Remarkable Days in Ohio Political History-The President's Podcast with Matt Huffman
Senate President and Speaker Elect Matt Huffman will become the first elected official in modern history to preside over both the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives on the same day.
On January 6, 2025, Senate President Matt Huffman will lead the ceremony during the first session of the 136th General Assembly in the Senate as incoming President Rob McColley takes the oath of office for the Upper Chamber.
From there the former Senate President will walk across the Rotunda to the House Chamber to take part in the official leadership vote that will make him the new Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.
Matt Huffman’s path to power in each chamber started in Lima, Ohio. His father served as the Allen County Prosecutor for years, and his mother was very involved in the community caring for new moms who were alone and in need of help. Matt Huffman earned his law degree from the University of Cincinnati and has practiced law for more than thirty years, yet at the heart of it all was his love for public service. He was elected to Lima City Council and later became City Council President.
He worked for legendary leaders in the General Assembly. The late Speaker Bill Batchelder, and late Speaker Pro Tempore and President Pro Tempore Kirk Schuring. Matt Huffman played a critical role in recapturing the majority for Republicans in the House in 2011. He served as Speaker Pro Tempore and later became Senate President in 2021. He took the oath of office outside his front door during the height of Covid-19, after being diagnosed with it. Today his portrait as Senate President hangs outside the Senate Chamber as a tribute to his service leading the Senate.
This week, Huffman also welcomed Ohio’s electors to the 56th Electoral College in the Senate Chamber certifying Donald Trump and Ohio’s U.S. Senator J.D. Vance as the winners of the presidential race in Ohio. Three United States Presidents served in the Ohio Senate. William Henry Harrison, James A. Garfield and Warren G. Harding called the Upper Chamber home before rising to the nation’s top office. J.D. Vance also served as a page in the Ohio Senate. Watch the entire meeting on the Ohio Channel.
In this week’s President’s Podcast, President Huffman looks back on his time as Senate President. The battles, the accomplishments, and the challenges to come as Speaker-elect. Watch his farewell floor speech to his colleagues along with a hilarious floor speech by Euclid Democrat Senator Kent Smith. You don’t want to miss the colorful send off and mispronunciations of that Lima standard, Kewpee. Find the highlights here.
As the late Senator Kirk Schuring liked to say, “Ohio needs more statesmen, and fewer statement makers.” Matt Huffman is a statesman, a consensus builder, and a genuine people person. We wish him continued success in the House of Representatives and look forward to President McColley and Speaker Huffman moving the state forward in the new year.