COLUMBUS, Ohio--Democrats gained seats in the Ohio House of Representatives during Tuesday’s midterm elections for the first time since 2010, cutting slightly into the GOP’s still-formidable majority in the chamber.

But the Ohio Senate is a different story, as Republicans appeared likely to hold or even build on their record 24-9 majority.

The results mean that what’s been perhaps the most conservative Ohio General Assembly ever won’t change much in the next two years, at least. Republicans, still holding solid supermajorities, will continue to push against Medicaid expansion and abortion, among other issues.

Democrats flipped four GOP-held Ohio House seats, with the potential of picking up a fifth in House District 6, in suburban Cleveland. However, Republicans won a Democratic-controlled House seat in Mahoning County, meaning a net pickup of 3-4 seats for Democrats.

That means House Republicans will enter next session continuing to have a three-fifths supermajority, which allows them to override gubernatorial vetoes and put measures on the statewide ballot without Democratic votes.

All four Democratic pickups of GOP seats came in suburban districts. Three were in the Columbus area: Mary Lightbody in District 19, Beth Liston in House District 21, and Allison Russo in House District 24. The fourth came in Summit County, where Democrat Casey Weinstein defeated Republican Mike Rasor.

In House District 6, Democrat Phil Robinson held 426-vote lead over Republican Jim Trakas with 91 percent of precincts reporting.

Despite the losses, there was a silver lining for Republican House Speaker Ryan Smith: all of the Democratic pickups of House seats came against Republican candidates aligned with Rep. Larry Householder, reducing Householder’s chances of having enough GOP votes to win the speaker’s gavel next session.

In a statement, Smith said Tuesday that “House Republicans will continue to promote the kinds of policies that have helped our state create more than a half-million private sector jobs, reduce the unemployment rate and protect our state’s most vulnerable populations.”

Republicans also captured a Democratic-held seat in House District 59, as Don Manning defeated Eric Ungaro by about 400 votes, according to unofficial totals.

On the Senate side, Republicans picked up Democratic-held Senate District 33 in Mahoning and Columbiana counties, as Michael Rulli defeated Democratic state Rep. John Boccieri (the current representative from House District 59) Rulli, who runs a chain of family-owned grocery stores, won a district that’s traditionally Democratic but backed President Donald Trump in 2016. His win is evidence that Youngtown-area Democrats who supported Trump two years ago are becoming Republican voters this year.

There was still a slim opportunity Tuesday night for a Democratic Senate pickup in what was the most oddly competitive legislative race in Ohio.

With about 98 percent of precincts reporting, Republican state Rep. Anne Gonzales held a 147-vote lead in Senate District 3 in eastern Franklin County over Democrat Tina Maharath, a financial analyst.

The twist is that Maharath, who by her own admission has a "troubled" past, wasn't endorsed by the Ohio Democratic party nor the Franklin County Democrats (she won the Democratic nomination by default after the party's favored candidate didn't submit the 50 valid petition signatures he needed to run).

But the district itself is filled with Democrats, leading Republicans to buy at least $800,000 in ads trashing Maharath.

Other competitive Senate races all went the GOP’s way. Republican state Rep. Andrew Brenner held on to GOP control of Senate District 19 in Delaware, Knox and northern Franklin counties, despite a strong opponent in Democrat Louise Valentine.

Republican state Rep. Nathan Manning was also elected to fill his mother Gayle Manning’s Senate District 13 seat in Huron and Lorain counties, defeating Democrat Sharon Sweda.

On the House side, state Rep. J. Todd Smith, appointed to the House earlier this year, unexpectedly held off Democrat Dan Foley in House District 43. Republican state Reps. Jonathan Dever of Cincinnati also won a close race against Democrat Jessica Miranda.