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David Skolnick

Election shows room for upgrades

Secretary of State Frank LaRose should be complimented for a smooth presidential election in Ohio during very difficult conditions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there’s always room for improvement that will hopefully occur. LaRose is unlikely to get support from fellow Republicans in the state Legislature for needed changes and will probably have to take some of the steps on his own. Despite unsubstantiated claims from Donald Trump, his legal team of rejects from the Island of Misfit Toys and a number of the outgoing president’s supporters about the legitimacy of voting ...

Redistricting will hurt Ryan

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan couldn’t have been more clear. After years of talk of him running for statewide office, Ryan, D-Howland, said he’s very happy staying in the U.S. House. But that’s as long as his congressional district lines don’t change too drastically making the seat more competitive with Republicans. When I asked about a statewide race in 2022, Ryan said: “I don’t have any interest in that. No, uh-uh, no interest. My preference is to get a good district and keep doing what we’re doing. I don’t want to run for a different office.” But it might not work out ...

Examining key Valley races

Many of the races in the Mahoning Valley went under the radar this past election because the presidency, as it does every four years, took center stage. But there are two races — one each in Mahoning and Trumbull counties — that I want to dive into deeper. The Mahoning County race involved Probate Court Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr., an independent, narrowly defeating Republican David Lee Engler. The Trumbull County race had Commissioner Dan Polivka, who’s also the county Democratic Party chairman, lose to Republican Niki Frenchko. Though judicial races don’t include party ...

Valley GOP makes big strides

Most elected officials in Mahoning and Trumbull counties are Democrats, and that’s not likely to change for years. But advances Republicans have made here in just two elections are not only remarkable, but historic. Much credit goes to someone who hasn’t stepped foot in the Mahoning Valley in more than three years: Donald Trump. Until Trump came along, the two counties voted for the Democratic presidential candidate every four years since 1936, except for 1956 and 1972, the second terms of Republicans Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. The numbers were often huge with ...

Trump wins big in Valley funding

Nearly all of the attention in this election is on the presidential race. After all, it’s the main — and in some cases, the only — reason why people are voting this year. Mahoning Valley results should be interesting given that Donald Trump became only the third Republican since 1936 to win Trumbull County, beating Democrat Hillary Clinton by 6.22 percent in 2016. He also came close to being the third Republican to win Mahoning County, losing to Clinton by 3.28 percent. If he holds Trumbull and wins Mahoning this year, it will go a long way toward Trump emerging as victor ...

Tim Ryan faces formidable foe in Hagan

Before the 2012 election, Ohio Republican leaders divided the state into 16 congressional districts, purposely bunching large areas of Democratic voters into four specific districts and going to extreme lengths to create 12 that benefit their political party. Republicans gerrymandered the state making, at best, two of their districts slightly competitive so Democrats could have an outside chance of perhaps winning one or the other. However, a Democratic victory in any of those 12 districts has yet to happen. In 2008, when Ohio had 18 congressional districts, Democrats held 10 of the ...