The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to bail out a self-proclaimed “progressive” who tried to slip into Ohio’s Republican primary — leaving election officials’ decision to boot him off the ballot firmly in place.
Samuel Ronan, no stranger to Democratic politics, attempted a curious pivot: running as a Republican in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District against GOP Rep. Mike Carey. To pull it off, Ronan signed an official declaration swearing — under penalty of election falsification — that he was a bona fide member of the Republican Party.
There was just one problem: his own words.
Court filings revealed Ronan had openly bragged that his run was part of a broader scheme to plant Democrats in “deep red districts” to “get a foot in the door.” Not exactly subtle.
One Ohio voter, Mark Schare, wasn’t buying it. He filed a protest with the Franklin County Board of Elections, armed with social media posts and interviews he said proved Ronan’s plan to “trick” Republican voters.
Ronan, for his part, insisted he hadn’t lied — pointing to party-switching figures like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump as justification, along with “hundreds of others.”
Nice try.
After the local election board deadlocked along party lines, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose stepped in and pulled the plug on Ronan’s candidacy, framing it as a basic matter of “the integrity of the electoral process.”
Ronan fired back with a federal lawsuit, claiming his First Amendment rights were trampled — arguing the state used his own political speech against him. That argument didn’t last long.
Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison shot it down in blunt terms:
“It cannot be the case that a State must allow a candidate on a partisan ballot even if he lied about his party affiliation simply because the First Amendment is implicated.”
In other words, free speech isn’t a free pass to fudge official paperwork.
Morrison emphasized that while candidates are free to change parties, officials aren’t required to ignore statements that flatly contradict what a candidate swore under oath. The state, she added, has a “substantial interest” in stopping candidates from falsely claiming party allegiance.
She also brushed aside complaints that a Republican elections board member was biased, noting that political affiliation alone doesn’t prove unfairness.
Still hoping for a last-minute save, Ronan turned to the Supreme Court. Justice Brett Kavanaugh sent the request to the full bench.
The answer came back swift and silent: denied. No explanation. No lifeline. No ballot.
