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Endorses O'Donnell

The race

One seat on the seven-member Supreme Court of Ohio, elected statewide on November 3, 2026, to a six-year term. Party labels appear on the general-election ballot — this is the third Ohio cycle under the 2021 law requiring them. The roster is verified against the CSV's compilation source (the 2026 United States judicial elections compilation citing Ballotpedia) and corroborated by Ballotpedia News and the Columbus Dispatch: incumbent Justice Jennifer Brunner (D) against Colleen O'Donnell (R). Republicans hold a 6–1 majority; Brunner is the court's only Democrat and Ohio's last Democrat in statewide elected office. If O'Donnell wins, the court is 7–0 Republican.

Jennifer Brunner — Incumbent. Elected to the Supreme Court in 2020 after service at all three levels of Ohio courts — Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, the Tenth District Court of Appeals (from 2014), and the Supreme Court (from 2021) — plus a term as Ohio Secretary of State (2007–2011) and private practice; licensed since 1983. Credits: she was part of the 2025 ruling requiring AES Ohio to repay over $61 million of excessive earnings to overcharged customers, and she dissented — on public-safety grounds — from a decision allowing a man with a domestic-violence history to petition to restore his gun rights, writing that it "undermines the public trust…and sets the stage for more serious repeat crimes to occur." Dirt, at the proven standard: as a justice she joined the majority that struck down Ohio congressional maps as unconstitutional gerrymanders; she wrote the dissent when the reconstituted court upheld bipartisan-approved maps in 2023, calling the majority's reasoning "illusory"; she opposed voter-ID legislation on the stated ground that added regulation creates barriers to participation; and in October 2026 she lost her own federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the partisan-label law, a district court holding that a party label conveys accurate information and compels no speech. As Secretary of State she was sued in 2008 over roughly 1,000 unsigned provisional ballots that were counted. Her endorsements include Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, and the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.

Colleen O'Donnell — Challenger. Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge 2013–2023 — appointed by Gov. John Kasich in May 2013 at 32, then the youngest judge in Ohio — followed by service as a U.S. immigration judge in Laredo, Texas, and earlier work as an assistant Ohio Attorney General, a federal district-court law clerk, and an attorney at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and in private practice. Her father, Terrence O'Donnell, is a retired Ohio Supreme Court justice. She states her philosophy in her own words: a "constitutional conservative" running to "uphold the rule of law, protect public safety, and preserve a conservative majority on the Court," who supports judicial originalism — giving laws "the meaning that they had at the time they were enacted" — and whose Judicial Votes Count questionnaire lists rule of law, separation of powers, integrity, and fairness as guiding principles. Of her immigration bench she says she "enforced the law as written, never once granted asylum, and consistently ordered the removal of illegal aliens." Endorsements: Ohio Right to Life PAC, Ohio Value Voters, the Franklin County Republican Party, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, U.S. Rep. Max Miller, and — jointly with Justice Hawkins — the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, NFIB Ohio, the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Ohio Farm Bureau, and the Ohio Manufacturers' Association, citing "a stable and predictable judicial system, respecting the co-equal branches of government." Dirt, at the proven standard: she lost her 2022 reelection bid for the Common Pleas seat; and in 2026 a grievance was filed alleging she violated judicial-conduct rules by reposting an endorsement page that repeatedly called her "judge" while she was not on the bench — a panel of appeals judges found probable cause for the case to proceed to a hearing. That is a pending grievance, not an adjudicated violation, and we price it as such.

Pros and cons

Brunner: Pros: The deepest résumé in the race — three court levels, statewide executive office, four decades licensed; a documented consumer ruling worth $61 million back to ratepayers; a gun-restoration dissent grounded in public safety. Cons: A record of using the bench against the political branches' core work — striking congressional maps, dissenting to keep reviewing bipartisan maps, opposing voter ID — and a failed personal lawsuit against the ballot-label law Ohio's elected legislature enacted. No restrained, break-with-her-side record appears anywhere in the deep pass. O'Donnell: Pros: A decade on a general-jurisdiction trial bench plus federal immigration judging; an explicitly originalist, law-as-written philosophy stated on the record; law-enforcement and the state's major business organizations behind her. Cons: The pending "judge"-title grievance is a real, documented blemish on campaign conduct; she has never sat on an appellate court, so her appellate judging is unproven — a watch posture, not a demerit.

Record gaps

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Colleen O'Donnell. The evidentiary basis: LiberalMind backs textualist/originalist restraint, and only one candidate states that philosophy in her own words — give laws the meaning they had when enacted, enforce the law as written — backed by ten years of trial judging and a federal immigration bench where that is exactly what the record shows. Brunner's experience is genuine and credited above, but her documented record runs the other way on the questions this court decides: maps struck down, voter ID opposed, and a personal suit against the label law. A Democrat earns our endorsement with a proven restrained break record; none was found. O'Donnell's pending grievance is disclosed, unadjudicated, and does not outweigh a stated philosophy plus a decade of judging. Vote O'Donnell.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

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Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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