Why — specifically — should you care about each one of those? Here’s a rundown of the potential impact each of your votes might have.
The president
Think of all the ways the federal government intersects with your life: Taxes, healthcare, social safety net programs, military spending (which fuels the local economy). The list goes on.
The next resident of the White House will influence all of that.
This year’s race for president features former President Donald Trump, a Republican running with Middletown native U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat running with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Ballots also include Libertarian Chase Oliver, and independent candidates, Peter Sonski, Richard Duncan and Jill Stein. Votes in Ohio will not be counted for Stein because the Green Party missed the deadline for naming her running mate.
The next president and his or her economic and tax policy will have a definite impact on Ohioans.
Trump proposes broad tariffs on all imported goods, reducing the corporate tax rate and eliminating federal taxes for tipped employees and for people whose income is high enough for their Social Security benefits to be taxed under current law.
Harris proposes a federal price-gouging ban, expanding the child tax credit, adding subsides for homeownership and small businesses, ending federal taxes on tips and raising the corporate tax rate.
Trump has said he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act but not specified what he would replace it with. Harris wants to extend expanded ACA subsidies set to expire next year.
Readers have told us abortion and immigration are other major issues in the presidential race.
Harris supports women’s right to chose abortion and make reproductive health care decisions. Trump touts his appointment of three conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump has made a variety of statements over the years about a federal abortion ban, but now says he would veto such a ban and that states should decide on rules for abortion.
On immigration Trump calls for securing the U.S. border, beginning a mass deportation of “illegal” immigrants, ending “birthright” citizenship and has repeatedly made false claims about Springfield’s Haitian population.
Harris said she would work to secure the border, boost the fight against human trafficking and fentanyl, and reform the immigration system, including supporting an earned pathway to citizenship.
She supported the bipartisan border security bill that failed to advance in Congress this year after Trump came out against it.
A president’s influence extends to how federal agencies operate. They appoint the leaders of all cabinet departments, subject to Senate confirmation, setting the tone for the entire executive branch.
The departments of Defense and State are crucial, especially given current international conflicts in the Middle East and with Russia-Ukraine. Treasury sets fiscal policy that is key to the economy, and Health and Human Services was center stage as the CDC managed COVID.
The president nominates new Supreme Court justices when existing justices retire, again subject to Senate confirmation. The oldest justices currently on the court are the two generally considered the most Republican-leaning — Clarence Thomas (76) and Samuel Alito (74).
New presidents often approve a sizable list of executive orders quickly upon taking office. In Donald Trump’s previous term, his Muslim travel ban and waiver of certain Affordable Care Act provisions drew attention, while Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine orders and student loan debt cancellation efforts were prominent.
U.S. Senate race
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is seeking reelection against Republican Bernie Moreno, a Westlake businessman. Libertarian Donald Kissick also is on the ballot.
Abortion and immigration are two major issues in the race, as both could be the subject of upcoming federal legislation.
Brown supports the reproductive rights constitutional amendment Ohio voters approved last year and says he supports a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. Moreno opposed Ohio’s reproductive rights constitutional amendment and said in January that he supports a federal ban on abortion at 15 weeks. His campaign now says he believes abortion rules should be left to the states.
Moreno wants to improve border security and supports mass deportation of immigrants who entered the country illegally. He’s said the Haitian immigrants in Springfield should be deported starting in 2025, and he supports ending the Temporary Protected Status program that allows them to legally live and work in the U.S. Moreno opposed the bipartisan border security bill that failed to advance in Congress this year after Trump came out against it.
Brown supported the bipartisan border security bill and is focused on battling drug trafficking, co-introducing bills that expanded sanctions against fentanyl traffickers and provided equipment to detect fentanyl at the border.
Beyond specific stances of Brown and Moreno themselves, the race is one of several that will decide which party controls the evenly divided U.S. Senate, which has broad implications for presidential appointments and national policy.
Congress
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Who’s on your ballot depends on where you live. Montgomery, Greene and part of Clark County will decide whether to send 20-year Republican Congressional veteran Mike Turner back to D.C. as he’s challenged by Democrat Amy Cox and independent Michael Harbaugh.
In Warren County, Democratic incumbent Greg Landsman battles Republican Orlando Sonza. Incumbent Republicans Mike Carey (vs. Adam Miller) and Warren Davidson (vs. Vanessa Enoch) are also on the ballot.
Just like in the Senate, immigration law is likely to be a key issue for the winners of these Congressional seats, whether it’s a new attempt to pass a broad border security bill, or stopgap efforts like Springfield’s work to draw more federal resources in light of thousands of new Haitian residents.
In an Air Force town, these legislators’ role in passing government spending packages and avoiding shutdowns is always important, as will be funding decisions for overseas allies facing armed conflict in Ukraine and Israel.
And these races will help decide control of the U.S. House, which has major implications for government tax and spending priorities — the federal budget process starts in the House — economic policy and much more.
Ohio Supreme Court
Political control of the Ohio Supreme Court, which has the final authority over the Ohio Constitution and its amendments, is at stake this November with three of the court’s seven seats up for grabs. A sweep for Democrats would give the party a four-to-three majority on the bench, while a sweep for Republicans would give the party near total control with a six-to-one majority.
The stakes are particularly high this year given that the court is expected to soon begin making calls based on its interpretation of 2023′s abortion-rights amendment.
The amendment, approved by 57% of Ohio voters, guarantees the unfettered right to abortion until fetal viability. But the court still needs to decide its full ramifications, including the line in which a pregnancy complication impacts the health of the mother; the lengths the government can go to try to limit abortions; or the full range of decisions that can be considered reproductive decisions.
Other issues have seen partisan divide on the high court as well, including proposed changes to Ohio voting laws that Republicans say makes the system more secure but Democrats say makes voting harder.
Ohio Statehouse
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
There are 14 Ohio House races and three Ohio Senate races that will be decided by Miami Valley voters on Nov. 5.
This is the first general election held since Ohio updated its state legislative boundaries, which means that some candidates are campaigning in new areas and some voters will be exposed to names that were otherwise unfamiliar to them.
A key race to watch is Ohio Senate District 6, which contains Dayton and its southeast suburbs. The Republican incumbent opted not to run for reelection after redistricting made the seat more competitive for Democrats.
In the race are Willis Blackshear, Jr., a two-term Democrat representing Dayton in the Ohio House, and Charlotte McGuire, a Centerville Republican who has represented the region on the Ohio Board of Education since 2016.
There are a other races in the region where historic voting patterns suggest a competitive race. This includes House District 36′s race between incumbent Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, and Democratic challenger Rose Lounsbury of Oakwood; and House District 39′s race between incumbent Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., and Democratic challenger Dion Green of Harrison Twp.
All Statehouse races are significant for their communities. Lawmakers wield significant power in Columbus, setting policy impacting your property and income taxes, bringing state dollars for local projects, and legislating on issues such as gun safety, criminal justice and education.
Issue 1
Credit: Mark Freistedt
Credit: Mark Freistedt
Ohio’s proposed constitutional amendment known as Issue 1 has drawn national attention and significant out-of-state money because, if passed, it could make ripples that help shape the political landscape of Congress as well as the Ohio legislature.
If approved by a majority of voters this November, Issue 1 would essentially scrap the state’s current redistricting process entrusted to politicians and replace it with a citizen commission and a tweaked set of rules.
Under the current system, the Ohio Supreme Court has repeatedly found that anti-gerrymandering measures in current law haven’t been adhered to.
Issue 1 would put the map drawing process under a citizen redistricting commission consisting of five Democratic members, five Republican members and five members not affiliated with either party. None of the members can have a professional affiliation with politics.
Backers of Issue 1 say their motive is fairness and removing politics from the process. Critics say voters won’t have a direct say in who gets approved or removed from the board.
If Issue 1 were to pass, the immediate effect in Ohio would be that Democrats could pick up a number of favorable districts in the Ohio House, the Ohio Senate, and perhaps most consequentially the U.S. House of Representatives, where political control is currently decided by just a few seats.
County level offices
Credit: Jim Bebbington
Credit: Jim Bebbington
Montgomery County voters will decide on several contested top county leadership positions — two of the three county commissioners, the treasurer, recorder and clerk of courts, plus one judge.
In Greene, Miami and Warren counties, there are virtually no choices in county-level races, as nearly all Republicans are running unopposed.
What do these folks do? Montgomery County commissioners Debbie Lieberman and Judy Dodge (challenged by Mary McDonald and Kate Baker) are the voting board running a $1 billion county government, holding some oversight of law enforcement, tax collection, roadwork, a wide array of social services and more. They’ve been in the news for economic development efforts bringing new jobs, questions about budget problems with Developmental Disability Services, and how to handle PFAS in drinking water.
If you own a home, you should care about the treasurer and recorder races. Treasurer candidates John McManus and Mohamed Al-Hamdani have different ideas of what to do if you’re late on your property taxes, and recorder candidates Lori Kennedy and Stacey Benson-Taylor are talking about the risks from a recent run of deed fraud cases.
The clerk of courts maintains court records and the auto title division, but the news in the race has been about incumbent Republican Mike Foley’s indictment on theft in office and other charges. Foley maintains his innocence and touts his record in office, but Democrat challenger Lynn Cooper is seizing on the charges and running under the “ethical leadership” banner.
Local tax levies
Voting for candidates puts people in office who may or may not act the way you imagined when they were on the campaign trail. Voting for a tax levy guarantees that you will pay certain taxes, and that the money will go to the agency in question to pay for specific services (schools, police, roadwork, etc.).
Of the dozens of levies on the ballot (see DaytonDailyNews.com/elections), two county-level tax levies and two school district tax levies stand out.
Five Rivers MetroParks and the Dayton Metro Library are each seeking comparatively small tax increases from Montgomery County voters (1 mill each, or $35 annually per $100,000 of property value). That’s $87 a year if the county says your home is worth $250K. MetroParks says they need to address tens of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. The library says after a decade of construction upgrades to their facilities thanks to a tax levy, now they need day-to-day operating funds, citing budget deficits.
On the school level, Beavercreek is asking voters to approve a 4.9-mill, 37-year tax to build a $260 million high school complex. It would cost a homeowner $172 annually per $100,000 of home value, and school officials say it would relieve overcrowding pressure. Centerville is asking for tax funding for day-to-day school operations (3.9 mills, $136.50 a year per $100K of home value) after voters rejected two recent tax levy requests. Community discussion on the issue has been tense.
