Diane Mullins, the Republican state representative for Hamilton, is seeking a second term in the Ohio House despite compiling the worst attendance record in the chamber during her freshman term after suffering a stroke in mid-2025. She missed 13 of the 14 voting sessions that followed her health emergency and has not sponsored a single piece of legislation during her two years in office.
According to the Springfield News-Sun, Mullins has attended just 65% of Ohio House voting sessions over the past two years, the lowest mark among her colleagues.
Mullins attended a July 2025 voting session while recovering from a stroke, the paper notes.
A District Forged by an Intraparty Revolt
Mullins first won the seat in the March 2024 Republican primary, ousting three-term incumbent Sara Carruthers by a margin of 5,370 votes to 4,742, according to Ballotpedia. The upset unseated a three-term incumbent. Mullins went on to win the general election that November with 61.6% of the vote against Democrat Vanessa Cummings, cementing her hold on District 47.
Once in office, Mullins was appointed Vice Chair of the House Community Revitalization Committee for the 136th General Assembly and assigned to the Medicaid, Agriculture, and Public Safety committees, according to the Ohio House of Representatives. But the Springfield News-Sun reports she missed 42 of 104 committee hearings during her term, with most of those absences falling during her five-month recovery period.
Full Pay Despite the Absences
Ohio's legal framework helps explain why Mullins kept collecting her paycheck throughout her recovery. State lawmakers are classified as officers rather than employees under Ohio guidelines, meaning they are ineligible for standard sick, vacation, or disability leave but can continue drawing their full base salary, which stood at $68,674 in 2025, while absent so long as the House formally excuses them.
Before entering politics, Mullins worked as a pastor and founded Deborah's Voice, a Christian conservative women's advocacy group. She now serves in the Ohio House of Representatives. She has not proposed a single bill during her term, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
Challengers Seize on the Record
Mullins ran unopposed in the Republican primary in May 2026, while two challengers now stand between her and a second term. Democratic candidate Jordan Haire, a licensed clinical mental health counselor, drew 4,750 votes in the uncontested primary and has built momentum with an endorsement from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio.
Libertarian candidate Jason Purviance, an aircraft mechanic from Fairfield Township who earned 114 votes in his own uncontested primary, entered the race after attending local school board funding meetings and now campaigns on phasing out property taxes on primary residences, according to The Ballot Brief.
With the general election set for November 3, 2026, the three-way contest in District 47 now hinges on a question Mullins herself has tried to answer directly: whether a lawmaker sidelined by a serious health crisis for most of a term has earned the chance to serve a second one.
