Kline criticized quitters, then quit

July 22, 2022

It was six weeks ago today that Kenneth Kline stood before Trumbull County Republican Party’s central committee to criticize the five party officers who resigned since his election as chairman last year. “They quit on me, they quit on you, they quit on our candidates,” Kline said. He also said there’s nothing worse than losers and quitters. Kline resigned Sunday, acknowledging he didn’t consult any of the party’s officers — including his daughter, Gabrielle, who is party secretary — before making his decision. He said he talked only to his wife about ...

Big money spent in Senate race

July 15, 2022

The $9.1 million U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan raised from donors in the second quarter for his Senate campaign is an amount never before seen in Ohio. Still, I don’t know if it’s enough to get him elected in a largely Republican state during a year expected to be terrible nationally for Democrats. While money doesn’t always translate to victories, particularly in the situation Ryan finds himself in, he is proving to be a formidable candidate. A poll commissioned by Ryan’s campaign shows a statistical deadheat for the seat with Republican J.D. Vance. While polls paid for by ...

Little incentive to vote in the Valley on Aug. 2

July 8, 2022

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that local election officials are predicting anywhere from 85 to 90 percent of eligible voters will skip the Aug. 2 primary. For many voters in Mahoning and Trumbull counties there’s no real incentive to cast a ballot. That’s because their ballots have no contested primaries. It’s hard to fault someone who doesn’t want to vote for candidates in unopposed races. If you’re a Democrat in Mahoning County and you live in the 58th Ohio House District — and realize you live in that district — your ballot has unopposed races for the state ...

Ohio GOP plans abortion ban

July 1, 2022

With the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision last week to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that permitted abortions, state officials can place as many restrictions as they want — including a complete ban. Ohio is heading toward a ban, with perhaps an exception to save the life of a pregnant woman, later this year. Only a few hours after the court’s decision last Friday came out, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett honored a request from Attorney General Dave Yost, a pro-life Republican, to lift the preliminary injunction in place since 2019 to Ohio’s ...

Confusion reigns at Trumbull GOP

June 17, 2022

At the Trumbull County Republican Party’s June 10 reorganizational meeting, the central committee elected some possibly ineligible officers based on bylaws approved just a few months earlier. There was much hostility at the meeting, resulting in numerous shouting matches, two committee members pushing each other, mass confusion, accusations and name-calling. The meeting included a failure to find a candidate for treasurer with two people declining to be nominated. It was so bad that Randy Law, who was ousted as party chairman in 2017 in a bitter internal dispute, called the ...

Democratic chairs hope to slow GOP

June 10, 2022

Despite controlling a large majority of elected offices, the Democratic Party brand in Mahoning and Trumbull counties isn’t what it used to be. A few decades ago, countywide Democrats were getting at least 65 to 70 percent of the vote, and it was a bad sign for statewide and presidential candidates to come out of the area with only 60 percent. Other former industrial counties further south — particularly Jefferson and Belmont — that were once reliably blue have become solid Republican areas. Columbiana, which used to be a toss-up, now is a strong GOP county. The changes in ...