidates that OHRA is advertising for, even though he has his own difficult intraparty fight ahead of him. State Senate President Matt Huffman, who is termed out of the upper chamber, wants to remain in the legislature by beating Stephens next month. The outcome could have major ramifications, as the Associated Press reported last fall that Huffman has his eye on claiming the speakership in 2025.

The current speaker, however, may be able to fend for himself without OHRA's help. Pelzer writes that recent campaign finance reports show that Stephens has turned around what had been a huge fundraising deficit. In the middle of last year, Huffman enjoyed a gigantic $863,000-to-$202,000 advantage in cash on hand, but now it's Stephens with a $760,000-to-$713,000 edge.

After Republicans gained seats in the 2022 midterms and secured a 67-32 supermajority in the lower chamber, hard-line state Rep. Derek Merrin seemed all but assured of becoming speaker last year after he won the support of the GOP caucus. Stephens and 21 other Republicans, though, unexpectedly joined with all of the Democrats to make Stephens speaker.