75% likely won’t vote this spring

April 8, 2022

Turnout during primaries, except when there’s a competitive presidential one, rarely attract much interest. As local election officials frequently say: It is those nonpresidential races that really affect people’s lives. Turnout predictions for the May 3 primary are expected to be poor, when about 75 percent of registered voters probably won’t bother to cast ballots. But even with confusion and lack of interest caused by plans for two primaries this year, the projected turnout here still isn’t that different from the past two statewide primaries. In 2018, turnout was ...

Maps again face court scrutiny

April 1, 2022

To paraphrase The Who: “Meet the new maps, same as the old maps.” Ohio Redistricting Commission Republicans chose to have a GOP staffer put together state legislative maps virtually the same as those rejected March 16 by the Ohio Supreme Court instead of waiting for outside consultants hired by the body to finish their work. “There seems to be no end to the arrogance of the supermajority,” state Sen. Vernon Sykes of Akron, a Democrat on the commission, said. State Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said there wasn’t time to wait for the end product from the ...

GOP Senate race getting ugly

March 25, 2022

The Republican race for the U.S. Senate seat in Ohio got ugly in a hurry. While some of the candidates had previously criticized their opponents, primarily questioning their loyalty to former President Donald Trump and ability to lead, two debates in the past week have escalated tensions. There was nearly a fight between investment banker Mike Gibbons and former state Treasurer Josh Mandel. The two got into a heated argument during a debate last Friday in Gahanna with Mandel talking about Gibbons’ investments and Gibbons taking exception to the comments. Mandel said: “Down one ...

DeWine bows out of debate

March 18, 2022

While the numerous candidates running in the primaries for U.S. senator and governor agreed to participate in debates organized by the Ohio Debate Commission, the decision by Gov. Mike DeWine not to participate triggered cancellation of the Republican gubernatorial debate. DeWine declined the invitation to participate in the debate scheduled for 11 a.m. March 29 at Central State University. The Republican candidates challenging him are: former state Rep. Jim Renacci, ex-state Rep. Ron Hood and Joe Blystone, a farmer born in East Liverpool. DeWine’s opponents are running against ...

Johnson, Joyce hard to beat

March 11, 2022

The U.S. House district lines remain uncertain as the Republican-drawn map approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission awaits a decision on its constitutionality by the Ohio Supreme Court. But no matter what the court decides, the deadline for Democratic and Republican candidates to file for those House seats was a week ago. While independents are likely for some or even several of those districts, let’s look at where we are today in the Mahoning Valley. History shows it’s difficult to beat sitting House members. It becomes even more challenging when incumbents have been ...

Why map splits Valley district

March 4, 2022

Even if the Ohio Supreme Court determines the latest congressional map approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission is unconstitutional, it’s highly unlikely that the final outcome would put Mahoning and Trumbull counties in the same district. Paul Sracic, a Youngstown State University political science professor, told me before the map came out that “keeping the Valley together is not that much of a priority. They have so many other problems and priorities that this isn’t one of them.” The map introduced by state Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, a commission member, ...