Jo Ann Davidson, Ohio’s first female speaker of the House of Representatives, has died at the age of 97

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Ohio’s first female speaker of the House of Representatives died Friday at the age of 97.

Governor Mike DeWine announced Jo Ann Davidson’s death, saying “she was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word.”

Davidson was born on September 28, 1927, according to a Findlay profile Pioneer Women in Ohio Politics Series at Bowling Green State University.

She was raised in Atlanta until her father’s death, when the family moved back to Ohio, where she graduated from high school.

She first won office in 1967 on the Reynoldsburg City Council. After working at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce as a research fellow, she first won a seat in the Ohio State House in 1980, serving in the 27th District House.

Davidson became minority whip in 1985, was elected minority leader in 1993, and eventually became speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1995 when Republicans took control.

She was the first woman in the country to do so.

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