# Kent Smith Kent Smith is a Democratic member of the Ohio Senate for district 21. - Party: Democrat - Seat: Ohio Senate, district 21 - Serving since: 2023-01-01 - Current term: OH 2025–26 session - Open States ID: ocd-person/d9c3dfce-8b7f-402f-9dec-5179e38b528f Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/d9c3dfce-8b7f-402f-9dec-5179e38b528f (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set]. ## Headline 15% of the 27 bills Smith sponsored got out of committee, in the bottom 5% of the Ohio Senate. ## What Smith says (OH 2025–26 session) 485 classified statements: 485 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate. | Label | Smith | State Senate Democrats average | Rank | |---|---|---|---| | Personal attacks | 2.9% | 2.4% | 83 of 329 | | Policy criticism | 18.6% | 10.3% | 61 of 329 | | Policy discussion | 41.0% | 42.9% | 182 of 329 | | Bipartisanship | 3.1% | 3.4% | 141 of 329 | | Credit claiming | 10.9% | 16.1% | 191 of 329 | | Extreme labels | 1.0% | 0.8% | 71 of 329 | Most discussed policy areas: Government Operations and Politics 29% (State Senate Democrats 14%); Economics and Public Finance 16% (State Senate Democrats 10%); Education 16% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Energy 15% (State Senate Democrats 4.1%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 8.1% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%). ## Ideology (CSIP) CSIP score −0.57 (standard error 0.02), from 305 donors and 662 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 63% of State Senate Democrats score lower. ## Votes (OH 2025–26 session) 231 roll calls. Attendance 100% (Ohio Senate 100%). Party unity 96.7% (97.5%). 6 votes against the party majority. Key votes: - 2026-09-30 · voted yea · Passed · HB 519 Prohibit specified actions with intent to steal a motor vehicle · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB519/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Passed · HB 173 Regards entities providing behind-the-meter utility services · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB173/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Passed · HB 541 Designate Deputy Daniel "Weston" Sherrer Memorial Highway · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB541/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Passed · HB 251 Regards drone use by law enforcement; aviation facilities · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB251/ - 2026-06-11 · voted nay · Concurred in House amendments · SB 276 Ratify the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB276/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Passed · HB 297 Regards funds provided by county for Memorial Day expenses · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB297/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Concurred in House amendments · SB 273 Enact the Keep Them Safe Act · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB273/ - 2026-06-11 · voted nay · Passed · HB 492 Prohibit interfering with motor vehicle-related arrests · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB492/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Passed · HB 292 Establish the Ohio Defense Commission · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB292/ - 2026-06-11 · voted yea · Passed · HB 210 Regards the sale of used catalytic converters · pass · https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/HB210/ ## Legislation (OH 2025–26 session) Sponsored 27 bills: 27 reached committee, 4 passed one chamber, 0 passed both, 0 became law. Cosponsored 142. 14.8% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Ohio Senate 55.2%; rank 31 of 32). Recent sponsored bills: - SCR 21: Condemn Russian Federation regarding Ukrainian children (in committee, 2026-09-30) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SCR21/ - SB 443: Enact the Take the Dough, We Gotta Know Act (in committee, 2026-06-02) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB443/ - SB 442: Enact the Food Literacy Standards Act (in committee, 2026-05-20) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB442/ - SB 374: Prohibit new data center sales tax exemptions (in committee, 2026-03-25) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB374/ - SR 287: Honoring Laila Edwards as a 2026 Olympic gold medalist. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-02) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SR287/ - SB 355: Expand the offense of aggravated menacing re: certain workers (in committee, 2026-02-11) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB355/ - SB 335: Make Election Day a holiday (in committee, 2026-02-11) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB335/ - SB 332: Dissolve academic distress comms; require student support teams (in committee, 2026-02-11) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB332/ - SB 329: Prohibit road surface application of brine from oil, gas wells (in committee, 2025-11-19) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB329/ - SB 297: Regards electric submetering companies and customers (in committee, 2025-10-22) https://openstates.org/oh/bills/136/SB297/ ## Campaign money (2026 cycle) Itemized receipts $72.8K (State Senate Democrats median $55.5K). 85% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors. ## Recent statements Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only. - 2026-10-24 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2113783737486098470 - 2026-10-24 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2113980473135292461 - 2026-10-18 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2111615874591498607 - 2026-10-17 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2111441243980894537 - 2026-10-17 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2111531966583480598 - 2026-10-17 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2111594048821551445 - 2026-10-16 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2111103176694767792 - 2026-10-16 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2111104221034471834 - 2026-10-12 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2109659809100263475 - 2026-10-11 · Post on X · https://x.com/KentKSmith/status/2109102998882332833 ## Links - Official site: https://ohiosenate.gov/members/kent-smith - Campaign site: https://www.kentsmith.org/ - X: https://x.com/KentKSmith - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kentksmith - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kentksmith - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kentsmith9992 - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentksmith/ Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/d9c3dfce-8b7f-402f-9dec-5179e38b528f