Fischer withdraws from bid to challenge Ohio’s last statewide Democrat

Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat Fischer has withdrawn his bid to challenge the last Democrat elected to statewide office.

Fischer, 67, who took office on Jan. 1, 2017, planned to challenge colleague Jennifer Brunner next year. He was re-elected to his current post in 2022, and his term ends on Jan. 1, 2029.

Fischer is one of six Republican justices on the state’s highest court, and his seat will be up again in 2028. However, during the election, he would be 71 years old, and justices can’t run past 70.

Brunner, 68, was elected to her seat on the state’s highest court in 2020 after serving as a judge on the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals from January 2015 until December 2020 and as secretary of state from January 2007 until January 2011. Signal Cleveland reported that winning Brunner’s seat would allow him to remain on the bench for an extra four years.

However, he abandoned his bid following a state GOP panel’s decision on Saturday to recommend endorsing Second District Court of Appeals Judge Ron Lewis.

“During the presentation to the Ohio Republican Party’s judicial screening committee, I was asked if not endorsed would I run. And I said no,” Fischer told Statehouse News Bureau. “And I keep my word, and so I’m not running.”

Added Fischer: “I was the top vote-getter in 2022 among the six candidates. And I felt that I could beat her. And so I put my name out there.”

Ohio’s Supreme Court elections were made partisan in 2021.

“In a Brunner vs. Fischer race the differences will be stark and obvious. Party affiliation should be our last concern as judges,” Brunner said in a statement, according to Signal Cleveland. “It’s clear this is the primary aim in my colleague’s approach — that’s unfortunate.”

According to Cleveland.com, the GOP’s central committee will finalize its endorsements when it meets on Sept. 5. Because there is no incumbent, the nominee will need support from two-thirds of the committee’s 66 members.

“Ohioans deserve a Justice who will fight for conservative values, respect the Constitution and not legislate from the bench,” Fischer said in a May statement to Signal Cleveland after confirming he planned to challenge Brunner. “I have a record of this and look forward to once again earning the support of the Ohio Republican Party and all Ohioans.”

In 2011, at the request of Ohio judges, Ohio lawmakers put a measure on the ballot to raise the age limit to 75. Voters rejected the measure, with 62% voting against it and 38% voting in favor of it.

In a post to X, House Finance Chair Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, endorsed Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals Judge Andrew King.

As our @ohiogop prepares to meet this weekend, I want to share that I am endorsing Judge @akingohio to be our next Ohio Supreme Court Justice. I’ve come to know Judge King well over many years and he is precisely the type of young, conservative, originalist judge that the…

— Brian Stewart (@BrianStewartOH) August 14, 2025

“I greatly respect Justice Pat Fischer, and I’ve happily supported him in all his prior races for the Ohio Supreme Court,” Stewart wrote. “If Justice Fischer could legally run for re-election to his own seat, I would support him again. But he cannot.

“I am a very strong supporter of the Ohio Constitution’s age 70 judicial retirement age,” Stewart added. “So are a substantial majority of Ohio voters, who rejected a proposed amendment to raise that retirement age to 75 back in 2011, by a margin of 25 points. And so I cannot support a maneuver that is 1) designed to undermine the spirit of that constitutional provision, and 2) which would ultimately result in another unelected justice being appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court. In 2026, voters should select our next Justice, not the governor.”