Tina Maharath () (born November 30, 1990) is an American politician who served as an

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

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from the 3rd District from 2019 until 2023. She also served in the Senate Democrats leadership team as Minority Whip. As a Democrat, Maharath won 2018 election to the Senate in a highly close race with Republican opponent Anne Gonzales, flipping the 3rd Senate District from the Republicans. Maharath's victory represented the first time Ohio Democrats had won a Republican held State Senate seat since 2006. Maharath is also notable for being the first

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for ...

woman in the Ohio Senate and the first Laotian-American elected into public office. Maharath is from

Whitehall, Ohio Whitehall is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. Located east of the state capital of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Whitehall had a population of 20,127 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Founded in 1947, Whitehall is a growin ...

, the daughter of Laotian refugees. Her father served the U.S. Army under the Laos Army while her mother worked as a nurse in the Laos Army. Maharath is a third-generation politician, and the first woman to hold office in her family. Maharath has a Bachelor's degree in political science and a Master's degree in Law, Justice and Culture from

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

Ohio State Senate

In 2018, Maharath was elected to the Ohio State Senate by 705 votes. During her time in the Senate she sponsored legislation that would prohibit conversion therapy for minors, create an Asian-American and Pacific Islander Affairs Commission, and designate Maternal Mortality Awareness Month. During her time in the Senate, she had been elected by her fellow Democratic colleagues to their leadership team as Assistant Minority Whip then Minority Whip. In the 2022 election, Maharath lost to Republican Michele Reynolds.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Financial Institutions and Technology (Ranking Member) * Local Government and Elections (Ranking Member) * Agriculture and Natural Resources * Insurance *Rules and Reference *Transportation Committees served under the 133rd General Assembly: * Local Government, Veterans Affair, Public Safety (Ranking Member) * Higher Education * Transportation, Commerce and Workforce * Health, Human Services and Medicaid * Education * Agriculture and Natural Resources

Electoral history

References

1990 births Living people Democratic Party Ohio state senators 21st-century members of the Ohio General Assembly Women state legislators in Ohio Asian-American state legislators in Ohio American people of Laotian descent Ohio University alumni 21st-century American women politicians People from Franklin County, Ohio {{Ohio-politician-stub