The 2010 Ohio Attorney General election was held on November 6, 2010, concurrently with other statewide offices including a Class 1 Senate election as well as the Governor election. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray who was elected in a 2008 special election ran for a full 4-year term but was defeated by Republican challenger and former 2-term United States senator

Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine (; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th and current governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, DeWine began his career as a prosecutor before being elected to the O ...

. Being decided by 1.2%, this was the closest statewide election in Ohio. Cordray and DeWine would later face off against each other again in the 2018 Governor election.

Background

In 2008 then Ohio State Treasurer Richard Cordray ascended to the office of Attorney General following his victory in a 2008 special election triggered by the resignation of

Marc Dann Marc Dann (born March 12, 1962) is an American former politician of the Democratic Party, who served as the Attorney General of Ohio from 2007 until his resignation on May 14, 2008. Law career and state Senate Dann earned a B.A. in 1984 from t ...

. Cordray won his election in a landslide winning by 18 percentage points being held concurrently with the Presidential election when

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

carried the state by a bit under 5 percentage points. During Cordray's tenure, he got involved in cases against the

Bank of America Corporation The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

as well as the

American International Group American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

. In 2009 former United States Senator Mike DeWine announced he would seek the office of Attorney General, 3 years after

Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown (; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Ohio, a seat which he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Ohio's ...

defeated him in the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

election. Due to the growing unpopularity of the Obama administration many political observers predicted 2010 would be a tough year for Democrats. As such, polling predicted that DeWine had a narrow edge over Cordray.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

* Richard Cordray, incumbent

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, former

Ohio State Treasurer The treasurer of the U.S. state of Ohio is responsible for collecting and safeguarding taxes and fees, as well as managing state investments. The Treasury was located in the Ohio Statehouse from 1861 to 1974, when it was moved to the Rhodes State ...

, former Ohio House of Representatives member from the 33rd district, former Treasurer of Franklin County, former Solicitor General of Ohio, nominee for

OH-15 The 15th congressional district of Ohio currently represented by Republican Mike Carey. It was represented by Republican Steve Stivers from 2011 until May 16, 2021, when he resigned to become president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, nominee for

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, and candidate for U.S. Senate in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

, former

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, former lieutenant governor of Ohio, and former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Results

General election

Polling

Endorsements

Results

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohio Attorney General Election, 2010 2010 Ohio elections

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...