Election

If you're looking for certainty in Ohio politics, this isn't the year. Despite Ohio's Republican past decade of success, both statewide races remain remarkably competitive heading into the fall campaign season. According to the RealClearPolling average, Democrat Amy Acton holds a narrow 47.3% to 47.0% edge over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the race for governor. The U.S. Senate contest is even tighter, with former Sen. Sherrod Brown leading incumbent Sen. Jon Husted b

Most Ohio voters can name the president. Many can name the governor. Some may even know their mayor. Ask who controls property tax assessments, oversees the county jail, maintains local roads or manages election operations, and most residents would draw a blank.

For the past few years, Republicans successfully campaigned on inflation, affordability and rising energy costs. In Ohio, those messages resonated with working families, suburban commuters and rural voters who spend more time on the road than much of the country. Now with fuel prices climbing again, Republicans risk facing the same economic frustration once used against Democrats.

Tuesday night answered who is driving politics in Southwest Ohio and who is not. Primary elections are not about broad consensus. Across the region, the electorate that showed up was smaller, more engaged and more ideologically sorted than the general electorate that will appear in November. At the top of the Republican ticket, Vivek Ramaswamy secured the nomination for governor with a campaign reflecting the current identity of the party: disciplined, message-driven and clo

The biggest decisions Ohio voters will make Tuesday might be the ones they know the least about. While attention will focus on the high-profile races at the top of the primary ballot, the contests that could have the most lasting impact are further down — judicial elections that will shape how laws are interpreted across the state for years to come. Two seats on the Supreme Court of Ohio are on the ballot this year. Though primary elections often receive little attention, thi