Ohio Democrats lost the presidency last night as well as many key statewide and congressional races.
Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports:
There was no ballroom, no party with the Ohio Democratic Party. Because of COVID, the party offered up a webinar with Chairman David Pepper. But there wasn’t much for Democrats to cheer about anyway. They lost the presidential race in Ohio and many big offices. Pepper says they did the best they could with the resources they had.
“We worked very hard, frankly, with less resources than other states. We’re very proud of that. And we are proud to have fought this battle to where it is tonight. We were very efficient. Our field team, we couldn’t have been more scrappy dealing with a very big state working very hard every day. And, unlike the controversy of 16, we certainly did not divert resources from other critical swing states.”
Democrats picked up one of the two Supreme Court seats up for grabs as former Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner defeated Republican Justice Judi French. Pepper sees that as a win.
“Even one pickup is a major win because Chief Justice O’Connor, for those of us in Ohio who know, she’s been a less partisan, more statesmanlike, figure.”
In the end, all 12 Republican and 4 Democrats in Ohio’s Congressional delegation were able to hang on to their seats. Pepper says there’s a reason for that.
“Let’s remember all 12 of these districts were badly gerrymandered. They were drawn to avoid any competition.”
The Congressional maps will be redrawn next year under new rules designed to make the process less partisan. But with these latest victories, Republicans will still have an advantage in that map drawing process.
