Politics is usually a game of short memories. Most people forget who was running the show five years ago, let alone twenty. But if you spend any time in the Ohio River Valley or the halls of the Statehouse in Columbus, the name Ted Strickland still carries a specific kind of weight.
He wasn't your typical polished politician. Honestly, he was a bit of an outlier—an ordained Methodist minister with a PhD in psychology who spent years counseling inmates at a maximum-security prison. When Ted Strickland became the 68th Governor of Ohio in 2007, he inherited a state on the precipice of a global economic meltdown. What happened next is a case study in "what-ifs" and the brutal reality of timing in American politics.
The Rise of the Psychologist-Governor
Before he was the guy in the Governor’s Mansion, Strickland represented Ohio’s 6th Congressional District. It’s a massive, winding stretch of Appalachia. To win there as a Democrat, you've got to speak a language that resonates with coal miners, farmers, and factory workers. He did that for twelve years.
In 2006, the stars aligned. The sitting Republican Governor, Bob Taft, was struggling with abysmal approval ratings and a scandal-plagued administration. Strickland ran on a "Turnaround Ohio" platform and absolutely crushed it. He won with 60% of the vote, defeating Ken Blackwell in a landslide that felt like a sea change for the Buckeye State.
He took office with a mandate. People wanted change. He promised to fix the "unconstitutional" school funding system and bring jobs back to the Rust Belt. But the timing? It couldn't have been worse.
Managing the Great Recession
Imagine starting your dream job just as the building starts to catch fire. That was Strickland's 2007. By 2008, the housing market collapsed, and the Great Recession gripped the throat of Ohio’s manufacturing industry.
He didn't have a lot of good options. Basically, he had to balance the budget while the tax base was evaporating. He made some tough, controversial calls:
- The Rainy Day Fund: He famously drained the state’s "Rainy Day Fund" from $1 billion down to nearly zero (specifically 89 cents) to prevent massive layoffs and deep cuts to essential services.
- Infrastructure: He launched the "FAST TRAC" initiative to keep construction projects moving.
- Energy Reform: He signed Senate Bill 221, which required 25% of Ohio's electricity to come from renewable and advanced energy sources by 2025.
Critics, especially later-opponent John Kasich, hammered him for the "empty" rainy day fund. Supporters argued that if you don't use the rainy day fund when it’s literally pouring outside, when do you use it?
The Education Reform That Almost Was
Strickland’s real passion was education. You could see the psychologist in him when he talked about it. He wanted to move Ohio away from its heavy reliance on local property taxes—a system the Ohio Supreme Court had already ruled unconstitutional four times in the DeRolph v. State cases.
He proposed the "Evidence-Based Model." It was a radical shift meant to fund schools based on what children actually needed to learn, rather than what their neighbors' houses were worth.
It passed. People were actually hopeful. But because it was implemented right as the recession hit, it never got the full funding it required. When he lost his re-election bid, much of that framework was scrapped or altered. It’s one of the biggest "what-if" moments in Ohio's modern legislative history.
The 2010 Heartbreak and the Kasich Shift
The 2010 election was brutal. The "Tea Party" wave was crashing across the country. Every time you turned on the TV in Ohio, there was an ad blaming Ted Strickland for the loss of 400,000 jobs.
Was it his fault? Most economists say no—it was a global recession. But in politics, the guy in the chair gets the bill.
The race against John Kasich was a nail-biter. Kasich was a former Congressman and Lehman Brothers executive who promised a "business-friendly" approach. On election night, the lead swapped back and forth. Strickland didn't concede until 2 a.m.
He lost by about 77,000 votes. That’s a margin of just 2%.
"I have dedicated my life to working for working people because that's where I come from," Strickland said after his loss. He always leaned into that "Appalachian boy" persona, even when his opponents tried to paint him as a career politician.
Why We Still Talk About Him (The 2016 Return)
Strickland didn't just disappear after 2011. He spent time at the Center for American Progress and was even a delegate to the United Nations. But the itch to serve Ohio hadn't gone away.
In 2016, he challenged Rob Portman for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Early polls actually had Strickland leading. National Democrats were excited. They thought the "old lion" of Ohio politics could flip a seat.
It turned into a disaster. Portman’s campaign was a juggernaut. They spent tens of millions of dollars on ads highlighting Strickland’s record during the recession. By the time the Republican National Convention hit Cleveland, the momentum had shifted. National groups started pulling their money out of Ohio, sensing Strickland couldn't win.
He lost that race by 21 points. It was a quiet, somewhat sad end to a massive political career.
The Complex Legacy of a "Common Sense" Democrat
So, how do we judge him? If you ask a Republican, they’ll tell you he left the state’s bank account empty and oversaw a period of economic decline. If you ask a Democrat, they’ll tell you he was a steady hand who protected the most vulnerable during the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
The truth is usually somewhere in the middle.
Strickland’s tenure saw Ohio public schools rise to 5th in the nation according to Education Week. He created the University System of Ohio to make college more affordable. He was a pro-gun Democrat for most of his career, which made him a unicorn in the modern party—though he eventually shifted his stance on firearms later in life, which some say hurt his standing with rural voters.
Key Takeaways from the Strickland Era
If you're looking for the "TL;DR" on his governorship, here's the reality:
- Economic Resilience: He navigated a $7 billion budget hole without raising income taxes, though he did delay a scheduled tax cut.
- Renewable Energy: He put Ohio on the map for green energy long before it was a mainstream talking point in the Midwest.
- Bipartisanship: His first budget passed with almost unanimous support from a Republican-controlled legislature. That feels like a fairy tale in 2026.
What You Can Do Next
If you’re interested in the history of the Buckeye State or how the Great Recession shaped modern American politics, looking into the 2006-2010 period is essential.
- Research the DeRolph Cases: To understand why Strickland was so obsessed with school funding, look up the Ohio Supreme Court's rulings on property taxes.
- Visit the Ohio Statehouse: They have excellent tours that cover the portraits and legacies of past governors.
- Read "Turnaround Ohio": Look back at the original policy papers from the 2006 campaign to see how many of those goals were actually met versus what the recession derailed.
Strickland might not be in office anymore, but the debate over his "Rainy Day" decisions and his vision for Ohio's schools still defines the battle lines of Ohio politics today.