Republicans captured every statewide office: Governor, Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, Treasurer and three seats on the Ohio Supreme Court. The races were not even that close. Every statewide Republican won by double digits, except J.D. Vance for U.S. Senate.
On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the major takeaways from the 2022 midterm elections. OSU political scientist Paul Beck joins the show.
Simply Red
While the rest of the country is a deep purple, Ohio is deeply red. In Washington D.C., both chambers of congress are pretty much evenly split—literally right down the middle with nearly equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.
In Ohio's capitol, every statewide office went to Republicans. The GOP also widened its majorities in the Ohio House and Ohio Senate.
The only bright spots for Democrats were in the U.S. House. Greg Landsman upset long-time Republican Steve Chabot down in Cincinnati and Emilia Sykes retained what would have been Tim Ryan’s old district in Northeast Ohio. Sykes beat Madison Gesiotto Gilbert after a fierce campaign.
Awkward
Donald Trump held a last-minute campaign rally near Dayton on the eve of the election.
In the past, Gov. DeWine always had a reason for missing Trump rallies. First, it was because he had to attend a ceremony honoring Ulysses S. Grant, but then he says he caught COVID. Earlier this fall, he skipped another Trump rally to watch his granddaughters run in a cross-country meet. This week, he apparently had no excuse and he attended Trump’s rally along with Lt. Governor Jon Husted.
The two men were not supposed to speak, but then Trump called them up on stage.
It was the most awkward minute of the entire campaign. DeWine and Husted were booed—not by everyone, but by enough people that it was noticeable. It was the shortest speech Mike DeWine has ever given.
Snollygoster of the week
Its’ been a while since pollsters got Ohio right. Usually, they overestimate Democratic support. This year, they were not exactly right, but pretty close.
In races for U.S. Senate and governor, they had Vance up by about 4 points and he won by six or seven. That’s within the margin of error. They had Mike DeWine winning by about 20 points and he won by 26.
Now, these pollsters have some positive news to sell to their clients for the next Ohio election.
If you have a suggestion for our Snollygoster of the Week award, a question or a comment, send them to snollygoster@wosu.org.