Throwback Thursday: Women trailblazers in Ohio politics
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson. Photo courtesy the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board
Ohio's political gender gap is slowly narrowing, but numerous women past and present have made their marks on history:
Jo Ann Davidson: The Franklin County Republican spent two decades in the Statehouse, becoming in 1995 the first woman speaker of the house.
- Years before, she was the first woman elected to the Reynoldsburg City Council.
- Davidson died at 97 in October and lay in state inside the Statehouse Rotunda, the only woman so honored.
Nancy Hollister: The Marietta native was mayor of her hometown before becoming the first woman lieutenant governor.
- When Gov. George Voinovich resigned to join Congress, she briefly served as the first (and still only) woman Ohio governor.
Marcy Kaptur: The longest serving woman in Congressional history was first elected to her Toledo-area district in 1982.
- She was recently re-elected to a 22nd term.
Ellen Walker Craig-Jones: In 1971, the Urbancrest resident became America's first Black woman elected mayor by popular vote.
