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.

Vivek Ramaswamy has opened one of the biggest fights in Ohio politics. Any serious debate about taxes, state spending or the size of government in Ohio eventually runs into Medicaid. The program has grown so large it now shapes nearly every major budget discussion in Columbus.

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