Kathleen Clyde


Kathleen Clyde is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives, serving from the 75th District from 2011 to 2018.

Early life and career

Clyde is originally from Garrettsville, Ohio. She was the valedictorian of her class at James A. Garfield High School. After graduation from the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, where she served as an editor of the law review, Clyde served as Speaker of the House Armond Budish's deputy legal counsel. She also has worked in the Secretary of State's Office and the Ohio Senate. Clyde is a former president of the Public Interest Law Foundation.

Ohio politics

Ohio House of Representatives

When incumbent Democrat Kathleen Chandler faced term limits in 2010, Clyde was one of three Democratic challengers who sought to replace Chandler, along with Sean Buchanan and Rick Hawksley. Clyde won the nomination with 56.8% of the electorate. In the general election, Clyde faced three opponents: Republican Roak Zeller, Constitution Party candidate Daniel Cartwright, and Independent Richard Duncan. She defeated all three with 48% of the vote to take the seat.
Clyde was sworn into her first term on January 3, 2011, and is serving on the committees of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Finance and Appropriations and its Higher Education Subcommittee; and State Government and Elections with its Subcommittee on Redistricting.
In 2012, Clyde won reelection with 60.77% of the vote over Republican Nick Skeriotis. She represents the 75th District, which replaced the 68th District.

Candidacy for Ohio Secretary of State, 2018

She faces Ohio State Sen. Frank LaRose in the general election.
During the campaign, Clyde said she would not continue a policy of purging voters from voter rolls if those voters had not voted for six consecutive years. Clyde supported a shift to a uniform paper ballot system in Ohio; LaRose said he favored the current system where there is a requirement for a paper trail for ballots but all counties are allowed to use their own machines. Clyde called for the adoption of postal voting to replace early in-person voting; LaRose supported the existing system which is a combination of early in-person voting and postal voting.

Initiatives and positions

Clyde has been critical of a plan by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to allow voters to register on-line and not give them as much time to cast absentee ballots. "Voting is already a confusing process, and I think this muddies it even further," said Rep. Clyde, who was director of the Early Voting Center in Franklin County in 2008. "It discourages voting," Clyde said of Husted's attempt to limit the amount of time voters had to cast absentee ballots.

Secretary of State campaign

She launched a bid to serve as the Ohio Secretary of State on May 16, 2017. The election will be held in 2018. On November 6, 2018 Clyde was defeated by State Senator Frank LaRose 46.7 to 50.9%.