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David Skolnick

Ohio Republicans lavishly take care of their own

While it was a near certainty that the four incumbent Republican state legislators who represent the Mahoning Valley were going to win their elections last month, the state political party and GOP fundraising groups in the General Assembly left nothing to chance. Flush with money, the groups provided six-figure dollar amounts in in-kind contributions in just the three weeks before the Nov. 5 election to the legislators to ensure their victories. Those incumbents are state Sens. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, and state Reps. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, and Nick ...

Ryan still has political bug

By his own account, Tim Ryan, a Democrat who represented the Mahoning Valley in the U.S. House for 20 years, has achieved his ideal professional-personal life balance. “I am so happy right now,” Ryan told me. “This is the happiest I’ve been personally and professionally in a long time so it’s hard to kind of change course.” Yet he still hears the siren call of politics. Ryan is making more money than he ever did as a lobbyist and working for a technology firm, gets to go on national television and write opinion pieces for Newsweek about his thoughts on politics. He has ...

US Reps. Rulli, Joyce roll in campaign dough

It was a foregone conclusion that Dave Joyce and Michael Rulli, the two Republican congressmen who represent the Mahoning Valley, were going to win reelection. The only questions were: By what margin and how much money would they raise? The quick answer to both is: a lot. Joyce, R-Bainbridge, will start serving his seventh two-year term representing the 14th Congressional District next month. The district, which includes all of Trumbull County, had a 9.7% Republican advantage based on statewide partisan voting results during the previous decade. That number will definitely increase ...

In spite of great successes, unity eludes Trumbull Republicans

Despite a lack of unity, Republicans in Trumbull County are riding a historic wave of success. Now the party is looking for stability and that may prove to be a bigger challenge than beating Democrats. The disharmony was evident during Tuesday’s central committee meeting to choose its third leader in 30 months, not including two interim chairs. The election was between Marleah Campbell, a powerful party insider who serves as its secretary, and Julia Shutt, who moved to the county four years ago and decided only the day before the vote to run for chair. There are supposed to be ...

Trumbull GOP seeks leader again

Remarkably, the Trumbull Republican Party – which can boast of gaining nearly complete control over the executive branch of county government and is making inroads in the judicial branch – is looking for a new chair for the third time in 30 months. If you count two interim chairs, the ...

DeWine to pick Vance successor

Gov. Mike DeWine has a big decision to make: Who will he select to replace U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance who will resign to be sworn in as vice president of the United States? Vance’s political career has skyrocketed in a short time. After getting the coveted endorsement from Donald Trump before ...