Ohio has trended red in recent election cycles, but like much of the country, Tuesday was bruising for the GOP in the state, which saw many of its candidates lose all the way down the ticket.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy conceded first Tuesday, just after 11 p.m., telling a small crowd gathered at the Renaissance in downtown Columbus it had been a race that was “bitter in both directions.” Minutes earlier, Ramaswamy said he’d called Democratic governor-elect Amy Acton to congratulate her over voicemail.
“We are rooting for the success of this state, we’re rooting for your success, and that means that all of us in this room should be rooting for the success of her administration,” he said.
After thanking his staff, volunteers and family, Ramaswamy ended by saying he was concerned about the direction the country was headed.
“I still believe that in the fullness of time,” he said. “Our state’s best days and our country’s best days will still yet be ahead of us.”
Around then, Ohio’s U.S. Senate race had been called by the Associated Press for Democratic senator-elect Sherrod Brown. Incumbent Sen. Jon Husted delivered his concession remarks just after Ramaswamy’s.
“America is a great nation,” Husted said, choking up at times. “You should love it and you should fight for it, and the founding ideals, that our rights fundamentally belong to us, not to government ... always fight for those values. Loving Ohio, loving America and loving your neighbor as yourself.”
He wished Brown well, saying candidates should “win with humility and gratitude and lose with grace and dignity.”
As of Wednesday at 4 a.m., the bulk of the statewide executive contests were too close to call, although most were trending in Democrats’ favor, too. The GOP is likely to lose at least two seats in the Ohio Senate and as many as 12 in the Ohio House, bringing that chamber’s majority to much slimmer margins.
