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Don’t expect a big August vote turnout

Turnout for nonpresidential elections is usually poor, but those who come out for August special elections take that percentage to a new level of bad. Last year’s August special primary election for state legislative seats became necessary after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the Ohio Redistricting Commission violated the state constitution by drawing gerrymandered General Assembly maps. Statewide turnout was 8 percent. he Republican-controlled Legislature voted in December to eliminate all August elections except if a local government or school district in fiscal emergency wanted to ...

Vance backing Moreno won’t scare challengers

As a U.S. senator for less than five months, Republican J.D. Vance is hardly in a position to be a kingmaker. But he’s giving it a try, endorsing Westlake businessman Bernie Moreno in next year’s Republican primary for Ohio’s other Senate seat held by Democrat Sherrod Brown. In his Moreno endorsement, Vance said: “It’s time to turn the tides on the establishment insiders who sell out our country to special interests and elect more political outsiders like Bernie, who will always put America first in Washington, D.C.” Like Vance, Moreno made his fortune in the private ...

Vance stands up to Cruz on rail safety bill

When it comes to his bill to increase rail safety after the East Palestine train derailment disaster, criticizing fellow Republicans who oppose it doesn’t concern U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance. The freshman Republican senator from Cincinnati responded to criticism from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to the bill during a Wednesday session of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Cruz said he is open to rail reforms, but that the bill co-sponsored by Vance and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, goes too far. Cruz said the bill would “empower” Transportation ...

After tragedy in East Palestine, a commonsense rail safety solution

Orginally published May 10 by The Daily Signal Three months ago, a failing wheel bearing caught fire on a Norfolk Southern train transporting large volumes of hazardous materials. By the time sensors alerted engineers, it was too late to avert the catastrophe that was to come. When the wheel bearing disintegrated, dozens of train cars derailed in the heart of East Palestine, Ohio, a quintessential, small Midwestern town of just under 5,000. The cars burned for days before a so-called controlled release of the chemicals they contained was conducted to avoid a larger explosion. That ...

Money will be key to LaRose’s Senate bid

If Secretary of State Frank LaRose believes he can raise the money needed to financially compete, he said he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2024. LaRose told me he will decide by summer, but he talked as if he will run. He said: “It’s not a question of desire. It’s not a question of whether my heart’s in it. It’s a question of practicality and building the kind of support necessary to do it. Would I love to serve in the U.S. Senate? I absolutely would.” Two other Republicans declared their candidacy to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, in next ...

U.S. Senate race is bringing in big bucks

The election for U.S. Senate is next year, and it’s already shaping up as an expensive race. Incumbent Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, raised $3.5 million from donors during the first three months of the year, according to his latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. It’s the most raised from donors by an Ohio candidate in the first quarter of the year before an election. It’s also about three times as much as Democrat Tim Ryan raised in the first quarter of 2021 — $1.2 million — the year before the 2022 election for Senate. That was before Ryan officially announced his ...