The Trumbull County Democratic Party is seemingly in free fall, failing to field candidates in races that were winnable just a few years ago.

Before the 2020 election, Democrats held every elected executive branch seat in the county and most of the judicial positions. Also, the county’s two state representatives and Ohio senator as well as its congressman were Democrats.

In the 2022 and 2024 elections, every single Republican on both ballots in contested races won.

The Democrats currently hold just two county executive branch positions — prosecutor and coroner. No Republicans filed against them in the 2024 election.

The party has two current common pleas general division judges with the only one on the ballot this year, Cynthia Westcott Rice, filing for reelection as a Republican. The move took Democrats by surprise as she had won five times as a Democrat and even lost a 2016 Ohio Supreme Court race as a Democrat. With her defection and little time to react, the party didn’t field a candidate in the judicial race.

Also, with Probate Court James A. Fredericka, a Democrat, unable to run for reelection because of the state’s age-limit law on judicial candidates, the party couldn’t find a candidate.

Probate is a specialty court, but it shows how much Trumbull went from a Democratic stronghold county to one that is solidly Republican in just a few years that no Democrat filed for this open seat that won’t have party affiliation on the ballot.

Democrats also couldn’t find anyone to run against state Rep. Nick Santucci, R-Niles, in the 64th Ohio House District race. On paper, the seat is essentially a tossup seat though beating Santucci wouldn’t be easy.

In the 65th House District, which includes Ashtabula and Trumbull, the party got Lorna J. Westlake, a retired postmaster, to run against incumbent Republican David Thomas. That’s a step in the right direction as no Democrat filed in 2024 to run against Thomas during his first run. But the way the district is drawn, it heavily favors Republicans.

Westcott Rice switched her party affiliation, but she is facing two opponents in the Republican primary: Mary Ellen Ditchey, a common pleas court magistrate, and Devon Stanley, a Liberty township trustee and the county’s deputy clerk of courts. Stanley is facing a felonious assault charge for an alleged domestic violence altercation Oct. 23 involving his wife.

Kristen F. Rock, an attorney from Liberty who last ran for public office in 2016, losing the Democratic primary for state senator, is the party’s candidate for county commissioner. Doug Sollitto, Niles City Council president, had planned to run as a Democrat, but changed his mind.

Rock has served on the Liberty Township zoning board and the school’s fiscal oversight commission as well as with the Ohio Department’s International Trade Division.

Rock will face the winner of the Republican primary between incumbent Commissioner Denny Malloy and Bazetta Township Trustee Michael J. Hovis.

A couple of other Republicans — Hubbard Trustee Jason Tedrow and Jason Miner, Warren Township’s assistant fiscal officer — took out nominating petitions, but didn’t file.

Democrats served for decades as county auditor until Republican Martha Yoder beat Democrat Tod Latell in the 2022 election for the open post.

Yoder is running for reelection, facing two Republicans in the primary: Mike Loychik, a former two-term state representative, and Bazetta Fiscal Officer Stacy A. Marling, who is also Mahoning County’s chief deputy auditor.

Yoder and Marling were at the center of a court case involving $80,857 in tax money stolen by hackers.

The 11th District Court of Appeals on Oct. 29 unanimously affirmed a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court decision that the county auditor’s office was responsible for the missing money and had to pay it to the township.

Edward Stredney, a Niles councilman at-large, is the only Democrat to file.

When Stredney declared for auditor, I asked him how a Democrat can win in Trumbull because of the quick change in the county’s politics largely brought on by the popularity of Donald Trump, the only Republican to ever win Trumbull in three consecutive presidential elections.

“To win, you’ve got to stick to messaging,” Stredney said. “I want to bring honesty and integrity back to the auditor’s office and work with county commissioners without threatening to sue them.”

For the second straight election, Democrats didn’t field candidates for the 11th District Court of Appeals.

Seats on the court are no longer winnable for Democrats.

The Warren-based court has jurisdiction over Trumbull, Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage with voters in those counties casting ballots.

The Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a law, effective with the 2022 election, that requires party affiliation on the ballot for those running for seats on the court of appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before that, candidates ran in party primaries and then didn’t have political affiliation in the general election.

Since then, Republicans have won every judicial race for the Ohio Supreme Court, the 11th District Court of Appeals and the Youngstown-based 7th District Court of Appeals.

There isn’t a single Democrat left on the 11th District bench. The last Democratic judge on the 7th District, Cheryl Waite, never had to run with party affiliation on a general election ballot. She is not seeking reelection this year.

Incumbent Judge Robert J. Patton is running unopposed for his seat on the 11th District Court of Appeals bench.

An open 11th Court seat saw two Republicans file: Willoughby Municipal Court Judge Marisa L. Cornachio and David L. Engler, who just took office Jan. 1, 2025, as Trumbull County Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court judge.

David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.