7 things to know about historic Trump, GOP victory statewide, locally

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at an election night watch party, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Editor’s note: Every Sunday Josh Sweigart, editor of investigations and solutions journalism, brings you the top stories from the Dayton Daily News and major stories over the past week you may have missed. Go here to sign up to receive the Weekly Update newsletter and our Morning Briefing delivered to your inbox every morning.

Here are seven key takeaways from our reporting:

The theme of Tuesday’s election was Ohio voters’ strong support for Republicans’ message. That was evident in several ways. Go here for a full analysis by Lynn Hulsey, Avery Kreemer and myself. Highlights below.

1. Trump triumph: President-elect Donald Trump was expected to win Ohio. But he did more than that, carrying the state by the widest margin in 40 years.

2. Brown out: Ohio voters ousted Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown in favor of challenger Republican Bernie Moreno, albeit by a smaller margin than they supported Trump.

3. Dem wins: Democrats are celebrating picking up four seats in the Ohio General Assembly, including the Ohio Senate seat representing Dayton and its southeastern suburbs.

4. But…: Those seats were drawn to lean Democratic in the last redistricting. And the Democrat who won the Dayton Senate seat did so by a smaller margin than expected based on historic voting patterns. Plus, the GOP still holds a supermajority at the Statehouse.

5. Zoom in: Vice President Kamala Harris won Montgomery County, but only by about 500 votes. Compare that to the 6,000-vote margin President Joe Biden won by the county by in 2020.

6. Bottom of ticket: Even at the county level, local voters appear to have elected a Republican to the three-person county commission (the race is close, so could hinge on provisional and late-arriving mail ballots still being counted). And the GOP unseated the county recorder post, long held by Democrats.

7. What’s next: The full story includes reaction from partisans, as well as thoughts from political scientists about what lies ahead for Democrats.

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