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David Skolnick

Valley vote key in Senate race

Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, said, “If I win Mahoning County, the race is over, over. It’s over.” He’s right. Mahoning and Trumbull counties were two Democratic strongholds for 80 years until Republican Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. Trump narrowly lost the 2016 general election in Mahoning County to Democrat Hillary Clinton and beat her in Trumbull, which had typically supported Democrats but not as strongly as Mahoning. In 2020, Trump beat Democrat Joe Biden in both counties. Also, both counties have elected Republicans since 2018 ...

Ballot delays trigger anger in Mahoning County

For the second straight presidential election year, a vendor hired to print and mail absentee ballots to Mahoning Valley voters failed to do its job. This time it was ElectionIQ LLC, an Akron company, hired by the Mahoning County Board of Elections to print and mail ballots that got fired after failing to complete the job in a timely manner. It means that some ballots requested by voters last month won’t arrive in their mailboxes until today. They should have been there about two weeks ago. That will result in some unable to vote because they are out of town with others – ...

Before candidates seek political office, there are a few things they should do. Among them are to make sure they pay any delinquent property taxes, clear up any outstanding legal issues against them, and if you’ve had problems in the past, don’t ignore them or discount them when this ...

This fall’s election sizzles in excitement

Turnout for this election, primarily driven by those wanting to vote for president, is going to be strong. Turnout in Mahoning County is expected to be between 72% and 74%, according to Tom McCabe, the county’s elections board director. Stephanie Penrose, director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, predicts turnout for this election in that county at 74% to 76%. When I was at the Mahoning County Board of Elections for a while Tuesday, the first day of early voting, it was obvious that people were excited to be there. Whenever I go to the local early voting centers, most ...

Congress hopefuls get blunt

As we started doing candidate endorsement interviews this week, one thing struck me: Those I spoke with were blunt. They were so blunt that it probably didn’t help them though it was refreshing after about three decades of talking to candidates who primarily said what they thought we ...

Republicans get edge in state Supreme Court races

Before the 2022 election, Ohio Supreme Court justice candidates ran in partisan primaries and then had their party affiliation removed for the general election. Of course, the parties backed their candidates, spending money building them up and sometimes attacking their opponents. But ...