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Historically, states in the Midwest have enacted policies favorable to organized labor. This has changed in recent years with several Midwest states passing severe restrictions on the collective bargaining rights of workers. This research focuses on one case where collective bargaining restrictions were overturned in the state of Ohio through direct democracy. Coalitions and policy narratives were identified through the scope of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) and Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) in an attempt to fully understand the repeal of Ohio Senate Bill 5, a law that restricted collective bargaining for public employees. Analysis shows that the coalition in favor of repeal, We Are Ohio, formed a broader coalition and a more general, more effective, narrative than the coalition in favor of the collective bargaining restrictions, Building a Better Ohio. We Are Ohio argued that Senate Bill 5 was an overreach by greedy politicians that would hurt the middle class. Building a Better Ohio argued that Senate Bill 5 was a necessary measure that would help balance state and local budgets. This research demonstrates a useful application of the ACF and NPF to direct democracy in hopes that future research will be done using these frameworks on direct democracy. Furthermore, this research demonstrates how successfully expanding the conflict in direct democracy results in a larger coalition that is needed to win the policy narrative.