County Prosecutor Montgomery was elected Wood County Prosecutor in 1980. In 1988, she was elected to the
Ohio Senate where she chaired the Criminal Justice Subcommittee and the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Montgomery worked on passing Ohio's first
living-will law.
Attorney General In 1994 Montgomery was urged by Republican Party leaders to challenge
Democrat Lee Fisher for the job of
Ohio Attorney General. Montgomery was the first Republican attorney general in 24 years to hold the office. She faced an uphill battle against the very-popular Fisher. Montgomery campaigned on her record as a prosecutor. She narrowly defeated Fisher by a vote of 1,716,451 to 1,625,471. As Attorney General, Montgomery worked to increase funding for law enforcement and for more crime labs. She defeated Democrat
Richard Cordray for re-election in 1998, earning more votes than any other Republican candidate.
Auditor By the end of 2001, Montgomery was
term limited from being re-elected Attorney General.
Ohio Republican Party Chairman
Robert Bennett urged Montgomery to run for the job of state auditor. She swapped offices with then Auditor
Jim Petro, who was elected as attorney general. Montgomery defeated Democrat Helen Knipe Smith and became State Auditor in 2003. Montgomery was the top vote-getter in the 1998 and 2002 state elections.
2006 election In 2006, Montgomery opted to run for
Ohio Governor. During her campaign for governor, Montgomery challenged
Ken Blackwell and Petro. After trailing both Blackwell and Petro in early polls, Montgomery dropped out of the governor's race to once again run for Attorney General. Her 2006 opponent in the general election was
State Senator Marc Dann, who defeated Montgomery.
Later career Montgomery runs a private law practice and a consulting company. She is the vice-chair of the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees and serves on several boards and foundations. She is the chair of a leadership institute named after Ohio's first woman speaker of the house,
Jo Ann Davidson, that helps develop young, female leaders. ==Awards and recognition==