Candice Keller: Controversial former legislator is running for Ohio Senate

Former Ohio Rep. Candice Keller wants back in the General Assembly.

The Republican from Middletown filed to run for the Ohio Senate seat occupied by Republican Sen. George Lang, who beat her in April 2020 in the Republican primary.

Keller has sparked controversy, including when she blamed the Dayton mass shooting on "drag queen advocates," compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis and was asked to leave Gettysburg Visitor Center and Museum for refusing to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keller on Facebook posted with the hashtag #helpisontheway, "Today, I delivered baby clothes to a teen mom; serviced my car; and filed to run for Ohio Senate District 4."

Keller is one of three Republicans who filed for the seat in a district that covers most of Butler County, north of Cincinnati. It includes Fairfield, Hamilton, Oxford and Middletown. Lang filed for reelection as well as Middletown Republican Mark Morgan.

Keller did not respond to a message Thursday morning. Keller served four years in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020 and has served as executive director of a Christian pregnancy resource center. She also ran in 2022 for lieutenant governor on a Republican gubernatorial with former state Rep. Ron Hood in an unsuccessful attempt to challenge Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

Lang, a Republican from West Chester, served eight years in the Ohio House before being elected state senator in 2020.

Morgan, in his bio on his campaign page, states he grew up in Middletown, worked in various nonprofit and political capacities in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and moved back in 2018."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What race did Candice Keller file for?