At the age of 29, Fisher was elected to the
Ohio House of Representatives in 1980. He served as a state representative for two years before being elected to the
Ohio Senate in 1982. He was named " Outstanding Freshman Legislator" by Columbus Monthly magazine in 1982. In 1983 he was named a Chase Public Leadership Fellow and attended the Harvard Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. Fisher was elected
Attorney General of Ohio in 1990, defeating
Paul Pfeifer in the only statewide election in Ohio history to trigger a statewide recount. In 1992, Fisher was elected a
presidential elector for Ohio. Fisher served as attorney general from 1991 to 1995, narrowly losing his bid for re-election in 1994 to Republican
Betty Montgomery. In 1998, Fisher
ran for governor but lost to Republican
Bob Taft, 50%–45%. Joining the ticket of Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Ted Strickland, Fisher
was elected lieutenant governor in 2006. The Ohio gubernatorial campaign was captured in the 2008 documentary film
Swing State, which was directed by (his son) Jason Zone-Fisher, John Intrater, and H. Spencer Young.
2010 U.S. Senate campaign In February 2009, Fisher announced his campaign to replace
George Voinovich in the
U.S. Senate. On May 4, 2010, Fisher won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, defeating Ohio Secretary of State
Jennifer Brunner. In the general election on November 2, 2010, Fisher faced the Republican nominee,
Rob Portman, a former Cincinnati congressman and Bush administration official. ==Academic career==