Abortion to factor in senate race

November 10, 2023

When Ohio Republican leaders put a constitutional amendment on an Aug. 8 special election ballot to raise the threshold to pass future amendments from a simple majority to at least 60% of voters rather than a simple majority, it was largely to stop an abortion rights proposal from passing. Voters rejected that proposal. Had that issue passed in August, the abortion rights constitutional amendment on Tuesday’s ballot would have failed. The amendment received support from 56.62% of voters, according to unofficial results. (A recreational marijuana proposal got 56.97% support, but it ...

Issue 2 gets minimal attention

November 3, 2023

Backers of state Issue 2 to legalize the adult-use of recreational marijuana have implemented a low-key campaign strategy rather than draw voter attention to the proposal. Opponents to the issue also don’t seem that motivated to get out their message. It’s an unusual strategy, but probably an effective one for supporters with so much attention being paid to the other issue on the ballot — an abortion rights constitutional amendment. Television commercials and, to a lesser extent, radio ads are very common during statewide campaigns in Ohio. It’s typically the largest ...

LaRose lags in fundraising for US Senate race

October 20, 2023

Secretary of State Frank LaRose needed to raise an impressive amount of money in his first filing quarter for the U.S. Senate to show not only that he can compete with the two wealthy Republican candidates in the race but with incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown. But when the financial numbers came out for the third quarter, LaRose reported raising $791,657 from donors while the two other GOP Senate candidates, Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan, received more. Moreno raised $1,192,655 from donors in the third quarter and Dolan got $1,107,341 from contributors. Also, Moreno and Dolan each ...

Don’t ignore local races, issues

October 13, 2023

Voter turnout in odd-numbered years typically is very low, though expectations for this election are much higher. That’s because of two statewide issues on the ballot. You’re unlikely to find many issues that attract voter interest more than these two: abortion rights and the ...

Redistricting reform sought

October 5, 2023

With a number of organizations still angry about the Ohio Redistricting Commission’s approval of General Assembly maps, the effort to change how federal and state legislative districts took a step forward. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost approved summary petition language as “fair and truthful” for a constitutional amendment that would take the power to draw those districts away from politicians and give it to a 15-member citizens commission. The approval from Yost, a Republican, came after he twice rejected petition language from an organization called Citizens Not ...

Valley gets 1 competitive district

September 28, 2023

When Democrats on the Ohio Redistricting Commission cut a deal with their Republican counterparts, the Mahoning Valley didn’t come into play. The seven-member commission unanimously voted in favor of state legislative maps that give Republicans 61 state House seats to 38 for Democrats with eight Democratic and three Republican toss-up districts. The compromise gave Democrats one more seat in the House than an initial Republican proposal did, but it keeps the GOP supermajority. Not much changed in the state Senate map proposed last week by Republicans. The GOP would still retain a ...