While Democrats saw big wins in other Midwest states, they were shut out of their statewide executive races in Ohio. Strategists say Ohio is one step closer to losing its swing state status.
Republican Mike DeWine’s four-point win in the race for governor against Democrat Rich Cordray has many believing Ohio is now definitively a red state.
Jai Chabria is a Republican strategist that helped run John Kasich’s two campaigns for governor. He says in 2020, the Democrats are facing an uphill battle to flip swing states like Florida and Ohio.
“So I think there’ll be one more election where the national media will descend upon our state and do all those profiles and my guess just based on where the demographics are going is that’ll probably be our last time in that spotlight,” Chabria says.
However, going forward, Chabria says national Democrats could learn something from Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown in the way he speaks to voters in Ohio.