Stephanie Kunze is an American politician who served as a member of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of t ...

for the 16th district. She formerly served in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

for the 24th district. Prior to her election, she was a member of Hilliard

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

and a secretary at Norwich Elementary School.

Career

In her 2009 race for Hilliard

, Kunze faced controversy over an apparent violation of Ohio law that prohibits classified public employees from participating in partisan primary elections. She resigned her position with the school district after winning the Republican primary. She was elected to the

in 2012, defeating Democrat Maureen Reedy with 52% of the vote. Kunze's 2012 campaign was aided by school privatization and charter school advocacy group StudentsFirst, who sent mailers and distributed literature on her behalf. Kunze ran for re-election as a state representative in 2014, facing opposition from Democrat Kathy Hoff and Libertarian Mark M. Noble.http://vote.ohio.gov/Results.aspx?race=State%20House%20of%20Representatives In 2016, Kunze opted to run for the

, winning with 58% of the vote.

Personal life

She is married with two children.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunze, Stephanie 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the Ohio General Assembly Candidates in the 2021 United States elections Indiana University Bloomington alumni Living people People from Hilliard, Ohio Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Republican Party Ohio state senators Women state legislators in Ohio Year of birth missing (living people)