Jo Ann Davidson: Committed to the Good of Ohio Citizens

Jo Ann Davidson delivers the keynote address at the 2013 Glenn College Leadership Forum.

Davidson, who served on the John Glenn College of Public Affairs Board of Distinguished Visitors, started her political career as a member of the Reynoldsburg (Ohio) City Council, serving for 10 years, and also was a Truro Township Trustee, vice chair of the Ohio Turnpike Commission and member of the Franklin County Mental Health Board. Beginning in 1980, she served 20 years as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, where she was elected speaker in 1995 and fought for initiatives including welfare reform, electric deregulation and criminal justice reform. In 2005, she was elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

At the 1995 Ohio State home football game versus Notre Dame, Herb Asher, Professor Emeritus of political science and Distinguished Adjunct Professor in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, left, joined (from left) former Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe, then-Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson and Corwin Nixon, longtime former minority leader of the Republican Party in the Ohio House. (Photo courtesy Herb Asher)

“I’m always impressed by somebody willing to take on role of public service when the odds of winning are low, and at the time she started serving in the Ohio House, the minority party was the Republican party,” said Glenn College Dean Trevor Brown.  

“Talking with her, she was just motivated often by ‘pocketbook issues,’ as she described it — basic economic issues that would affect people — because she was a homemaker for much of her life and experienced the challenges of running a family and saw that public policy affected some of these things that needed to succeed,” he said. 

The House Republicans remained the minority party for many cycles, during which she learned one of public service’s basic lessons: compromise. 

“She had to build relationships with her Democratic colleagues and move things forward. She had to be on bills with her Democratic foes,” Brown said. “Then she had challenges around her identity as a woman, because even within in her own party at times she was told, ‘Why don’t you serve on committees that deal with children?’ She said, ‘No, I want to be on the budgeting committee because that’s how we affect children.’” 

When Republicans came back into power and there was a pathway to leadership, Davidson took it and vowed to treat all House members in fairness.  

“I remember talking to her after she started doing this. She had pledged to her members that any bill introduced would have a hearing. And sometimes the bills were so ludicrous you didn’t want to have a hearing, but she had made that promise,” Asher said. “She had a sense of humor and was very understanding to other people’s situations. 

“She wasn’t one of these politicians who are always tooting their own horn,” Asher said. 

According to the Ohio Women’s Policy and Research Commission, Davidson’s public service recognitions included Outstanding Legislator, 1988, by the United Conservatives of Ohio; Watchdog of the Treasury Award, United Conservatives of Ohio; 1991 Legislator of the Year, National Republican Legislators Association; Women’s Hall of Fame induction, 1991; YWCA Woman of Achievement Award; and an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree, Ohio University. 

Following her terms in elected office, she continued in public service, including as a member of the boards of trustees for the University of Findlay, Franklin University and The Ohio State University; Ohio Casino Control Commission; and the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission. She formed her own consulting firm, JAD and Associates, working on issues involving public policy development and analysis, strategic planning and political campaigns. 

Davidson was quick to provide mentorship or advice to young people in public service. 

“She was always trying to recruit good people into politics,” Asher said, “not just the legislature but on school boards or city councils, with a focus not just on women, but particularly on women, to help open doors so all of our government bodies would be more reflective of who we are as a country and as a state and a community.” 

She founded the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute to encourage, inspire and prepare Republican women to attain a new level of leadership in their communities, government and politics. During its operation from 2001 to 2023, almost 500 highly accomplished women completed the institute’s eight-month program to advance their goals of public service as community leaders or elected or appointed officials. 

One of those women was Laura Lanese, a graduate of both the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs Public Leadership Academy. Lanese was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 2017 to 2022. 

“She was so generous with her time to share all that she learned to women all over Ohio and no doubt beyond our state borders,” Lanese said.  

“She was also very professional, had exceptional political skills and blazed a trail for many women to follow her. I spent three years on city council and six years as a state representative. I’m glad I had the opportunity to run for office and learn from someone as knowledgeable as Jo Ann,” Lanese said. 

“When you want to tell your fellow citizens and the younger generations about how public service is a very, very critical aspect of American life and that it can be done well,” Asher said, “you can look to Jo Ann Davidson and to Sen. John Glenn and say, ‘These are role models.’” 

Details about Davidson's funeral arrangements are available in her obituary.