Breaking News

Column

AG Yost won’t stand down in 2026 race for governor

In the 2026 Republican primary for Ohio governor, Attorney General Dave Yost finds himself facing an uphill climb against Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur who’s never held elected office. As many Republicans, including in Ohio, have found out, it’s not what you know but who you know that leads to victory. In 2022, political newcomer J.D. Vance, a venture capitalist best known for writing his life’s story at the age of 31, emerged from a crowded Republican field to capture the party’s nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat. Donald Trump’s endorsement of Vance ...

Can the U.S. still equip its military in time of war?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is approaching its fourth year. And as it drags on, Washington is learning just how vulnerable our nation could be in a similar conflict. The glaring problem we now encounter is the erosion of our defense industrial base. The once vaunted arsenal of democracy that led America to victory in World War II is long gone. Simply put, we no longer produce the weapons and munitions needed for high-intensity, industrialized conflict. Consider our startling inability to meet Ukraine’s need for 155-millimeter artillery rounds. It’s a key piece of weaponry in ...

GOP candidates for 2026 races coming into focus

The Republican candidates for next year’s statewide races are starting to come into focus. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, the former lieutenant governor appointed to Congress’ upper chamber by Gov. Mike DeWine, will seek election to the seat next year. Husted will have to run again in 2028 for a full six-year term should he win in 2026. Husted likely won’t get a serious challenge in next year’s Republican primary. Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026. He wasn’t scaring off any opponents and at least three viable Republicans plan to run for governor. Attorney General Dave ...

Can Ohio Democrats compete next year?

In the past two election cycles, Ohioans backed Republicans for the U.S. Senate who had never before run for office. In 2022, voters chose Republican J.D. Vance, best known at the time for writing the best-selling “Hillbilly Elegy” book, over Democrat Tim Ryan, a 20-year congressman. Two years after Vance beat Ryan by 6.1%, Vance’s meteoric rise in politics continued as President-elect Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate. In 10 days, Vance will be sworn in as the next vice president of the United States and is the current favorite to be the party’s presidential ...

Ex-Rep Ryan still hears the siren call of politics

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 ...

Kripchak, Rulli offer blunt responses during interviews

As we started doing candidate endorsement interviews last week, one thing struck me: Those I spoke with were blunt. They were so blunt that it probably didn’t help them though it was refreshing after about three decades of talking to candidates who primarily said what they thought we wanted to hear or what they believed would get them elected. While I participated in only a few endorsement interviews this time around, the conversations were much more interesting than they have been in the past. While I ask a lot of questions during these interviews, I don’t vote on who gets the ...