The newly formed Ohio United Party announced this week that it is launching a statewide petition drive to qualify for minor party status and secure ballot access for the 2026 elections.
In a statement shared with Independent Political Report, the party said Timothy Grady will serve as chair of the new organization. Grady is also an independent candidate in Ohio’s gubernatorial election, running alongside Army veteran Andrea Neutzling this November.
The party said it hopes to provide another choice for Ohio voters frustrated with partisan gridlock and the two-party system. It wants to organize voters across the political spectrum, specifically mentioning Ohioans who did not participate in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election, around what it calls practical solutions and away from partisan conflict.
“A party is the way regular people can interact and have a voice in government, to organize for real change,” Grady said. “Too often we forget that, we don’t realize all that a party can be, because we’ve been stuck with some of the worst examples for so long. We’re building a better party, for everyone.”
The group is organizing on what it calls two “parallel tracks,” with one goal focused on 2026 and another on 2028. To qualify for official minor party status this cycle, the party said it must collect 57,679 valid petition signatures by June 30, which it plans to begin collecting across the state in the coming months. If the party falls short, the effort would instead roll over toward the 2028 threshold and deadline.
The party also plans to hold its first state convention this summer. If it secures ballot access, the Ohio United Party said it intends to nominate a full slate of candidates for federal, state, and local offices through an open convention process, with the organization encouraging competitive nominating contests for each seat.
“Potentially being able to replace most of the state government in a single election as well as create a United Party caucus in the US House of Representatives with the power to swing control of the House, makes the Ohio United Party the single greatest point of leverage in politics,” Grady added. “That’s what we could build here.”
For its longer-term plan, the statement presents the new party as part of a larger organizing project, with an objective of developing a 50-state coalition of aligned state organizations by 2028. To that end, it said it has already identified several unnamed “like-minded new parties” with ballot access in other states that could become future partners.
Their web page does not seem to include a request for donations.