Ohio could elect its first woman as governor now that Democrat Betty Sutton has joined Republican Mary Taylor as a potential front-runner in the 2018 election.

A lot has to occur before that happens, but the chance of one of them making history is better than any previous time in Ohio’s 214 years of statehood. From Edward Tiffin to John Kasich, 63 men have held the office — although Nancy Hollister filled in for nine days when George Voinovich was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Taylor, 51, is one four Republicans currently being touted for governor. Secretary of State Jon Husted, Attorney General Mike DeWine and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci are also interested, although they have yet to declare their candidacies. Interestingly, Renacci has rock star Jon Bon Jovi working with him on a fund-raiser.

Sutton, 53, brings a solid record of election wins and fundraising that could position her as the Democrat’s initial top pick. Ohio Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni is the only other Democrat who has declared. Others mentioned include former State Treasure Richard Cordray, Youngstown-area U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, and former state Rep. Connie Pillich.

Taylor established herself in 2006 as one of the GOP brightest stars when she was the only Republican to win statewide office. As auditor, she then became a thorn in the side of former Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland, often tangling with him on fiscal matters. Her office recovered millions in misspent tax dollars.

She’s a certified public accountant known for her strong business and budgeting acumen. As Gov. John Kasich’s next in command, she was put in charge of CSI Ohio — the “Common Sense Initiative” that helped Ohio eliminate excessive and duplicate rules for businesses and become a more jobs friendly state.

However, fairly or unfairly, Taylor does carry some baggage. The whispers around Columbus have been that Taylor works bankers’ hours and does too much of her work away from the state Capitol, taking it home with her to Green, a suburban city of 22,000 between Akron and Canton. She disputes how often that happens, but makes no excuses, saying the job gets done and that most working mothers would understand the importance of balancing family and work.

Sutton, 53, also will be hammering the jobs’ issue, but her approach is much different. She touts a change in priorities, saying Ohio needs to “focus on creating jobs and opportunities for working families instead of just giving tax breaks to the privileged.”

Sutton is a pedigree Democrat candidate: She’s the daughter of a boilermaker and a library worker who went on to become a labor lawyer. As a former three-term congresswoman, she earned a reputation for being a champion of the middle class. However, the resident of Barberton now has some convincing to do inside Democratic circles. She was upset in her last congressional race by Renacci, thus a question now exists about her ability to win an even bigger office. Many pundits say the loss was a fluke, blaming it on redistricting that favored Republicans.

Sutton certainly has the fire. She has aggressively pushed her candidacy the past few months since quitting her job as administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., a federal position that prevented her from engaging in politics.

In the history of the U.S., only 40 women have served as governor of their state, and some of those, like Hollister, were by appointments for just a matter of days. Connecticut and Arizona are the only two states to have elected female governors from both major parties.

Nine states have never had either the Republicans or Democrats nominate a female candidate. Besides Ohio, those states are Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah.

Currently, only four states have women governors: Oregon, Rhode Island, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Keep an eye on Taylor and Sutton. It will be interesting to see if one of them steps into Buckeye state history.