Pepper: Trumbull, Mahoning could decide governor’s race
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HOWLAND - David Pepper, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, said the gubernatorial race will likely be decided by the results in Mahoning and particularly Trumbull counties.
Pepper said before a Trumbull County Democratic Party dinner on Thursday: "Trumbull County is almost the perfect bellwether these days for how you can do in Ohio. If it's close to even or blue that candidate will win the state if they're a Democrat. So we view this area as sort of really center to winning the state."
Trumbull and Mahoning were two longtime Democratic stronghold counties until President Donald Trump's first campaign in 2016. Trump is the only Republican president in history to win Trumbull County in three consecutive presidential elections: 2016, 2020 and 2024. He's the first Republican to win Mahoning County in two straight elections, 2020 and 2024, since Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932.
"So if you do well in Mahoning and Trumbull together, you are probably winning the state of Ohio," Pepper said. "It's similar to Stark County These used to be the bellwethers and we know they went red in the Trump era, and our hope and goal is to win them back. If you see a blue Trumbull County, that's a very good sign for the entire state.
The gubernatorial election is between Democrat Amy Acton, a Youngstown native who also lived in Liberty, and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. The race is considered very competitive.
Winning Mahoning and Trumbull counties are priorities for Acton, not only because of their importance in the election, but because she is from the two counties, Pepper said.
"We feel very good about the chance of winning the Valley back and Dr. Acton, in particular about doing that," Pepper said. "We view this area as sort of really central to winning the state. It's again Amy growing up here. This is her home. She cut her teeth here and overcame a lot of challenges. This is a place she's very passionate about winning."
Asked about the main differences between Acton and Ramaswamy, Pepper said the biggest is "when people are facing their own personal crises, they're working harder than ever and it doesn't seem to add up, at some point, you have this simple choice. Who is running that can actually do something about that? Is it the billionaire who's flying over all of us at 35,000 feet in his fancy jet who says Medicaid is a mistake, who wants to consolidate colleges and universities, to give himself a tax break and who's never done any public service in his entire life or is it a woman who we all saw step up during the pandemic and work across party lines? But way beyond that, she spent her entire life as a public health doctor who seems very in tune with the issues everyday Ohioans face, who herself has overcome them."
Acton has faced criticism for limiting recordings and video at her campaign events and on Wednesday, she did not let the media into an event at the WOSU studio, where she met with students.
Pepper said Wednesday's event was a private one.
This newspaper was initially invited by Trumbull Democratic officers to Thursday's event, but that changed when the Acton campaign told them it would be closed to the media and that Pepper would grant an interview outside the venue, Salvatore's Italian Grill. However, when a reporter raised an objection, Pepper invited him to attend the dinner.
Evan Machan, a Ramaswamy spokesman, said Thursday: "Amy Acton is running the ultimate bunker campaign. She refuses to debate and locks reporters out of campaign events. She can try to dodge the press and hide from anyone who may disagree with her, but she can't hide the truth: If Amy Acton doesn't have the toughness to face voters and defend her record, she has no business asking to lead 12 million Ohioans."
Acton sat for more than an hour Monday with editors and reporters from this newspaper and others in the Ogden Newspapers chain throughout Ohio and West Virginia. Ramaswamy did the same thing a week prior.