| *** Most expensive congressional race in history: Sherrod Brown vs. Bernie Moreno • The story: Ohio, along with Montana, has found itself at the center of a national political fight over the U.S. Senate, where Republicans hope to gain a slim majority by picking off the traditionally-red states’ Democratic senators. • The stakes: Democrats and the independents who caucus with them hold a 51 to 49 seat advantage in the Senate today, but Republicans are expected to pick up one seat in West Virginia. That would create a 50-50 tie if all other seats remain in the hands of the party that now holds them. This would give the majority to the party that wins the presidential election, since the it’s the United States’ vice president that casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate. • The $takes: More than $416.4 million has been poured into ad buys between Ohio’s U.S. Senate candidates’ campaigns and their allies, making it the most expensive congressional race on record according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking firm that tallied spending earlier this month. • Here’s the full preview, including insights into the candidates’ track records and stances, from Lynn Hulsey. Three seats, political control up for grabs on Ohio Supreme Court • The lede: Three Ohio Supreme Court seats are up for grabs this November in an election that sees Republicans aiming to expand their advantage to as much as 6-to-1 on the state’s top bench while Democrats are hoping for a surprise majority ahead of a critical chapter for the court. • The stakes: Whoever is on the court over the next few years will be partly responsible for a variety of critical decisions, including on 2023′s abortion-rights amendment, which puts many of the state’s abortion restrictions in peril but still needs final interpretations regarding the lengths the state can go to try to limit abortions. • The playing field: This will be the first presidential election that Supreme Court candidates’ party affiliation will be listed on the ballot, potentially giving GOP candidates an advantage in an ever-redder Ohio. Since 2018, Democrats have only won a statewide election four times — three of those were in previously non-partisan Supreme Court races. • Here’s my full preview on the races, flush with candidates’ backgrounds and promises to voters. Local political news of the week Credit: Bill Lackey • Local levies: Five Rivers MetroParks, the Dayton Metro Library, Centerville and Beavercreek schools, and tons of other truly local agencies are asking voters to approve tax levies on Nov. 5 to pay for services both grand and mundane. Jeremy Kelly has the run-down. • ADAMHS fallout: State Sen.Niraj Antani, R-Miami Twp., is proposing a bill that would give county commissioners the authority to take budgetary control away from the boards of alcohol, drug addiction and mental health service districts following perceived mismanagement from Montgomery County’s ADAMHS board. Samantha Wildow has the full story. • Recorder race: Montgomery County voters will decide between a Democratic incumbent and a Republican challenger in the county recorder race this November, with the candidates varying on plans to prevent quitclaim deed fraud in the community. Eric Schwartzberg has the story. State political news of the week • Dayton senate race: The Dayton area will elect a new member to the Ohio Senate this November. Dayton Democrat state Rep. Willis Blackshear, Jr., and Republican Ohio Board of Education member Charlotte McGuire of Centerville are doing what they can to make sure they’re the one to get the call. Here’s my preview. • Post-mortem indictment: A dead man was one of the six people Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Tuesday had been indicted this week for voting in Ohio elections when they were not U.S. citizens. Lynn Hulsey has the story. • H.D. 39: Dayton-area voters will have the choice this November to reelect a longtime former sheriff to his fourth term in the Ohio House or change pace with a Democrat who turned to gun safety advocacy following the death of his father in 2019′s Oregon District shooting. Here’s my preview. • H.D. 40: Voters of Ohio House District 40 will have their choice between two West Alexandria laborers — one a Republican farmer and the other a Democratic contractor — though neither candidate is making much of an appeal to voters ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. Here’s my preview. National political news of the week • Ohio’s 15th Congressional: Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey is facing fellow Columbus resident Adam Miller, a Democrat in the Ohio House, to represent one of Ohio’s most meandering congressional districts which hits Clark, Miami and four other counties. Vicky Forrest has the story. • Ohio’s 1st Congressional: Warren County voters will weigh in on who they want to represent them in the U.S. House of Representatives: Incumbent Democrat Greg Landsman or Republican challenger Orlando Sonza, both residents of Hamilton County. Nick Blizzard has the story. • Fact check: Two T.V. ads attacking U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on transgender issues were rated false or mostly false by PolitiFact earlier this month. They were paid for by Senate Leadership Fund, which is supporting Republican Bernie Moreno, the Westlake businessman seeking to unseat Brown this November. Lynn Hulsey has the story. | 