Ohio has a bicameral legislature, the Ohio General Assembly, consisting a House of Representatives and Senate (the Ohio State Senate), based on its constitution of 1851.
The House of Representatives first met in Chillicothe on March 3 1803, under the later superseded constitution of that year. The 127th General Assembly convened in January 2007.
Members are limited to four consecutive two-year elected terms. (Terms are considered consecutive if they are separated by less than two years.) Time served by appointment to fill out another representative's uncompleted term does not count against the term limit. There are 99 members of the house, elected from single-member districts. Every even-numbered year, all the seats are up for re-election.
2004 Election
In the 2004 election, Democrats captured two seats (41st district and 93rd district) by defeating sitting Republicans (the latter being Nancy Hollister, a former lieutenant governor). Democrats captured the open seats in two districts (62nd and 63rd) formerly held by Republicans. Democrats held onto four open seats (7th, 26th, 52nd, and 96th). Meanwhile, Republicans defeated the Democratic incumbent in one district (64th) and held onto seven open seats (29th, 46th, 55th, 66th, 88th, 91st, and 98th).
In the remaining 82 districts, the sitting incumbent successfully held his or her seat.
On 18 November 2004, two weeks after winning re-election as a member of the Democratic party, Representative Derrick Seaver announced that he was switching to the Republican party, thus leaving the party distribution in the house at 60 Republicans and 39 Democrats.
In July 2006, Dayton-area Representative Dixie Allen switched her affiliation from the Democratic to the Republican Party, making the party distribution 61 to 38. Term limits prevented her from running for the seat in 2006.
2006 Election
In the 2006 election, Democrats captured open Republican seats in the 1st, 16th, 24th, 39th, 43rd, 57th, 58th, 64th, and 91st districts. Republicans captured an open Democratic seat in the 63rd district. The net effect was a Democratic gain of eight seats, making the party distribution 53 Republicans and 46 Democrats.
Make-up of Ohio House of Representatives for the 127th General Assembly
Results of the November 7, 2006 Election:
| Affiliation | Members | |
| Vorlage:American politics/party colours/Republican| | Republican Party | 53 |
| Vorlage:American politics/party colours/Democratic| | Democratic Party | 46 |
| Total | 99 | |
| Majority | 7 | |
Leadership
Majority Leadership
Minority Leadership
Members of the Ohio House of Representatives
App- Member was appointed to current House Seat