WARREN — Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Paduchik said he thought he’d never see the day when Trumbull County wasn’t a Democratic stronghold.

Paduchik, whose father is from Hubbard and mother from Youngstown, said it’s good to see how the area has changed over the years.

“Nothing is more gratifying than to come to the hometown of my father that was once considered the strongest of Democrat strongholds and see so many Republican officials and activists,” Paduchik said at the Trumbull County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner at DiLucia’s Banquet Room.

About 150 people were at Tuesday’s event with Paduchik as the keynote speaker.

“I’ve been doing politics for about 35 years now, and Trumbull County has changed a lot,” he said. “It was like you couldn’t find this many Republicans in Trumbull County, let alone get them to come to a dinner on a particular night.”

The reason, Paduchik said, is Donald Trump.

Paduchik ran Trump’s successful Ohio campaign in 2016 and served as a senior adviser to the Republican’s failed 2020 re-election effort even though he won Ohio again.

Trump was the first Republican to win Trumbull County twice since Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932.

“We had a candidate for president in 2016 that was elected and he was elected because he spoke to Republicans, disaffected Democrats and independents,” Paduchik said.

He said Trump’s America first message resonated all over the state with Republicans winning elections in former Democratic-controlled counties including Trumbull.

Paduchik also contended that Democrats “cheated” in the 2020 presidential election, particularly in the key states that Trump lost.

He also claimed President Joe Biden, a Democrat who beat Trump, and Vice President Kamala Harris are purposely opening the Southern border and supposedly giving benefits to those crossing it illegally in order to “expand the Democrat vote.”

Paduchik was elected state GOP chairman Feb. 26, replacing Jane Timken, who resigned a month earlier. Timken is running next year for the U.S. Senate.

In addition to his work for Trump, Paduchik ran the successful Ohio campaigns for president for George W. Bush and served as co-chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2017 to 2019.

Paduchik has also been involved in a number of Republican statewide campaigns.