AFP Ohio — Buckeye Blueprint Endorsement

AFP Ohio is proud to announce its endorsement of Senator Michele Reynolds for Ohio Senate District 3 in the November election.

Senator Michele Reynolds made history in 2022 as the first Republican woman of color elected to office in Franklin County, and she has spent her first term representing Pickaway and Madison Counties along with parts of Franklin County. A third-generation business owner and nonprofit CEO who operates businesses across five Ohio cities, Reynolds previously served as a Madison Township Trustee and as Director of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, where she managed a $13.5 million budget.

Reynolds has been clear that the people of District 3 need a stable economy, affordable housing, and profitable businesses, and she has worked to bring capital budget dollars back to her district for community projects.

Economic Opportunity

Reynolds voted to move Ohio to a flat 2.75% income tax as part of the FY 2026-27 state operating budget, which restrained state spending below the Governor’s requested levels and avoided new taxes.

Freedom in Education

Reynolds voted for the FY 2026-27 state operating budget, which included provisions to create Education Savings Accounts giving Ohio families more direct control over how their children’s education dollars are spent. That ESA provision was ultimately struck by Governor DeWine’s line-item veto, but Reynolds’ vote reflects her support for expanding school choice for families in District 3.

Energy Abundance

Reynolds has backed some of Ohio’s most consequential free-market energy reforms in recent years. She voted for Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 15, both of which ended the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation subsidies that cost taxpayers roughly $450,000 a day — more than $670 million since enactment — while eliminating Electric Security Plans and advancing permitting reforms to accelerate power generation on brownfield sites. She also supported Senate Bill 103, which brought Ohio’s natural gas ratemaking rules in line with HB 15, cut bureaucratic delays at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and gave large energy users like manufacturers more flexibility to negotiate rate agreements.

Modernizing Government in Ohio

Her time as a Madison Township Trustee gave her firsthand exposure to the duplicative layers of local and state bureaucracy that drive up costs for taxpayers, informing her sponsorship of Senate Bill 145 to consolidate Ohio’s housing and economic-development functions into a single department rather than scattering them across disconnected state agencies. She has also backed a string of property tax and budget commission reforms on the Senate floor — voting for House Bill 335 and House Bill 309 to limit unvoted inside millage and strengthen county budget commission oversight, House Bill 129 to close loopholes in how school districts calculate property tax floors, and the override of Governor DeWine’s veto eliminating replacement property tax levies in the FY 2026-27 state budget.

AFP Ohio is proud to endorse Michele Reynolds because her record of responsive, community-rooted leadership reflects the practical solutions Ohioans need from their State Senator.