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David Skolnick

Commissioner races heat up

Voters in both Trumbull and Mahoning counties will see compelling races for commissioner next year. They should be the most hotly contested local races in both counties. The two Trumbull County commissioner races in 2020 were close. Niki Frenchko becoming the first Republican in several years to be elected Trumbull County commissioner when she beat incumbent Dan Polivka, who is also the county Democratic Party chairman, by 4.66 percent. The other saw incumbent Democrat Mauro Cantalamessa get re-elected by 7.8 percent over Denny Malloy, who ran as an independent. Malloy is ...

Democrats likely to struggle next year

The House Bill 6 bribery scheme to provide a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout of two failed nuclear power plants in exchange for an alleged $60 million bribe has tentacles that could touch many prominent Ohio Republicans. With 2022 statewide elections approaching, an important political question is: Can Democrats capitalize on it as they did with Coingate in 2006? In July 2020, Larry Householder, then the Ohio House speaker, and four other Republicans — including former Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges — were indicted on racketeering conspiracy charges by federal authorities related ...

Redistricting suit largely targets wrong people

The lawsuit filed by two Youngstown residents against the Ohio Redistricting Commission, its five Republican members and Attorney General Dave Yost claiming the new congressional and state Senate districts as well as countywide voting in Mahoning violate the federal Voting Rights Act seems to target largely the wrong people. The commission voted 5-2 Sept. 15 in favor of state Senate districts, including one that keeps Mahoning and Columbiana counties together and adds Carroll County to it. “The black residents of Youngstown and Warren are also a sufficiently large and ...

Leftover morsels from US Rep. Johnson

Mmm, leftovers. It’s one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. Sometimes they also come from news interviews. Here are some leftover things I discussed with U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson that didn’t make it into last Sunday’s article. Because of congressional redistricting, Johnson, R-Marietta, will run for re-election next year in a new 6th District that will include all of Mahoning and Trumbull counties — assuming the Ohio Supreme Court upholds the Republican-drawn map. Johnson first was elected to the U.S. House in 2010 and has represented portions of Mahoning County since ...

Dems look for Johnson challenger

All of the Mahoning Valley is in a congressional district that clearly favors Republicans. But between the map and 2022 looking like a good year for Republicans, several top Democrats in the new 6th Congressional District, which has Mahoning and Trumbull as its two most-populous counties, aren’t planning to challenge six-term incumbent Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, for the seat. Even though the two counties, which were once reliable Democratic areas, make up about 55 percent of the new 6th District’s population, Johnson has a clear advantage against any Valley Democrat. This is ...

Political heavyweights eye seats

Michael J. O’Brien, Frank Fuda and Dan Polivka have more than 100 years of elected experience between them and are three of the most successful Democratic politicians in the Mahoning Valley. And all three have big decisions to make soon about their political futures. At least two of them will run next year for Trumbull County commissioner with an outside chance that all three will seek the office. Fuda, who is in his fourth four-year term, said he definitely will seek re-election next year — but he’s undecided whether it’ll be as a Democrat or independent. “I have a ...