Keith Faber

Life and career

Faber earned a Bachelor of Science in public administration and policy from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, in 1988, and a Juris Doctor from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 1991.

Faber went on to found Faber & Associates, a civil litigation and mediation firm in Celina. He has served on the Ohio State Bar Association's Public Understanding of the Law Advisory Board and the editorial board of Ohio Lawyer Magazine, and belongs to the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys and the Defense Research and Trial Lawyers Association.

With incumbent Jim Buchy unable to run for another term in the House in 2000, Faber sought to replace him.

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.

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 was term-limited in the Ohio Senate in 2016, and ran for his old House seat, easily winning the election and receiving over 83% of the vote against Democrat Ed Huff in the 2016 general election.

Ohio Senate

In January 2007, Faber was appointed to represent the 12th district in the Ohio Senate, filling the vacancy left by Jim Jordan, who had been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He won election to the seat in his own right on November 4, 2008, and was reelected in 2012.

Faber became Senate Majority Leader in 2009 and served as President Pro Tempore during the 129th Ohio General Assembly (2011–2012) under Senate President Tom Niehaus. He was elected the 94th President of the Ohio Senate for the 130th General Assembly, serving from January 7, 2013 until his term expired on December 31, 2016, at which point he was succeeded by Larry Obhof.

Before joining Senate leadership in 2009, Faber served as vice chairman of the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Government Oversight, and as a member of the budget-writing Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee. He also represented the Senate on the State Ballot Board, the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, and the Legislative Service Commission board.

Legislative record as Senate President

According to his official legislative biography, Faber's priorities as Senate President included reducing state regulatory filings, cutting the state income tax, lowering the small-business tax rate, and creating the "Ohio Higher Education Challenge," a program intended to reduce the average cost of a degree at Ohio's public colleges and universities.

Auditor of State

Campaign

In February 2017, Faber announced his intention to run for Ohio Auditor of State. Ohio Speaker of the House Cliff Rosenberger considered running for the Republican nomination for auditor, but chose not to do so. He ran unopposed for the Republican nomination in the May 2018 primary. During his campaign, Faber emphasized performance audits to promote government efficiency.

Faber faced former U.S. Representative Zack Space, the Democratic nominee, in the 2018 campaign for state auditor. In October 2018, the Associated Press published an investigation revealed that Faber and his businesses incurred penalties for tax delinquencies between 2008 and 2015 across multiple properties and years and in two counties. Before Faber's tax payment history came to light, Faber had run digital ads attacking Space for his two tax penalties in 2005 and 2008. Both candidates cited administrative errors as the reason for the late payments. Space's campaign accused Faber of hypocrisy; Faber’s bookkeeper took responsibility for the delays.

On November 6, 2018, Faber was elected State Auditor. Faber received 49.66% of the vote, defeating Space, who received 46.28%.

Tenure

Faber was first inaugurated as auditor on January 12, 2019. He was inaugurated for a second term on January 9, 2023, joined by his family and sworn in by newly elected chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court Sharon Kennedy.

Ohio Redistricting Commission

As Auditor of State, Faber has served since 2019 on the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission, which draws the state's legislative and congressional district maps alongside the governor, secretary of state, and four legislative appointees.

In 2024, Faber was among the commission's Republican members who opposed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have transferred map-drawing authority to an independent citizens commission; voters rejected the amendment that November.

In October 2025, Faber joined the rest of the commission in unanimously adopting a new congressional map ahead of the 2026 elections, after an earlier proposal drew a threatened repeal effort.

Fraud investigations and recoveries

As of August 2026, the Special Investigations Unit of Faber's office has secured 165 convictions on 376 criminal charges, resulting in 284 findings for recovery totaling $28,667,204.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Faber's office was among the first state auditors to examine fraud within a state's unemployment compensation system, finding that tens of thousands of claims had been paid out to prisoners and deceased individuals; Faber estimated the state had made more than $5 billion in improper unemployment payments overall.

2026 Attorney General campaign

Faber announced his campaign for Attorney General of Ohio on January 27, 2025, becoming the first candidate from either party to enter the race; he cited his background as a lawyer, legislator, and state auditor. He ran unopposed in the Republican primary, receiving the endorsement of the Club for Growth PAC in August 2025 (the group's first endorsement of the 2026 Ohio election cycle) and won the May 5, 2026 primary uncontested.

Two-term incumbent Attorney General Dave Yost was term-limited and did not seek reelection. Yost resigned early, effective June 7, 2026, to take a position with the Alliance Defending Freedom. Although Faber, as the sitting auditor and AG nominee, was seen as a natural choice to fill the vacancy, Governor Mike DeWine instead appointed Andy Wilson, the state's public safety director. DeWine said he had considered naming Faber, but that doing so would likely have required a chain of further appointments, since Faber's move would open the auditor's office, currently held by Secretary of State Frank LaRose's opponent-turned-successor pipeline, with Treasurer Robert Sprague next in line behind that, and that installing multiple statewide officeholders this way, six months before a general election, "just seemed not the right thing to do."

In the November 3, 2026 general election, Faber faces Democratic nominee John Kulewicz, an Upper Arlington city councilor and attorney, who defeated former state representative Elliot Forhan in the Democratic primary.

During the campaign, Faber has said his priorities include supporting law enforcement, including additional resources for the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in counties without their own crime labs; continuing the anti-corruption and anti-fraud work he began as auditor; and consumer protection, including assistance for Ohioans with denied health insurance claims.

Personal life

Faber is married to Andrea Faber, and together they have two children. They reside in Celina, Ohio. He has a long-time private legal practice in Celina.