Roger Olmstead was the Governor of Ohio during the 2016 Election and after. During the election, he was called to Washington D.C. for a Governors luncheon hosted by President Underwood, while Doug Stamper met privately with his Chief of Staff (and the Chiefs of Staff of a few other swing states like Pennsylvania) to inform them that their states were targets for potential terrorist attacks. This was a ploy by Underwood to engage in voter suppression of Republicans in these states. The Governor ended up missing his flight because the Underwoods with the help of Aiden Macallan, initiated a fake cyber attack on Capital East Telecom, taking down all telecommunications in the DC area in order to pressure Congress into declaring war on ICO.
In 2017, after an explosion at a Chemical Plant in Bellmont, Claire Underwood calls Governor Olmstead and urges him to declare a state of emergency, which he initially refuses until she reminds him that he owes his re-election to the Underwoods and their underhanded and shady tactics. Claire later tours the plant with the Governor to survey the damage, it turns out that the chemicals were having a negative impact on the local water supply. Olmstead takes a lot of heat for his initial resistance to declare a state of emergency.