Some judge-race labels sought

March 5, 2021

It’s the time of the year when members of the Ohio Legislature introduce bills — lots of bills. My email recently has been bombarded by legislators about proposals they’re submitting hopeful they become law. One bill, in particular, has attracted my attention. Two Republicans from each the House and Senate introduced companion bills to change the structure of how the state handles political party affiliations for some judicial candidates. Currently, all judicial candidates run in partisan primaries and then party labels are removed in the general election. That means a ...

GOP candidates embrace Trump

February 26, 2021

The Republican race for the U.S. Senate nomination can be summed up like this: Donald Trump is great; John Kasich is bad. With Republicans controlling Ohio government and Trump’s strong 2016 and 2020 Ohio victories, it’s a sound strategy. When ex-state Treasurer Josh Mandel and former Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken announced their candidacies for Senate, they did so as strong pro-Trump supporters. U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, also is strongly considering seeking the job and is also a solid Trump ally. The Republican nominee won’t have to run as a ...

COVID-19 miscount is alarming state failure

February 19, 2021

Everyone makes mistakes, but some are a lot bigger than others. One of the biggest happened when the Ohio Department of Health recently admitted it failed to report more than 1 in every 4 Ohio COVID-19 deaths. What makes this issue even more alarming is the discovery that the ODH assigned a single person to handle this vital piece of information, and state officials didn’t leave the impression that it’s a huge problem. Hardly anyone was prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven months into it and people still are struggling to adjust to significant changes in our daily ...

Ryan’s Senate bid likely to be challenging

February 12, 2021

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is a virtual guarantee to run for the Senate next year with an announcement expected shortly. The race is a major challenge for Ryan, D-Howland, in a state dominated by Republicans for decades with few exceptions. He could face a primary challenge as other Democrats are also considering seeking the office. That would force Ryan to spend money and resources before heading to the general election, assuming he wins the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, there almost certainly will be a primary that could get messy for the party with former state Treasurer ...

Election storylines emerge

February 5, 2021

While the May 4 primary in Mahoning and Trumbull counties doesn’t have many contested races, there are a number of interesting items to consider. • The marquee race in the area is the Democratic race for Youngstown mayor. That primary pits incumbent Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, who is seeking his second four-year term, against Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, and businessman Ryan Kelly. Turnout should be very low, which makes it difficult to predict who will win the primary. In the 2017 Democratic primary, 8,298 people voted in the mayoral election. But that also included ...

Portman exit brings options

January 29, 2021

To most Democrats, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is a spineless partisan hack who blindly follows what other Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, tell him to do. To some Trump supporters, Portman has not given enough support to the former president, particularly after the 2020 election results came in, even though he voted 88 percent of the time with him, didn’t vote to impeach in the first Senate trial and almost certainly won’t in the upcoming one. And to longtime Republicans, Portman, R-Terrace Park, is viewed as a smart statesman who was able to cut through the partisan divide he ...