2 weeks Ago
On your mind: Pollsters at Baldwin Wallace University took Ohioans’ temperature on a slate of topics that could offer a glimpse into their collective mindset heading into the Nov. 5 election. Laura Hancock writes that 69% of Ohio voters say they oppose manipulation of electoral boundaries to give a party a political advantage.
That finding comes as Ohioans consider Issue 1, a proposed state constitutional amendment that would take power over drawing district lines away from politicians and give it to an independent commission. The poll also asked about their views on guns, abortion, immigration, and other topics on the top of voters’ minds. Perfect 10: The Ohio General Assembly sent $5.
6 million from the state’s capital budget to 10 private schools for building construction needs. While $5.6 million is small compared to the overall size of the $4.
2 billion budget, opponents of public funding for private schools warn that lawmakers started small with the private school tuition voucher program, and grew it over the years. Americans United for Separation of Church and State is investigating the budget for whether it violates the Constitution. Republicans defend the budget, Laura Hancock reports .
Child care crisis: Republican U.S. Sen.
Vance of Ohio and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz agreed during last week’s vice-presidential debate that a shortage of affordable child care is straining American families and that the federal government should help parents somehow, though their campaigns suggest drastically different ways to do it. Sabrina Eaton reports on what they said and what their campaigns propose doing.
Hurricane of rhetoric: During campaign appearances as Republican Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, U.S. Sen.
JD Vance of Ohio is criticizing the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, saying, among other things that the “Harris administration” gave billions of dollars to foreign countries and illegal aliens, but is providing just $750 to Americans who lost everything in the hurricane disaster, Eaton writes. Democrats say Vance and Trump are spreading lies during a disaster. Low-key holiday: Shoppers didn’t take advantage of Ohio’s enlarged 10-day sales-tax holiday in late July and early August nearly as much as expected.
As Jeremy Pelzer reports , while the state expected the holiday would drop monthly sales-tax revenue to below $250 million, it ended up getting more than half a billion dollars more than that. The unexpected money will be put toward paying for future holidays, during which no state or local sales taxes are charged on most items priced at $500 or less. Issue 1: A prominent backer of a redistricting reform amendment Ohio voters will consider this fall says in a new report that Ohio’s existing system has divided people and marginalized communities.
Molly Walsh has details from the League of Women Voters-backed report, which describes how school districts and communities of interest have been split by Ohio’s existing redistricting system. The organization supports a redistricting reform amendment on the November ballot. Opponents of state Issue 1 ripped the report, and its authors.
Vance effect: Republican hopes that Vance’s vice-presidential selection would help them win competitive U.S. House of Representatives seats in Ohio isn’t working out, with Toledo Democratic Rep.
Marcy Kaptur having a significant polling lead over Republican Derek Merrin, Politico reports . Vance is conspicuously absent from local billboards that prominently feature Trump, Merrin and GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. He’s not been a part of Republican advertising on broadcast, either, according to a POLITICO review of AdImpact data, despite a plethora of outside spending.
And in more than a dozen interviews in the district the day after Vance’s effective debate performance, local voters, politicians and union representatives were either apathetic or outright negative about him. Family feud: As Vance leans on his Appalachian roots while campaigning for the White House, his cousin, Terra Vance, a 44-year-old disability rights nonprofit founder from Logan, W.Va .
, is presenting herself as the “authentic hillbilly Vance” to thousands of online followers, swatting down stereotypes about the South as she gives an alternative version of what it means to be Appalachian, Los Angeles Times reports. She sees JD Vance’s 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and how he’s used his background to appeal to voters as a disservice to her hometown and last name. In her view, his story blames people who have been exploited — in some cases by the coal mining and pharmaceutical industries — while painting himself as special for escaping the same fate.
Protesting the protestors: Masked anti-Israel protesters assembled outside the Cincinnati home of Democratic U.S. Rep.
Greg Landsman early Sunday morning and remained through the evening, forcing police to escort his family in and out of their house for safety, Landsman posted on social media. “On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks, when Jews were brutally murdered and kidnapped, these people came to the home of a Jewish family at night, dressed in all black and fully masked,” he wrote. “They’ve done this to my staff and me for nearly a year, and now they’re doing it to my family and neighbors.
I don’t think they have any boundaries at this point. Our family hopes they leave soon and protest in a more appropriate and less intrusive manner.” Read more Ohio politics stories Juanita O.
Brent for Ohio House, 18th District: endorsement editorial Protect your right to vote by understanding Ohio’s new photo voter ID law: editorial Do Ohioans really want the table set for drunken shoot-outs in bars? Eric Foster Lobbying Lineup Five organizations lobbying on House Bill 183 , a bill that would require individuals to use public bathrooms at schools or universities based on their sex assigned at birth. The Ohio House added the policy to an unrelated bill that passed this year and now goes to the Ohio Senate. 1.
The Center for Christian Virtue 2. Ohio Association of Community Colleges 3. Ohio Department of Education and Workforce 4.
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio 5. Inter-University Council of Ohio Tick Tock The 2024 election is approaching, where Ohioans will help decide the presidential race, control of the U.S.
Senate, how the state draws state legislative and congressional lines and many other down-ballot races. Here are some key dates in the election countdown: Deadline to request an absentee ballot..
. 20 days (Oct. 29) Final day of early voting.
.. 25 days (Nov.
3) Last day to postmark an absentee ballot...
26 days (Nov. 4) Election Day..
. 27 days (Nov. 5) On the Move Kevin Coughlin, the Republican nominee for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, has been endorsed by ex-state Rep.
Bryan Flannery, an Akron Democrat who most recently made a brief run for Congress in 2021. The Libertarian Party of Ohio has endorsed Issue 1 , the proposed redistricting reform measure on next month’s statewide ballot. Birthdays Justin Barasky, Democratic political consultant Elizabeth Baumgartner, director of economic development and tax policy, Ohio Chamber of Commerce State Sen.
Bill Reineke Myron T. Herrick, Ohio’s 42nd governor (1854-1929) Straight From The Source “We’ll probably take that up in the Senate fairly quickly, probably before Thanksgiving. The governor’s indicated he’s going to sign it, and so yeah, I think we’ll be able to concur.
” -Senate President Matt Huffman, speaking to Gongwer News Service , about the “bathroom bill” -- legislation that would compel transgender people to use bathrooms of the sex they were assigned at birth, not that of their assumed gender identity. Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
.
