The Ohio Democratic Party will be looking for a new leader heading into next year’s election.

Liz Walters is resigning as the chair of the Ohio Democratic Party after four years leading the party, she said this week in an exclusive interview with Signal. She is leaving to take a job as CEO of TargetSmart, a prominent Democratic political data firm in Washington, D.C.

Walters said party leaders are looking to hold a meeting on June 10 to pick her replacement. She said she will remain in her job until then. She also will remain in her position on Summit County Council and on the Ohio Democratic Party’s executive committee. Her new job is all-virtual and won’t require her to move.

Walters said she wasn’t necessarily looking for another job, but she feels good about leaving the party in its current financial and structural state.

“For a whole host of reasons, both professional and personal, this is the right move for me,” Walters said, emphasizing she is not being forced out of her job.

Walters said she expects candidates will emerge quickly to replace her. She said ODP likely will hold two forums for voting committee members. She said she expects activist groups, such as the Indivisible and Ohio Young Democrats to push for candidate forums.

The change will come as state Democrats try to gear up for the 2026 elections. Nationally, Democrats are hoping to capitalize on the traditional backlash to the ruling party and retake control of the U.S. House and reach for a much harder path to regain control of the U.S. Senate. 

In Ohio, voters will choose a successor to Gov. Mike DeWine, who can’t seek re-election because of term-limits. Voters will also have to decide whether to let Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted finish the final two years of Vice President JD Vance’s term. Jennifer Brunner, the lone remaining Democrat to hold a statewide office, will also be on the ballot next year.

What does the chair of the Ohio Democratic Party do?

The Ohio Democratic Party is the umbrella organization for all the Democratic Party organizations in Ohio. The party chair’s biggest role is fundraising, since the party exists to support candidates and party-supported issues during elections. ODP’s biggest expenses include political mailers that are sent to voters using a special bulk mailing rate under. Under the chair’s direction, state party staff work on candidate recruitment, volunteer organizing and advertising. The position’s stature has diminished in recent years as state Democrats have become less politically competitive, reducing the state’s prominence in national political campaigns.

Walters has run the party since January 2021, when she got the job with the support of Sherrod Brown, the longtime former U.S. Senator who lost his election in November. Party leaders often, but not always, are closely affiliated with a state party’s most prominent politician. Walters was the first woman to hold the position.

Brown issued a statement for this story praising Walters for her tenure as party chair. 

“I’m grateful to Chairwoman Walters for her service to Ohio Democrats over the past four and a half years,” Brown said. “Whether it was beating back attempts to take power away from Ohio voters and hand it to politicians, enshrining abortion rights in our state constitution or standing alongside our labor leaders as we fought for the Dignity of Work, Chair Walters has been a strong and effective advocate for working Ohioans. I’m grateful for her work throughout two very challenging election cycles and while I’ll miss her leadership at the state party, I’m looking forward to seeing how she continues to serve our state.” 

What happened during Walters’ tenure? 

When she became state party chair, Walters was seen as a rising star in Democratic circles, having been elected to Summit County Council in 2016 and working in top positions in the state party before that. She took over for David Pepper, who resigned following the November 2020 election.

The assignment was a difficult one. Ohio for decades was the country’s quintessential swing state. But it’s been trending toward Republicans over the last decade or more, particularly since Donald Trump’s first election as president in 2016. 

Walters launched a long-term turnaround plan, telling reporters the party needed to rebuild some of its county parties and do a better job attacking Republicans while differentiating itself from the national party. She also sold the party’s longtime headquarters in downtown Columbus in 2021, moving last year to a new leased location on the city’s near east side. But these tweaks have done little to fix the big-picture political trends that pose the biggest problems for Ohio Democrats: the erosion of support among of union voters in traditional manufacturing communities and the party’s complete collapse in rural areas.

The two major statewide election cycles under Walters’ leadership have been failures for state Democrats. The party was swept in the 2022 election, including a crushing 25 percentage-point loss in the governor’s race. In 2024, Trump won Ohio by 11 points, while Brown and two Democratic Ohio Supreme Court justices, Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart, lost their positions. The lone remaining statewide elected Democratic is Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner, whose term expires next year. A silver lining to both elections was that Democrats won all three of the state’s competitive congressional districts in the 2022 election and held the seats in 2024.

Democrats have seen a clear source of success though: ballot issues.

In 2023, a campaign coalesced that sought to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution in response to the backlash of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade the previous year. 

Voters approved the measure in November, and also defeated a related measure Republicans put up for a vote in August that was meant to block the abortion-rights amendment. In the same November election, voters also approved a ballot measure that made recreational marijuana use legal.

Walters and other party leaders hoped to build off of 2023’s success for the 2024 election. But Democrats lost all their statewide races, and voters also defeated an amendment that would have reduced Republicans’ power to draw the state’s state legislative and congressional maps.

What’s next for Ohio Democrats?

The party will have to get its 2026 ticket in order.

The Republican field is rapidly coming into focus. Vivek Ramaswamy in strong position to win the GOP nomination for governor, and Husted facing no opponent. But the Democratic candidate slate remains unsettled. The lone Democrat running for governor is Dr. Amy Acton, DeWine’s former state health department director. Many potential Democratic candidates are waiting to see whether a more proven candidate will emerge to lead the Democratic ticket, with Brown’s name at the list.

Walters, who’s trying to sell national Democratic donors on investing in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, said her party will have plenty to work with.

“The last time Donald Trump was in the White House, we won a competitive Senate election,” Walters said. “We got within [three points] in the governor’s race against a politician who had more name recognition than Joe Biden. And this time around, Gov. DeWine won’t be at the top of the ticket, Republicans will be inseparable from an unpopular administration, and there’s what looks to be like a $600 million giveaway to a football team owner.”

So, she added, “I think we’ll have a lot to work with next year.”

Jockeying begins for party leadership

Being the leader of a state political party is a thankless job. But that’s not stopping people from immediately lobbying for Walters’ position.

State Sen. Bill Demora, a Columbus Democrat and longtime party operative, said he’s running for the job. In an interview, he said he heard Walters was stepping down on Tuesday and immediately started making calls and putting together meetings. One person he said he has not spoken with is Brown, whom has had a large influence over the process in previous years.

Demora said he believes Democratic voters want their leaders to fight. He said some of the party’s challenges have been due to weak candidates.

Demora has run for the ODP chair multiple times in the past, and each time has been asked to drop out and support someone else, including Walters in 2021.

“If they need someone who can do it better, than I will consider that,” Demora said. “But I think I’m the person for the job. I think the job needs a pit bull right now, and that’s who I am.”

This story has been updated to include comments from Bill Demora

The 2026 NASCAR season will end in South Florida. — NASCAR asked its fans where they would prefer seeing championship weekend held, and the majority of those who responded picked Homestead-Miami Speedway.

And NASCAR listened.

The 2026 NASCAR season will end in South Florida, with stock car racing’s championship weekend returning to Homestead-Miami next year. It’ll be the first time since 2019 that the title-winners will be crowned there and will start a rotation where NASCAR will move its final weekend around various tracks.

How that’ll work in 2027 and beyond remains unclear. But in 2026, Homestead is the spot.

“I like that we move it around,” said reigning NASCAR champion Joey Logano, who won the crown last fall at Phoenix — this year’s title-deciding spot as well — and the first of his three titles at Homestead-Miami in 2018. “That was one of the things that I always thought would be a great idea if we were able to pull it off, right? The Super Bowl doesn’t stay in the same place every year. Why should our Super Bowl, our championship race, stay in same place every year?”

NASCAR made the announcement Tuesday, and it was not exactly a stunner. (“I’m sure everyone was surprised to see this coming,” Logano said, smiling.) Its three series — the truck series, the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series — will see their seasons come to a close at Homestead from Nov. 6-8, 2026.

It isn’t a permanent return, though: NASCAR said that championship weekends are going to be on a rotation “to ensure that the season’s exciting conclusion is shared amongst NASCAR’s marquee venues and key markets.” Phoenix will be part of that rotation, somehow, but NASCAR isn’t ready to say which other tracks may be involved and when all that will be announced.

“We have a lot of confidence, when we go to Homestead-Miami Speedway, it’s going to deliver from a racing product perspective,” NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy said. “It’s also going to create a good amount of unpredictability for many of our fans that come to that race or tune in on TV just going to a different championship venue and having it on the line. We’re excited to see all that.”

Part of NASCAR’s commitment to Homestead-Miami, Kennedy said, includes a capital investment to “make sure it is a championship-caliber facility when we show up next year.”

NASCAR routinely makes tweaks to schedules and now will tinker again with where seasons end, but one non-negotiable appears to be the start of the season: Daytona will remain the first points race for the foreseeable future, Kennedy said.

“We ran a survey a couple years ago, and it was over 95% of our fan base wants to see their first points race be the Daytona 500,” Kennedy said. “That was a statistic that was strong enough for us to say we’re not even going to explore that for now.”

Homestead-Miami was the championship weekend site from 2002 through 2019. There are three active drivers who were crowned NASCAR champions at Homestead — Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2019, Brad Keselowski in 2012 and Logano in 2018. Logano has also won the title at Phoenix in two of the last three seasons, including last year.

And all seven of Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR titles came at Homestead, which has renamed a tunnel in his honor to commemorate those championships.

“If you’re asking drivers, it’s about the track, right? The environment obviously is really cool. It’s different being in Miami. That’s a neat thing,” Logano said. “But the drivers, what we care about is the racing, right? Can we move around the racetrack, can we do different things, are the tires falling off, is that fun. To us, yeah, that’s fun.”

NASCAR decided after the 2001 season to move its truck and Cup series races to one track, in order to create a season-ending championship celebration. Homestead-Miami was the original site after that decision, and then things moved to Phoenix starting in 2020.

Kennedy said racing in early November isn’t exactly possible at all of the tracks on the NASCAR schedule, meaning that the series would prefer a warm-weather climate for its finish — something that Phoenix and Homestead-Miami provide. And Homestead-Miami’s history isn’t lost on NASCAR, either.

“Homestead has put on some of the most phenomenal finishes, especially when we had the championship there,” Kennedy said. “But even since then, and we’ve crowned so many legends and Hall of Famers over the past 15 years when we did have the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So, competition is a part of it, variability, and I think diversity in where you’re crowning the champion was another consideration.”

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From NASCAR

NASCAR stood atop a crowded motorsports weekend with the Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway drawing 2.56 million viewers on FS1 – the highest viewership among all racing events, outperforming the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix (1.598 million viewers including pre-race coverage; 2.103 million viewers during race minutes on ABC) and IndyCar (914,000 viewers on FOX). The race topped all sporting events for the week across the FOX family of networks.

NASCAR’s strong weekend extended beyond the Cup Series, with Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event on the CW attracting 1.002 million viewers and Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race on FS1 pulling in 401,000 viewers. These results underscore NASCAR’s strength in delivering excitement and engaging fans across multiple racing platforms.

The Xfinity Series has topped one million viewers in each of its first 12 races this season – its longest streak to start the year since 2017 (13 consecutive races). The 12 Xfinity Series races have been the 12 most-watched telecasts on The CW this year.

In head-to-head comparisons with other major racing series, NASCAR continues to lead, reinforcing its growing relevance and unmatched ability to attract both new and long-time motorsports fans in America. With races across diverse track formats – from high-speed ovals to challenging road courses to historic short tracks – NASCAR consistently delivers uniquely compelling and highly competitive racing experiences for all types of motorsports enthusiasts and casual sports fans.

Through 12 races (including The Clash) on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar, viewership is up 13% on FOX and 16% on FS1 YoY.

Building on this momentum, NASCAR today announced an evolution of its Championship Weekend format, shifting to a rotating host-city model. Homestead-Miami Speedway will host the inaugural rotating Championship Weekend, crowning the 2026 NASCAR champion.

While the viewership numbers have been big, expect the margin of victory in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1) to be microscopic – last year’s finish between Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher originally registered at .000 seconds prior to ultimately becoming the closest finish in NASCAR history at .001 seconds.

MIAMI — NASCAR’s championship weekend will return to Homestead-Miami Speedway next year, marking the first time since 2019 that the title-winners will be crowned at the South Florida track.

NASCAR made the announcement Tuesday. Its three series — the truck series, the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series — will see their seasons come to a close at Homestead from Nov. 6-8, 2026.

It isn’t a permanent return, though: NASCAR said that championship weekends are going to be on a rotation “to ensure that the season’s exciting conclusion is shared amongst NASCAR’s marquee venues and key markets.”

“As we move forward, the rotating model will provide new challenges for competitors as well as opportunities for unique venues to host our loyal fans at NASCAR Championship Weekend,” NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy said.

See ABC15’s previous NASCAR coverage in the video player above.

Phoenix will play host to this year’s championship weekend again, and NASCAR said it will be part of the title-deciding location rotation in the future as well.

Homestead-Miami was the championship weekend site from 2002 through 2019. There are three active drivers who were crowned NASCAR champions at Homestead — Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2019, Brad Keselowski in 2012 and Joey Logano in 2018. Logano has also won the title at Phoenix in two of the last three seasons, including last year.

And all seven of Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR titles came at Homestead, which has renamed a tunnel in his honor to commemorate those championships.

NASCAR decided after the 2001 season to move its truck and Cup series races to one track, in order to create a season-ending championship celebration. Homestead-Miami was the original site, and it moved to Phoenix starting in 2020.

After years of fan debate, NASCAR just made the move, the 2026 Championship Weekend is officially headed back to Homestead Miami Speedway! That’s right, one of the most beloved tracks in recent memory is reclaiming its place as the season finale, and fans are already buzzing. The news dropped the same day as the new GTA 6 trailer, but no, it’s not a crossover, just one heck of a Miami-themed day… week, if you consider Formula 1 just left Miami, too. And yes, there’s a Back to the Future parody video starring Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski that’s so good it’s worth watching twice.

• Why is NASCAR walking away from the millions Phoenix Raceway pays to host the finale?
• How does this shift fit into a bigger plan to rotate championship venues?
• Will we ever see Las Vegas, Kansas, or even Atlanta get their shot?
• And what does this say about NASCAR’s willingness to prioritize fans over financial guarantees?

With Phoenix still holding a key Round of 8 date, and more tracks likely to join the rotation, the future of NASCAR’s biggest weekend might never look the same again. Watch the full video and share your thoughts: Which tracks should take part in the rotation?

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