Until then, there are valuable takeaways from Tuesday’s vote and how it sets the stage for the months ahead — whether you care about hot-button national issues in Congress (hello, border), or meaty issues Ohio’s state government cares about (abortion, marijuana), or taxes and services right down the street (your school, your police, your potholes).
• ELECTION RESULTS: Click here to see results for all races and issues
Here’s a summary:
U.S. Senate race
Ohioans will have an important choice in November between longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on the left and newcomer Republican Bernie Moreno on the right.
Those two will spend the next seven-plus months craning their necks toward the voters in the middle between them, seeing which one can lure more votes to earn six years of power in the U.S. Senate. That’s a Senate whose partisan control will be up for grabs Nov. 5, by the way, affecting just about every political issue in the country.
But Moreno’s win in the Republican Senate primary on Tuesday was also a show of Donald Trump’s power. How so? Because Bernie Moreno defeated Matt Dolan and Frank LaRose, which would have been shocking a decade ago, in pre-Trump Ohio politics.
Matt Dolan served more than a dozen years in Ohio’s statehouse, was endorsed by repeat election-winning Gov. Mike DeWine, and his family owns baseball’s Cleveland Guardians. Frank LaRose is a bronze-star winning former Green Beret, former state legislator, and current Secretary of State.
Bernie Moreno is a successful businessman (car dealerships, blockchain) who has never held political office and eight years ago called Donald Trump a “lunatic.” But three days before the election, Trump, who Moreno now praises, stood on a stage in Dayton and campaigned for Moreno.
The result? Moreno 50%, Dolan 33%, LaRose 17%.
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Presidential race
Yes, Ohioans voted for president Tuesday. But because Ohio’s primary comes fairly late in the process, Trump and incumbent Democrat Joe Biden had already clinched their parties’ nominations for the November election. If you want to read into these things, it was Biden’s 87% to Dean Phillips’ 13%, compared with Trump getting 79%, to Nikki Haley’s 14%, and “the other three” at 6%.
U.S. House of Representatives
Amy Cox, Vanessa Enoch and Adam Miller won Democratic primaries Tuesday in their Congressional districts (OH-10, 8 and 15), setting up November races against Republican incumbents Mike Turner, Warren Davidson and Mike Carey, respectively.
If you’re tired of Biden vs. Trump, think of the voters in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, who in November will see Davidson vs. Enoch, Round 4 (Davidson won by huge margins in 2018, 2020 and 2022). If you’ll excuse the comical Round 4 metaphor, in the movie “Rocky IV,” Rocky Balboa beat Russian boxer Ivan Drago, in the process magically melting Cold War-era USA-Russia tensions in the crowd. No word on whether Ohio Republicans and Democrats will be “hugging it out” after casting Davidson vs. Enoch ballots in November.
The road to unseat a Congressional incumbent is uphill and littered with the potholes mentioned earlier. Turner, Davidson and Carey will be heavy favorites. And yes, these races will proceed using district maps that the Ohio Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional several times in recent years for favoring Republicans.
On the same day Ohioans were casting ballots based on districts that had been ruled unfair, volunteers were collecting signatures in Kettering and around the state, aiming to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to try to end gerrymandering.
Ohio Statehouse
Speaking of maps, many of Tuesday’s Ohio Statehouse primaries were, in effect, the November election. That’s because the way the district lines are drawn, it would take a Herculean effort for a member of the local minority party to win.
In House District 38, Desiree Tims emphatically won the Democratic primary, and she won’t even face a Republican opponent in November, likely because the Ohio Redistricting Commission said the district tilts plus-55% toward the Dems.
Credit: PROVIDED
Credit: PROVIDED
Multiple districts in Greene, Warren, Butler and Preble counties tilt 30-50% toward Republicans, meaning the winners of those Tuesday Republican primaries are already ordering business cards ahead of the November vote.
Ohio Supreme Court
Tuesday’s primaries for Supreme Court were quiet, as there was only one contested primary (Lisa Forbes over Terri Jamison on the Democratic side). But in November, in the wake of Ohio’s 2023 abortion controversy, all of us will decide on three of the seven Ohio Supreme Court seats. The individual candidates are important. But this will also be the political machinery of the two main political parties battling for control of the court at a time when significant issues are likely to be decided.
County government leaders
So much focus in November will be on state and federal issues. But at least in Montgomery County, there will be high-profile races for county government leadership. For county commission, incumbent Democrat Judy Dodge posted an overwhelming victory Tuesday, and she’ll face Republican winner Kate Baker in November.
For the second commission seat at stake in 2024, incumbent Democrat Debbie Lieberman and Republican challenger Mary McDonald were uncontested Tuesday, but their November race likely will cause sparks. Even the ballot process to start the race months ago was full of political intrigue.
How different are things a few miles away? None of the Republican primary county-level winners for Greene Commission (Mays), Greene Recorder (Kennedy), Miami Sheriff (Duchak) and Warren court clerk (Smith) will face a Democratic opponent in November.
Tax levies for schools, cities
Yes, there were a few exceptions, but the general rule here was fairly consistent. Are you a city or school seeking a renewal levy (no increase in tax rate, just extend the existing tax for more years)? OK, voters likely were willing to say yes. (see Dayton and Fairborn city income taxes, Miami Twp. police, Brookville schools).
But if you were asking for a tax increase? Especially just after most folks’ property taxes increased? Chances for approval were dim. Centerville and Franklin’s school levies were shot down, public safety levies in Xenia and Riverside failed, and a complex income tax measure in Clayton was rejected.
The one community that approved a tax increase for schools was Tipp City, which approved a bond issue to build a new PK-8 building to replace aging schools. It may never be clear how much the very recent roof leak and asbestos scare at Broadway Elementary played a role.
Until November 5 ...
So another election day is in the rearview mirror.
Well, it’s visible in the rearview for the 25% who cast ballots, anyway. For the other 75% of travelers, Tuesday was a mix of “hey, what was that bump in the road?” …… and “the presidential votes were already decided so I didn’t go,” … and “I don’t vote in primaries because I don’t like either party.”
No matter your political persuasion, come October/November, click on DaytonDailyNews.com/elections, read about the candidate races and the tax levies and other issues on your ballot, and do your duty as a citizen at the polls. Our community is better when you do.
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