Born and raised in southeastern Ohio, Balderson graduated from Zanesville High School in 1980 and attended both Muskingum College and The Ohio State University, but did not graduate. He lives in Zanesville, Ohio. When incumbent Jim Aslanides became term-limited, Balderson sought the Republican nomination for state representative of the 94th Ohio House District. He won the nomination with 67.63% of the vote against Patrick Johnson. Balderson faced Democrat Jennifer Stewart in the general election. Democrats hoped that Stewart would build on solid party showings from the previous election cycle. With 54.01% of the vote, Balderson was elected to his first term in the Ohio House of Representatives. Balderson was unopposed for his seat in the 2010 general election and won a second term. While serving in the Ohio House of Representatives, Balderson was appointed to the House Finance Committee and also presided as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. In early 2010, Balderson proposed legislation that would subject Ohio Medicaid recipients to random drug tests in order to receive state benefits.
Ohio Senate
In late May 2011, State Senator Jimmy Stewart announced that he planned to resign his seat in the 20th Senate District at the end of the fiscal year. Stewart continued his service as majority floor leader until he resigned. On July 12, 2011, Senate President Tom Niehaus announced that Balderson would be appointed to the vacant Senate seat. He was sworn into office on July 13, 2011. On November 6, 2012, Balderson won a full four-year term in his Senate Seat, defeating Democrat Teresa Scarmack by 59.79% of the vote. Balderson was selected in 2014 as co-chair of a special legislative committee to review Ohio's renewable energy and energy efficiency regulations, and served as the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee while in the Senate In November 2016, Balderson ran unopposed for re-election to the Ohio Senate, for a term ending in 2020. He will be term limited and ineligible to run for the Senate seat in 2020. He decided to run for Congress, to represent Ohio's 12th congressional district.
Committee assignments
Energy and Natural Resources—Chair
Finance
Government Oversight & Reform
Public Utilities
Finance Subcommittee on Primary & Secondary Education
Balderson was the Republican nominee for Ohio's 12th congressional district in an August 2018 special election triggered by the resignation of Rep. Pat Tiberi. He faced Democrat Danny O'Connor in the general election. On election night, the results were too close to call, and a winner wasn't called until he was officially certified as the winner of the special election on August 24, 2018. After the remaining absentee and provisional ballots were counted, he finished 1,680 votes ahead of O'Connor. O'Connor called Balderson to concede in the afternoon of August 24. He was sworn into office on September 5, 2018.
2018 general election
In the November 2018 general election, Balderson defeated Democratic nominee Danny O'Connor in a rematch of the district's August 2018 special election. Balderson won 51.6% of the vote to O'Connor's 47.1%.
