Arienne Childrey lost her last run for office as a Democrat in 2023, failing to unseat a Republican candidate in a majority-red voting district in rural Western Ohio. She was doxxed and threatened three months before losing a local City Council election last year. And she’s a transgender woman.
But none of that is stopping Childrey from running in the 2026 midterms to defeat Ohio District 84 Rep. Angela King (R-Celina). The 43-year-old candidate said voters deserve more than one option.
“Elections only work if we have more than one person to choose from,” Childrey said. “People deserve the right to look at what I stand for, look at what Rep. King stands for and decide who they feel will better fight for them and make Ohio a better place to live.”
Background
Originally from Virginia, Childrey moved to Ohio briefly in 2001, then in 2014 moved to Chillicothe, staying a year before settling in St. Marys.
She lost the 2023 midterm election to King, but she was appointed to a City Council seat in the city of St. Marys in King’s district in January 2025. The only Democrat on council, Childrey said she was able to reach across the aisle on a number of issues, such as joining Republicans to stop an ordinance over worries it would restrict public comment. Though she lost the next election for the council seat, the city’s Republican mayor chose her to replace another Republican on the city’s Zoning Board.
“Good ideas don’t have a party label,” Childrey said. “[To help constituents,] we both have to compromise, and I’m willing to do well-intentioned, fair compromise with Republican members.”
Childrey was gearing up her council campaign last September, when an X user threatened to kill her for comments she made after the murder of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. Two days later, FBI agents arrested a 19-year-old in New Mexico for allegedly threatening online to “commit mass murder” and directly threatening to kill Childrey. According to the agency’s press release, he told agents that he was a neo-Nazi who wanted to start a civil war.
Childrey said she wasn’t “super frightened” by the threat.
“Listen, there’s always risk being involved in politics,” she said. “That’s not an excuse not to do it. We only get one chance to make a difference, to leave a legacy.”
Policies
Childrey is campaigning on several issues that affect Ohioans.
In the case of housing, she wants to stop landlords from discriminating against potential tenants based on whether they have to use housing vouchers to afford rent. Such income requirements for housing can unfairly stop impoverished people who are trying to “get back up on their feet,” especially people who are unhoused.
“We’re still trapping them in a system of poverty by allowing people to discriminate based on that source of income,” she said. “When you’re dealing with homelessness, obviously that has a major impact on everything related to health, their ability to get a job, and get up off their feet. When we solve that, we actually work on solving a number of issues.”
She also supports HB 225 — a bipartisan bill that would stop businesses from paying disabled workers below the state minimum wage.
“I don’t think a lot of people know or really understand that we have people throughout our state that are working every single day and still not making minimum wage because of a disability,” Childrey said.
She described herself as a “hardcore critic” of the EdChoice voucher program, which allows public money to go toward private school tuition. The public school system “may be one of the best things that American democracy created,” Childrey said. She wants to roll back the EdChoice program to stop the strain on both public schools and taxpayers, she said.
“We are looking at putting a major [financial] strain on our [public] schools that is going to end up being passed off to local residents through levies that they’ll have to vote on,” Childrey said. “If they don’t vote on them, we’re going to look at severely underfunded schools that may end up having to lay off staff, increase class sizes, and we know that results in worse outcomes for students.”
Childrey also said she wants to help farmers facing challenges in healthcare – both physical and mental – and encourage a business ecosystem where local businesses prioritize buying from local suppliers.
Winning the 2026 midterms
Childrey is facing off against a candidate with close ties to Celina, the second-most populated city in the district. Angie King’s brother is Celina City Council President Jason King. Both Jason King and Celina’s mayor, Jeffrey Hazel, sent testimony in favor of Ohio’s proposed drag ban with misleading information about drag performances, calling them “lewd and lascivious behaviors” despite many moves being used by cheerleading squads, including Celina High School. Angie King stood next to neo-Nazis protesting Celina’s Pride celebration in 2023.
King also sponsored HB 196 with Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandra), who was removed from his committee assignments in April and told to resign after an underage family member accused him of sexual assault. HB 196 could force transgender candidates to out themselves in order to run for public office by forcing them to list deadnames on their filing papers and could increase challenges to their candidacies.
The 84th district favors Republicans by 60 points out of 100, according to the Partisan Index, making it the most Republican district in the state.
“I understand that being a trans candidate is automatically polarizing to some, but I also fight really hard to show people that … the culture war battles don’t make your life any better,” Childrey said. “What culture war battles are really about is obfuscating the fact that those representatives have nothing to offer you.”
Childrey will be doing “some aggressive door knocking” and funding more advertisements. Instead of donations, she’s asking the LGBTQ+ community in the district to volunteer. This year, her campaign slogan is “a better path forward.”
“A path that listens. A candidate that’s going to be willing to talk to you, regardless of your political party, and take your needs to Columbus,” she said. “It’s all about being engaged and showing people that they can either have more of the same or they can give me a shot for two years to prove that I can offer them a better path forward.”
In addition to focusing on her campaign, Childrey said she’s encouraging people to run in 16 uncontested state races this year. She wants 2026 to be the last year that Ohio has uncontested races, and she hopes her campaign inspires others.
“I am in the most red district in Ohio, and we are fighting like hell,” she said. “If we can do that, then you can do that.” 🔥
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