Coming up next on NewsDepth... We have the results of the midterm elections.

Olivia shows us all the ways people can cast their ballots.

Governor Mike DeWine tells us what it's like to be the leader of a state.

And we take a tour of Ohio's unique Statehouse.

NewsDepth is now.

Ohio has elected a new governor.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

And welcome to the Ohio Statehouse in the state's capital city, Columbus.

The state house is where Ohio state government officials meet, and it's where many decisions are made that affect people across the state.

Last Tuesday, November the 3rd, voters across the country headed to the polls for the midterm elections.

Midterm elections take place halfway through a president's four year term and gives voters a chance to choose leaders for state and local offices.

This year, Ohioans voted for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state treasurer and two seats in the Ohio Supreme Court.

Conor Morris is in the newsroom with the election results.

On Tuesday, Ohio voters headed to the polls to choose their leaders in this year's midterm elections.

Democrat Amy Acton, Ohio's former health director, was elected Ohio's next governor.

According to the Associated Press, Acton received about 52% of the vote, defeating Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who earned about 44%.

Acton makes history as the first woman ever elected governor of Ohio, and becomes the first Democrat elected to the office in more than 20 years.

In Ohio's race for the United States Senate, former Senator Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent Senator John Husted, with Brown receiving about 50% of the vote, compared to Husted 45%.

While Democrats won several statewide offices, Republicans maintain control of the Ohio Legislature.

The legislature creates bills that then go to the governor to sign to become state law.

Republicans hold a majority in both the Ohio Senate with 21 seats to the Democrats 11, and the Ohio House of Representatives, where Republicans hold 52 seats, compared to 31 for Democrats.

Two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court were won by Democrats Marilyn Zayas and incumbent Jennifer Brunner.

incumbent is someone who already holds the office and is running for reelection.

Nationally, Democrats gained control of Congress and made gains in both the House and Senate.

Several states also elected Democratic governors, including Georgia, where former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms became governor.

She made history as the first black woman elected governor in United States history.

Voter turnout was stronger than in previous midterm elections.

Preliminary numbers from themidtermproject.org showed that in Ohio, more than 22% of registered voters cast their ballots this year, compared to the historic average of 19% of voters for midterm elections.

Thank you, Conor.

Each ballot is different depending on the county and city where you're voting.

In addition to statewide races, many Ohio voters cast ballots for local offices, such as district representatives for Congress and court judges.

Others voted on issues that could affect their communities, including development referendums and tax levies.

For our Write-To-Us this week, we want you to do some research on your local elections and tell us what your city voted for.

Then write a news article all about it.

Think like a reporter.

Be sure to answer the important questions who, what, where, when, and why.

Students can share their articles by submitting them through our inbox form online, and we can't wait to see your reporting.

On our Halloween special Last week, Anna told us about the eerie legend of the Lake Erie Monster.

And we asked you to create a legend of your own.

Let's listen to some spooky stories by opening up our inbox.

A sixth grader from Berea-Midpark Middle School in Middleburg Heights warns us about a haunted house.

Dear NewsDepth, On my street, there is a haunted house.

Sometimes the curtains are open and the lights are on.

But when you look inside, there is no one home.

It's completely empty.

But one time someone was handing out candy on Halloween.

Glad to hear the ghosts are having a good Halloween too.

A fourth grader from Fort Meigs Elementary in Perrysburg wrote: The pizza monster is back and better than ever!

It is attracted to the good smell of pizza and will try to steal it all.

Okay, no need for name calling.

That was just me.

I just wanted a slice.

A sixth grader from Sherwood Elementary in Cincinnati is taking us to Lake Michigan.

I believe in the depths of Lake Michigan, there's a spider that can swim and is very long.

It eats normal spiders and throws them at people.

That's just a made-up legend, right?

I don't want to get hit with too many spiders.

This fourth grader from North Ridgeville Academic Center in North Ridgeville sent in a spooky story.

One night, reports of a red eye monster were coming in from everywhere.

It was a moth person.

All the lights were attracting it to people's houses.

It looked scary, but it was actually nice.

Thanks for the reminder I gotta turn my porch light off tonight.

And a fifth grader from Parkwood Elementary in Dayton sent us this story.

On a spooky night, you are going for a walk in a cave.

All of a sudden you see an hourglass.

You don't care and continue on.

Then all of a sudden you stop and see a tall figure.

You just found the Cave Dweller.

The hourglass is how much time you have left before the Cave Dweller gets you.

I think the Cave Dweller would get me because I don't run very fast.

Thank you all for writing.

You're all very creative.

And I definitely won't have nightmares tonight.

Okay, let's get back to the news.

In Ohio, voters can cast their ballot on Election Day, vote early in person before election day, or request a mail-in absentee ballot.

Having multiple options makes voting more convenient because people can choose that method that works best for them.

That's especially helpful for college students.

Many students spend part of the year living away from home, balancing classes, jobs, and activities.

Voting early or by mail can make it easier to participate in elections, while others may choose to vote in person in their hometown when they're able to visit family.

NewsDepth Intern Olivia Stein shows us all the different ways that college students vote.

Today we are at the Knox County Board of Elections, and I'm going to go vote.

I vote early every year.

But why would I choose to vote early when I could just do it by mail or on Election Day?

Well, it's just easier for me.

And that's the great thing about voting.

There are many options to do it that fit your schedule.

So I'm from Wisconsin, and so back in August I requested my mail-in ballot from there.

So I will be sending that back.

So I registered to vote here in Cleveland in Cuyahoga County.

So because I live on campus, it's just easier for me to just walk down.

I recently chose to vote by mail because I'm originally from Cincinnati, which is about a 4-hour drive from here, and I still really wanted to vote and kind of get my voice heard, but I didn't want to get up and drive all the way down.

And then back in one day.

As a college student who currently lives away from home, it's easiest for me to drive home and vote.

So my vote still counts in my hometown of Mount Vernon here in Knox County, Ohio.

Come along with me now as I vote.

Wait.

I'm totally blanking.

What do I bring in?

Let me ask some of my college-aged peers who are also students at Northeast Ohio colleges.

When you're going to vote, if you are voting in person and not absentee, all you need to bring is an approved form of ID.

So this is either an Ohio State ID, this can be a driver's license.

Okay I have my driver's license.

That's perfect.

Is there anything else I'm forgetting?

You just need to come prepared knowing who you plan to vote for.

I can't believe I forgot that the most important part about voting is knowing who you are voting for, what they stand for, and why they are a candidate.

Let me research what's on my ballot before I go in.

To research Ohio candidates on the ballot, you can visit voteohio.gov.

All right, I know who I'm voting for.

Time to go inside.

As soon as you walk inside, the first step is to check in.

I gave them my driver's license and confirm my home address.

Then I sign my name to confirm my information.

Then I got to choose if I wanted to vote on a paper ballot or a computer.

I chose the computer ballot.

Once I verified my choice, they gave me a long and skinny paper.

I went to an open machine and inserted my paper into the slot.

It sucked the paper in and my ballot appeared on the screen.

At the end, I confirm my choices and submitted my ballot.

Then the computer spit the paper back at me.

Then I took my paper to another machine and insert it into there.

In return, I got my "I voted" sticker.

The computer displays a message saying my vote has been recorded and I headed back out and that was it.

It's so important to begin voting when you're legally allowed at age 18.

It's important for college students to vote because besides being a large demographic of the state, we also are the demographic of the future.

We are going to live in this country a lot longer than most people who are of voting age.

It shapes our future.

Really want to make sure that we get our voice heard.

Voting is really important, because one day you're going to be right in our shoes when you are affected by these issues.

And so even though it may not seem that important to you right now, you're going to be doing the same thing when you're older.

If you've been paying attention, you know beforehand, once you get there, you're going to have an idea of what you care about in the government and what you want to vote for.

Ask your parents.

Ask your teachers.

Ask your friends, family, anybody who's important to you why they think voting is important.

Students, just like us are the future of our country.

Great job Olivia.

Thank you.

And special thanks to Sofia Helena Dambros da Silva, a news intern from Kent State University, for her help with the interviews.

The election is clearly big news and as a citizen you have a responsibility to not only vote but to also be informed on the issues and how they can impact you.

This week's A+ Award winners are a group of very talented students from the Hawken Upper School, located in Gates Mills, who are not only researching the key races in Ohio and across the country, but also creating original reporting on this year's midterm elections.

The students are currently taking a class called Campaign Headquarters, which is an elective course focused on the 2026 midterm election.

An elective course is a class you get to pick for yourself and usually focus on something you are personally interested.

The students in grades 10-12 work in small teams to produce podcast episodes focused on their team's chosen race in the 2026 midterms.

The students are so engaged in the project, they even visited NewsDepth headquarters in Cleveland, to speak with some of our colleagues about the midterm election and how they report on such important issues.

When they arrived, they got to join the producers of The Sound of Ideas behind the scenes to learn more about how radio and television is produced, how news reporters plan shows, and what considerations they make when covering elections, and how they pick guests for the show.

Three of the students, Birk, Maya, and Grayson, were even interviewed about their work on this year's midterm elections for an upcoming episode of The Sound of Ideas.

It was great meeting and chatting with you all.

As a reporter myself, I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with the professionalism and poise of these engaged students.

Not only are they researching candidates, but they even traveled to Michigan and to college campuses around Ohio to learn more about how voters and candidates are feeling about the election.

Here's a big congratulations to the students taking Campaign Headquarters at the Hawken Upper School.

I'm really excited to listen to your election analysis podcast when it's all produced.

With Ohio electing a new governor, many people may be wondering, what exactly does a governor do?

The governor is the chief executive of a state.

Just as the president leads the executive branch of the federal government, the governor leads the executive branch of our state government.

Governors help decide how state money is spent, oversees state agencies, sign or veto bills, respond to emergencies, and work with lawmakers to address issues facing their state.

Once elected, a governor also assembles a cabinet.

A cabinet is a team of leaders who manage different state departments such as transportation, natural resources, public safety, and education.

To learn more about the role of Ohio's governor, I sat down with outgoing Governor Mike DeWine at the Governor's Residence.

What is a governor?

- Yeah.

- That's a great question.

I've heard some people say, explain to their kids that's like maybe the president of the whole country, the governor has the same jurisdiction in the state.

And that's sort of right.

Probably one of the most important things we do is present a budget to the legislature.

That's how the money is going to get spent.

How much money is going to be spent on education, and how much money is going to be spent on our state parks and all kinds of different things.

I'm the Chief Executive, which means we run all the different things that you associate with the state of Ohio.

I'm actually Commander in Chief of the Ohio State, our National Guard.

So if we have a flood, as we did a few weeks ago in southern Ohio, and we need the National Guard to go there and help people, then, you know, I will order them to go to that particular county.

And how did you get here and where you grew up and what the school and everything allong those lines?

So I grew up in Yellow Springs, a little small town in Greene County, southwest Ohio, has about 4000 people.

I met my wife in first grade there.

I went off to Miami University and then went to Ohio Northern Law School, and when I got out of law school, I started as an assistant county prosecuting attorney.

And then in a few years, I decided to run for county prosecutor.

Then I went to the State Legislature.

I was elected state senator.

After that, I was elected to the United States Congress, the U.S.

House of Representatives, served eight years there.

In 2010, I was elected then Attorney General of the state.

Two terms, eight years.

The ran for governor, was elected to two different times.

So now I'm completing my eighth year as governor of the state of Ohio.

You get elected, first day in office.

What do you do from there on?

First thing that you start to do is put together a cabinet.

So the governor in Ohio is like the president in the sense that he or she has a cabinet.

These are people who run the different departments.

So I have a person, for example, who is in charge of the Ohio Department of Transportation, ODOT, the highways.

I have someone who's in charge of the state parks, and we could go all through all the different things that we do.

Are there any traditions in the governor's office that maybe gets passed down from previous governors to you, and that you'll send to the next person?

Well, sometimes the governor who is leaving leaves a note for the incoming governor.

I think sometimes presidents do do that as well.

So I'll probably leave a note on the on the desk there that the new governor will be able to see when he or she comes in.

Something else that's done is governor's desk in the State Capitol, a desk that has been there for since, basically the Capitol building was was built and it was finished right before the Civil War broke out.

And there's a desk or there's a drawer you can pull out, and you'll see some of the governors have actually carved their name in there.

So I'll probably carved my name in there before I leave.

Very cool.

I can't imagine you have a typical day as a governor.

Monday through Friday, probably a little bit different.

You have so much on your plate.

But walk us through what does a day in the governor's life look like?

Well, no day, you're right, no day is the same.

Some days I'm traveling around the state and so those days are very different.

You know, part of the job of a governor is to be out and listen to what people have to say.

How often do you interact with the president?

Don't really interact directly with the president very much.

I certainly do know him.

I certainly have been with him.

But usually we interact with his cabinet, his different, different secretaries.

We had, for example, a couple of years ago, we had problems in in western Ohio with bird flu, a lot of a lot of the chickens dying over there.

Well, of course, it was the it was the Secretary of Agriculture that I was talking to about about that.

So it depends on what the issue is.

What about at the state level?

Congresspeople, senators, how often are you interacting with those people?

Well, I interact with members of the Legislature a lot because we work on different bills.

Yesterday, I was involved in a signing of a number of different bills.

I had a lot of the members come in to be there and get a picture of when the bill, when the bill was being signed.

What can you tell us about the First Lady of Ohio and the role that she plays?

And while she may not be elected, she does play an important role in Ohio.

Well, she does she's not elected and she's not paid.

But, you know, every first lady, I think decides what kind of role that they want to play.

My wife, Fran, she and I have been married now 59 years.

We've been married long, a long, long time.

And she said, if you win, she said, what I want to do is help spread the Dolly Parton Imagination Library all over Ohio.

So children under the age of five, no matter where they live in Ohio, would be eligible to get the books.

You have a cabinet.

Your cabinet reports to you.

Who do you report to?

Well, I really report to the people of the state of Ohio.

I do that every time I do a press conference, every time that anybody in the news media asked me a question and that, you know, is going to go out to people, people who read newspapers, people who watch on TV, people who get their news online, as probably most people do today.

So when I'm talking to the news media, they're taking that and reporting what, you know, what I'm saying and what I'm doing.

So ultimately, you know, I work for the 12 million people in the state of Ohio.

And this last one, for young people who are in school now in Ohio, what should they know about starting a career in politics if they ever want to do so?

Yeah.

You know, everybody can be involved in some way.

The minimal, I think, is voting.

Don't forget to vote.

But you could also get involved in other ways.

Probably the easiest way to get involved in politics is to volunteer for someone.

Find somebody who's going in for governor or for the Senate, or maybe some somebody running for mayor or a county commissioner and get behind them at the local level, or go put up signs for them, help them, maybe knock on doors for them.

It gets you right in involved in politics, and you kind of see how how it really works.

And you can kind of go from there.

Special thanks to governor Mike DeWine for answering our questions about his job.

For our poll this week, we want to know, would you run for office?

Make your voice heard and head over to our poll page to cast your ballot.

You can choose between: Yes, elected officials can help our communities.

Or No, my civic role is to elect the best possible leader.

And come back next week to see how many of your classmates are thinking about a career in politics.

On our last episode, Ygal took us to Progressive Field, the home of the Cleveland Guardians, to learn about a different baseball league, Banana Ball!

And we asked, what was your favorite part of going to a sporting event?

38% of you said you're there for the love of the game.

About 35% said you spend most of the time at the concession stands.

19% of you said you love watching the stadium entertainment, and 8% said you always stop by the team shop to get some merch.

You can't go wrong with a hot dog at the ballpark.

But when I'm there, I'm laser focused on the game.

Thank you all for voting.

These are some pretty nice digs here in Columbus.

The Ohio Statehouse is where many of the decisions that affect people across the state are made.

From passing laws, to debating issues and hosting the governor's office, this historic building has been the center of Ohio government for more than 150 years.

Today, we're standing by the Senate steps, one of the building's most recognizable landmarks.

In this week's Know Ohio, Mary gives us a closer look at the history, architecture and surprising stories behind the place where Ohio's government gets to work.

In Ohio.

The Statehouse is where it all goes down.

Well, governmentally speaking, that is.

The Ohio Statehouse is one massive stone building in Columbus.

And inside, lawmakers keep our state's government going.

The Statehouse is so big that it took more than 20 years to construct.

At the time, it was second in size only to the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C.. Both buildings were built in the Greek Revival style, a tribute to the ancient Greeks, who are considered the inventors of democracy.

Nathan Kelly was one of the architects on the job, and he thought that such an important building should look impressive on the outside and on the inside.

So he added lots of ornate details to the rooms.

The Statehouse commissioners in charge of construction thought he was going a little overboard, especially with how expensive his flourishes were.

So they fired him.

Nevertheless, in 1861, when the building was finally finished, it included some of his special features, like the 120ft tall rotunda.

A rotunda is a round room with a domed ceiling.

Inside, at the top of the rotunda is the Great Seal of Ohio.

Other cool rooms in the state House include the Map Room.

The floor here displays the 88 counties in Ohio and is made out of five different types of marble.

Then we have the Senate chamber, which has 33 seats, and the House chamber, which has 99 seats.

It is here the lawmakers make, well, laws.

Let's look a little closer at the House chamber.

Pretty fancy Once again, that's thanks to Nathan Kelly.

He wanted to add balconies so the public could feel they were floating above their elected officials.

The commissioners weren't convinced that the balcony was strong enough, though, so they made Kelly at iron support brackets.

Fancy pants Kelly didn't like the look of the iron, so he had it painted to look like wood.

Also inside the Statehouse is the governor's office.

Does it look a little old?

Well, that's on purpose.

It is kept in the same style as it was from 1861.

This is what it looked like when Abraham Lincoln visited.

Lincoln came here to talk with Ohio Governor William Dennison, Jr about the impending Civil War.

It was on his trip to our Statehouse that Lincoln learned he was confirmed president of the United States.

Elections are in November, but it took to February to count all the votes back then.

It might look like the Statehouse has just about everything it needs, but it was actually planned without heating.

That's a big problem for our cold winters.

To solve it, Kelly came up with a creative solution.

He put steam pipes in the basement to heat the air there.

Then he added air ducts to the rooms above.

He figured since hot air rises, the rooms above would become toasty from the hot air below.

Plus, he added ventilation stacks that sucked the unheated air out from the tops of the rooms.

Oddly enough, these air ducts were called air sewers.

Doesn't sound pleasant, but they did the trick until the bathrooms were installed and got the air sewers mixed with the actual sewers.

It caused quite a stink and made many of the lawmakers sick with what they nicknamed Statehouse malaria.

It wasn't until 1884 that they solved the mystery stench and cleaned it up.

Luckily, we've been left with a beautiful building where our elected lawmakers can get to work without plugging their noses.

Thanks for the tour, Mary.

Okay, it's that time.

We need to check in with our cuteness correspondent.

NewsHound ... NewsHound... NewsHound?

Are you ready?

Hey there, Newshound.

Finally!

Where have you been?

Oh, you've been voting.

Good for you.

But do you have a Petting Zoo story for us?

Wow.

It's a story about animals across the world that have been elected in the office?

NewsHound are you thinking about running for office?

What would your campaign be?

More treats for everyone?

I guess I can get behind that.

To check out the full video, visit our website and YouTube channel Thanks as always, NewsHound.

Well, that's a wrap for this special episode of NewsDepth.

We'll be back next week, but until then, you can always stay in touch with us because we always want to hear from you.

You can send us a letter.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

That's Cleveland, Ohio.

ZIP code 44115.

And you can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org.

Plus you can catch all of our special segments on YouTube.

Hit subscribe if you're old enough so you don't miss out on any of our new videos.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you next week.

NewsDepth this made possible by a grant from the Northeast Ohio Oracle Users Group.