State executive race · November 3, 2026
Auditor of State
Audits the finances of more than 5,900 taxpayer-funded entities in Ohio, including state agencies, counties, cities, townships, and school and library districts; investigates misuse of public money; and holds a seat on the Ohio Redistricting Commission.
4-year term. Open seat: no incumbent is running. Incumbent Keith Faber (R) is term-limited and is running for Attorney General.
The candidates
Listed alphabetically by last name.
Annette Blackwell
Mayor, City of Maple HeightsAnnette Blackwell, a Democrat, has been mayor of Maple Heights since 2016, a period in which the city exited state fiscal emergency in 2020. She is campaigning on rooting out corruption, safeguarding taxpayer dollars, opposing cuts to local government funds, and making the auditor's office a proactive partner to local governments.
Frank LaRose
Ohio Secretary of StateFrank LaRose, a Republican, has been Ohio Secretary of State since 2019 and served in the Ohio Senate from 2011 to 2018; he is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran. He describes the auditor's office as a watchdog for corruption and waste and proposes mandatory performance audits in some cases, consolidation of overlapping local jurisdictions, and a new public spending transparency tool.
Compare on the issues
Summaries of each candidate's stated positions. See each profile for sources and details.
| Issue | Annette Blackwell Democratic | Frank LaRose Republican |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscal Oversight | Says the auditor's office should be a proactive partner to local governments, sharing best practices, templates and examples with entities in fiscal crisis. | Wants performance audits to be mandatory under certain conditions to identify wasteful spending. |
| Local Government | Opposes what she calls the 'endless raid of local government funds by Statehouse politicians.' | Says there is room to consolidate overlapping local taxing jurisdictions or share services, and would advocate that the legislature reduce the number of taxing jurisdictions. |
| Public Corruption | Says she will root out corruption in state government and hold bad actors accountable. | Says the office should focus on fraud, including Medicaid fraud and theft by public officials, and that offenders should be held accountable. |
| Taxes | Says she will guard against wasted tax dollars and that better fiscal resources for local governments lead to better outcomes for taxpayers. | Says reducing government waste can lower costs for families, including on property tax bills. |
| Elections & Democracy | Says that, as a member of the Ohio Redistricting Commission, she would fight for fair representation. | No public position found yet |
| Transparency | No public position found yet | Proposes that the auditor's office build a more usable public spending tool, which he says would require more uniform local accounting practices and could use artificial intelligence. |