Keith Faber
Keith Faber currently serves as Ohio's Auditor of State. He was formerly a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 84th district, which includes Mercer County as well as portions of Auglaize, Darke and Shelby counties. Faber previously served as 94th President of the Ohio Senate and as the state senator for the 12th District. He also previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the same district from 2001 to 2007.
On January 31, 2017, Faber announced he would run for State Auditor of Ohio, seeking to succeed incumbent Dave Yost, who was term-limited.
Life and career
Faber was born in Troy, Michigan in 1966, the youngest of 4 children who were raised by a single mother. Faber credits his work ethic to his mother who he fondly remembers working overtime to make sure her children had everything they needed. Faber got his first paycheck job at the age of 12 as a janitor at a local business, sweeping floors and cleaning toilets. Although the youngest, Faber was the first in his family to go to college. With the help of scholarships and working, he was able to pay his way through college and then law school.Following Law School, Faber moved to Celina where he met his wife, Andrea Faber. They have two children, Adam and Brooke. Andrea Faber is a college professor of mathematics.
Faber is the principal partner with Faber and Associates in Celina, a law firm specializing in civil litigation and mediation, helping courts and parties resolve matters without trial. He earned his Juris Doctorate from The Ohio State University in 1991.
With incumbent Jim Buchy unable to run for another term in the House in 2000, Faber sought to replace him. He faced a primary race with fellow Republican Terry Haworth, and won by about 1,300 votes. He defeated Democrat Bill Sell in the general election by about 14,000 votes. He won reelection in 2002, 2004, and 2006.
When Jim Jordan vacated his state Senate seat after winning a seat in Congress, Faber was one of seven who sought to replace him, along with Derrick Seaver, Gene Krebs, Robert J. Luckey III, Toni Slusser, Vincent Foulk and Kreg Allison. Faber won the support of Senate Republicans, and took the seat in the Senate in February 2007. Soon after the appointment, Senate President Bill Harris appointed Faber to the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee.
For the 128th General Assembly, Faber served as Senate majority floor leader, and in the 129th General Assembly, he served as President pro tempore, the second highest post in the Senate. As President pro tempore, Faber was also vice chairman of the Senate Rules and Reference Committee. Faber won reelection to a second term in 2012, defeating Libertarian Paul Hinds with 79.07% of the vote. Faber served as the 94th President of the Ohio Senate throughout his last term in the upper chamber, before being ineligible to run again in 2016 due to term limits.
As Senate President, Faber was rated by a survey of Statehouse lobbyists, the Ohio General Assembly's "Most Ambitious," "Most Humorless," "Least Compassionate," "Most Arrogant," and "Most Aggressive Campaign Fundraiser" by fellow Statehouse insiders in Columbus Monthly's legislator rankings. Faber has argued that those ratings come from lobbyists who were upset that he did not play their games.
Ohio House of Representatives
In 2016, state Representative Jim Buchy, who had returned to the House after Faber had succeeded him in 2000, again decided to retire, in what perhaps strategically opened up the seat for Faber, who himself was term-limited from his seat in the Senate, where he had served as the body's President since 2013. He easily won election, receiving over 83% of the vote against Democrat Ed Huff in the 2016 general election.Legislative Awards
5x recipient of the Watchdog of the Treasury Award6x recipient of the Ohio Farm Bureau's “Friend of Agriculture” Award
Moms for Ohio's Public Service Award
Clean Fuel Ohio's “Legislator of the Year” Award
“Commitment to Ohio’s Public Universities and Students” Award
Council of Smaller Enterprises Advocate of the Year
National Federation of Independent Business's “Guardian of Small Business Award”
Ohio Alliance of Boys & Girls’ 2016 Blue Door Award
2004 Outstanding Legislator of the Year by the United Conservatives of Ohio
2x recipient of the Ronald Reagan Excellence in Government Award
Race for Auditor of State
In February 2017, Faber announced his intention to run for Ohio Auditor of State. After pushing Ohio Speaker of the House, Cliff Rosenberger, out of the primary, Faber was unopposed in the primary.Faber's campaign for Auditor focused upon making stating government more efficient, effective, and transparent. He highlighted the work done under his leadership in the Ohio General Assembly to cut taxes by $5 billion, reduce burdensome regulations, and attract over 500,000 new private sector jobs to the state. Faber also sought to emphasize his work reducing the cost of higher education in Ohio, while he was President of the Senate, Faber pushed an initiative that reduced the cost of a college degree by 11.7%.
Faber sought to emphasize the importance of the office being a "partisan election, but not a partisan office." He focused his campaign on going after state government without regard to party or special interest, pledging only to serve the people, not the elite.
The four previous Auditors of State endorsed Faber in the race.
In August, the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants announced their unanimous endorsement of Faber.
Faber faced off against Zack Space in the November election. Space, a former Congressman and lawyer, has argued that he is the only candidate who can clean up corruption in Columbus that Faber—as Senate President—is allegedly responsible for.
In October, three weeks before the election, an investigation by the Associated Press revealed that Faber had incurred late payments for failure to pay property taxes on time. Faber's campaign responded, saying "Keith Faber and his business partners paid their property taxes on time and we have the records to prove it." The AP story also noted that Faber had run digital ads against Space for his failure to pay property taxes "even as Faber's own tax penalties went unreported in the press.". Faber attributed the majority of the late payments to rural postal service issues.
On November 6, 2018 he was elected to be the next Ohio State Auditor.
On November 13, Faber announced that former Auditors of State Mary Taylor and Betty Montgomery would be leading his transition team.
Electoral History
| Year | HD | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | |
| 2000 | 77 | Bill Sell | 18,232 | 36.2% | Keith Faber | 32,132 | 63.8% | |
| 2002 | 77 | Ben Amstutz | 9,483 | 24.16% | Keith Faber | 28,353 | 76.84% | |
| 2004 | 77 | Betsy Marshall | 17,131 | 30.2% | Keith Faber | 39,600 | 60.8% | |
| 2006 | 77 | Betsy Marshall | 15,522 | 34.82% | Keith Faber | 29,060 | 65.18% | |
| 2016 | 84 | Ed Huff | 9,607 | 16.62% | Keith Faber | 48,191 | 83.38% |
| Year | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | Libertarian | Votes | Pct | ||
| 2018 | Zack Space | 2,006,204 | 46.28% | Keith Faber | 2,152,769 | 49.66% | Robert C. Coogan | 175,790 | 4.06% |