Snollygoster | Ohio's Politics Podcast

It has been an extraordinarily ugly week in an already extraordinarily ugly campaign for governor.

This week, a video appeared featuring Amy Acton’s birth mother. The woman, Donna Arthur, is long estranged from Acton. Arthur was married to a man charged with sexually assaulting Acton as a child. After he was indicted and fled the state, Arthur remained married to him until he died.

At first, we did not know who was responsible for the ad, but Vivek Ramaswamy owned up to it and said his campaign would spend $4 million running it.

So we had lots to talk about at WOSU Public Media’s latest Politics and a Pint event this week in suburban Columbus. Nursing craft beers with 120 of our closest friends, our panel laid out what’s at stake in the final two weeks of the campaign.

The panel included Associated Press government and politics reporter Julie Carr Smyth, WOSU News Director Mark Ferenchik, and WOSU’s "All Sides" host Amy Juravich.

President Trump was in Youngstown this week trying to energize Republican voters. Sen. Jon Husted was there to keep his seat and defeat Sherrod Brown. Husted needs Trump’s supporters; he needs Trump to shower him with praise. I am not sure this is what Jon Husted had in mind.

“I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked, and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass, and I looked at the whole thing," Trump said. "And then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He's got these like claws. And I got it. You are a great athlete. I didn't know that because he doesn't talk about that. Congratulations. Now they finally know.”

Believe it or not, that was the most newsworthy thing to come out of that rally. Whether it helps Jon Husted or not, we shall see.

What is hurting Jon Husted is President Trump’s approval rating in Ohio. A recent New York Times/Sienna poll had 60% of Ohioans disapproving of President Trump’s performance. In the Youngstown area, the northeast industrial corner of Ohio that really has helped Trump win Ohio three times, the president’s disapproval rating also stands at 60%.

The reasons why he is unpopular are the war in Iran and rising gas and diesel prices, something the president tried to downplay in Youngstown.

“And then we did a little stopover in Iran, and their whole country is, let's put it this way, they're never going to have a nuclear weapon. And it's going to end very soon, and as soon as it ends, your gasoline comes down," he said. "But remember, your prices, your gas prices are lower than when Biden was president, and he didn't do anything about Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran didn't do anything.”

The stopover in Iran is now in its eighth month.

That is perhaps why, according to the RealClear Polling average, Sherrod Brown has a 3-point lead, and Amy Acton has a 4-point lead over Vivek Ramaswamy.

The races are still toss-ups in a state that has been very solidly red for 10 years.

To help us get a grasp on where things stand, we welcome a man who studies Ohio politics very closely, University of Cincinnati political science professor David Niven.

Snollygoster of the week

A mystery group has spent a couple hundred thousand dollars promoting socialist candidate for U.S. Senate Greg Levy. As Cleveland.com and The Columbus Dispatch reported, the mystery group is sending out mailers that urge people to join the revolution and send a worker to the Senate.

But Levy did not send the mailers, and he condemned them on social media.

According to Federal Election Commission records, the group Enough Promises Ohio, out of Reynoldsburg, has sent the mailers. The same group reports it has sent out $17,000 in mailers supporting or opposing Sherrod Brown.

The group is using a printing firm linked to conservative candidates and President Trump's PAC.

So either this group and printing firm think socialism is the way to solve America's problems, or they are trying to bolster the socialist candidate to take votes away from Sherrod Brown in what shapes up to be a close race.

It is likely the latter. For that, Enough Promises Ohio, whoever you are, you get our Snollygoster of the Week award.

Now, Democrats have played this game too, with Libertarian candidates in an effort to take votes away from Republicans.

Election month has arrived.

We all point to the second Tuesday in November, but Election Day is kind of a thing of the past. It is really election month, and it began this week with the start of early voting.

With turnout even more crucial in this election than in the past few cycles, early voting could play a huge role in deciding who will be Ohio's next governor and sit in the U.S. Senate.

Two new polls show Amy Acton has a lead in the race for governor. A Suffolk University poll conducted for USA Today shows her with a 9-point lead over Vivek Ramaswamy, 50% to 41%. The poll included likely voters, and even its lead author questioned whether Acton's lead is really that wide.

Another poll gives the Democrat an advantage. A Marist Poll shows Acton with a 6-point lead, 50% to 44%, among registered voters, a wider pool.

Both polls go against previous polls that showed the race tied.

So, do we believe the polls? Let's ask our Columbus on the Record panelists: Jake Zuckerman, politics and government reporter for Signal Statewide; Republican strategist Mike Gonidakis; and progressive activist Morgan Harper.

Snollygoster of the week

We could give it to embattled Rep. Max Miller, who called his fellow Republican, U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, as entertaining as a 2x4. Ouch.

While entertaining, it is not that shrewd. For that, we give it to President Trump. His administration this week is mailing $1,500 checks to nearly 1 million Americans. The Treasury Department claims those people were overcharged by the Biden administration for Obamacare premiums.

Some 66,000 Ohioans are getting the checks and a nice letter signed by President Trump. The timing is interesting, just as early voting begins and four weeks before Election Day.

Photo: Carolyn Kaster / AP

Gasoline prices have fallen a bit over the past week. Here in Columbus, they have gone down from $4.50 a gallon to about $4.30 a gallon, so a 20-cent drop.

Come next week, they will drop at least another 38.5 cents because Ohio lawmakers this week passed a suspension of the state's gasoline tax.

It passed overwhelmingly, with only a few Democrats opposing it. Gov. Mike DeWine, who once said it was a bad idea, will sign it, and it will take effect almost immediately.

The move will cost the state more than $700 million in lost revenue, money that pays for road repairs and construction. However, the state ended its last fiscal year with a surplus, so lawmakers will use part of that money to pay for the holiday. Presumably, we will save a few bucks at the pump, the potholes will get filled, and the bridges will not fall down.

This happened so fast because both candidates for governor called for it. Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy announced their support for suspending the gas tax. No doubt the Republican Legislature did it for Ramaswamy more than Acton. They did not invite her to the post-vote news conference.

Will this last-minute, largely symbolic move help either candidate win the governor's race?

To look at the politics of the gas tax issue and other campaign news, we turn to our "Columbus on the Record" panel: reporter Andrew Tobias of Signal Statewide, Ohio State University political scientist Herb Asher, and Republican strategist Mike Gonidakis.

Latest Poll Results

A couple of new polls out this week both show Amy Acton with leads over Vivek Ramaswamy in the race for governor, with leads outside the margin of error.

A Marist poll shows Acton leading Ramaswamy by 6 percentage points, 50% to 44%. A Suffolk University poll shows Acton up by 9 percentage points, 50% to 41%.

(The Marist poll has Sherrod Brown up by 8 percentage points over Jon Husted in the Senate race.)

So, good news for Democrats, right? Not so fast. That Suffolk poll seems dubious. Even its author cautioned the USA Today Network, which sponsored the poll, that it could be an outlier. Suffolk had Democrat Richard Cordray up by 6 percentage points a month before he lost to Mike DeWine. That Suffolk poll has Brown leading Husted by just 3 percentage points, basically a tie.

That one I believe. All indications are that both of these races are tied and could go either way. But the polls are consistent in some important areas. President Trump is pretty unpopular and becoming more unpopular, and people are worried about the economy. Both are bad news for the party in charge, which is the GOP.

So take the Democrats' current leads with a grain of salt, because they likely will dissolve by the time actual votes are counted. The question is how much those leads will dissolve.

Snollygoster of the week

Sherrod Brown is out with a new ad that uses Jon Husted's words against him. In a video session, Husted inartfully tried to explain how low-income people struggle to navigate a complicated system. The quote that stands out was "people living in poverty are not very experienced in navigating the real world."

Brown's campaign has taken that video and produced an ad. It shows Husted sitting at a desk in a suit and tie speaking for himself. The ad mixes in images of working-class people watching the video on their phones and making serious expressions.

But there is another version, posted only on social media, that takes those expressions a step further with some colorful language that was intended to get attention and go viral online.

Many believe Bernie Moreno did not defeat Sherrod Brown in 2024; the cryptocurrency industry did. Cryptocurrency firms and their affiliated political groups spent a whopping $40 million opposing Brown as he sought re-election. It might have made the difference. Donald Trump won Ohio by 11 percentage points, but Moreno beat Brown by just 3 1/2 percentage points, a relatively tight election by Ohio standards.

Crypto has a grudge against Brown because when he was chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a leading member of that panel, he backed tougher regulations on the crypto industry.

And Brown is back, looking to reenter the Senate, and the crypto industry is back trying to stop him.

This week, the leading crypto political action committee, Fairshake, said it plans to spend at least $30 million to support Sen. Jon Husted and oppose Brown.

It is just another example of how important this race is in the struggle to control Congress, and another example of big money exerting a huge influence on how Americans elect their leaders.

Joining us to dig deeper into this is Joe Light, a senior writer at Barron's who covers the intersection of Washington and business.

Snollygoster of the week

Hours apart, Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy called on the state legislature to suspend Ohio’s gas tax as prices hit $4.50 a gallon. Acton announced her plan first, but the proposal did not include many details.

A few hours later, Ramaswamy announced his plan with lots of details, including how long it will last and how he will pay for it. He has the support of legislative leaders, who will spend gas money and travel to Columbus to try to pass a 90-day gas tax holiday.

It is nice. We will all save 38.5 cents a gallon if Ohio does not tax drivers for 90 days. At $4.50 a gallon, that will be about a 9% discount. After a week of prices jumping up and down by 50 cents a gallon, we likely will not notice. It will cost the state up to $700 million in lost revenue that pays for road construction and repairs.

Regardless of the math, it is a pretty shrewd move to eliminate the state’s gas tax two weeks before early voting begins. For that, Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy get our Snollygoster of the Week award.

We have a new poll to give us an idea of where Ohio voters' minds are as we approach the start of early voting. It is hard to believe, but Ohioans start casting ballots in about two and a half weeks.

There are two big races on the ballot in Ohio. The race to succeed term-limited Mike DeWine pits two outsiders: Republican billionaire businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton.

Then there is the race to fill out the term of former U.S. Senator and now Vice President JD Vance. Appointed Republican Senator Jon Husted faces Democrat and former Senator Sherrod Brown.

It should come as no surprise that the races remain very close, according to the poll conducted by Bowling Green State University. But the BGSU poll does show a slight advantage for the Democrats.

In the race for governor, Amy Acton leads Vivek Ramaswamy by 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%.

In the race for U.S. Senate, Sherrod Brown leads Jon Husted by 3 percentage points, 48% to 45%.

Now, the margin of error is a tick under 4 percentage points. So for all intents and purposes, these races are tied.

To carve up this poll and determine what it means, we welcome back Robert Alexander, Bowling Green State University political science professor and director of the BGSU Democracy and Public Policy Network.

Snollygoster of the week

We’re all aware of the fight over the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Formally known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, it was established to remember the slain president and recently became a target for President Trump. He placed himself and loyalists on the center’s board, which then named him chairman.

They changed the name to the Donald J. Trump John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A judge ruled he could not do that and made the center remove the name. The old name is covered in tarps. Now, after other naming fights, canceled performances, and accusations of severe maintenance problems, the center is closed.

Such drama.

In the middle of it is Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Central Ohio. She is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board. She has led the fight against President Trump’s meddling in the Kennedy Center. She filed the lawsuit that got his name removed. She and the president clashed at this week’s board meeting. Trump called her "dumb and incompetent". She accused him of throwing a temper tantrum.

Such drama.

But Joyce Beatty is playing a leading role. She is all over MS NOW, quoted in numerous national publications, and winning rave reviews for her fight against President Trump and her fight for the Kennedy Center.

Which is 401 miles from the center of her congressional district.

photo: Jay LaPrete / AP

It has not gotten a lot of attention, but Ohioans have the chance to change the state constitution this year.

Here is the catch: If they do, none of us will really see much of a change.

Ohioans will vote on whether to put in the constitution a requirement that Ohio voters show a photo ID before they can cast a ballot. It is Issue 3 on the ballot.

Now, if you have voted in an election since 2023, you might be saying, "Wait a minute. The nice volunteer already politely asks me to show my ID when I go vote."

You are correct. Ohio law has mandated photo voter ID since 2023, when Gov. Mike DeWine signed the legislation.

It seems a bit like overkill, but lawmakers have their reasons. To dig into those justifications, we turned to Signal Statewide reporter Andrew Tobias, who wrote about the proposed amendment last week.

Snollygoster of the week

Early voting starts in a couple of weeks. The Iran War continues. Gas prices are at $4.30 a gallon. Inflation is high. Interest rates remain high. All of this is bad news for the incumbent president’s party in the midterm elections.

President Trump realized this, so he is promising $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans hold the Senate and the House. That is some real money. Estimates are it would cost the government more than $1 trillion.

Critics say Trump is trying to pay voters for their votes, which is illegal. Trump calls it a dividend for investing in Republican policies.

Even if Republicans hold the House and Senate, it is doubtful it will happen. But for making the promise and getting more attention than the pretty bad opening-night NFL game, President Trump gets our Snollygoster of the Week award.

The race for Ohio governor is heating up.

Amy Acton and her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, have been traveling the state, doing the grassroots work and raising money. Ramaswamy, who has much more money than Acton, has been running ads for months, as has his political action committee. Acton appears to have been saving her money for the stretch run and has just started running ads.

The ads are coming fast and furious, setting up a rough-and-tumble final two months before Election Day.

The question is, will the positive and negative ads help us understand who these candidates really are?

To help dissect the candidates and the race going forward, we welcome Cheri Strachan, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron.

Snollygoster of the week

For those of you outside Central Ohio, you should know we have not had a competitive mayoral race in Columbus since at least the Clinton administration, possibly the first Bush administration. Competitive races for mayor violate the Columbus Way: collaborating, usually behind closed doors, and waiting your turn to run for mayor.

Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin is not waiting his turn. He announced last week that he will challenge the three-term incumbent, Ginther. It was a big production. His campaign leaked it to the Dispatch and the local NBC affiliate. They did interviews the day before and held the story for a day. Hardin held a big announcement at his childhood home on the first day of school. It was very well planned.

Then Columbus got flash floods. It was a real mess in many parts of the city. The city had to temporarily erect the floodwalls, and major roadways were blocked. What did Mayor Ginther do at the exact time Hardin was kicking off his challenge? The mayor stood in front of a floodwall and explained how the city—ahem, his administration—was going to assist people affected by the flooding.

It would have been a pretty good split screen, but the TV stations only focused on the flooding and Ginther. I do not know if it was intentional, but scheduling a weather emergency news conference at the same time as your opponent's campaign announcement is pretty shrewd.

Florida this week became the latest reddish-purple state to nominate a Democratic Socialist as the party's candidate for major office. Angie Nixon defeated moderate Democrat Alex Vindman. Vindman raised and spent roughly what Nixon did, but she won by 12 percentage points.

Nixon is a clear underdog to incumbent Republican Ashley Moody in red Florida. Still, like victories in other states, Nixon’s primary upset has energized progressive Democrats.

That is not the case in Ohio, where Democratic Socialists are limited to a few urban areas. But that will not stop Republicans from trying to pin the label on candidates like Amy Acton.

The Democrat running for governor is doing her best to stay away from any kind of socialist label. She has taken some moderate stances in recent weeks. She said she does not support transgender males participating on female sports teams. She does not want to ban data centers, only regulate them. Most recently, she came out in favor of a ballot issue that would enshrine Ohio’s voter photo ID requirement in the state constitution.

Many Democrats oppose the amendment, which is Issue 3, because it is already state law. But polls show more than 80 percent of Americans support voter photo ID requirements.

To discuss the races for governor and U.S. Senate, we welcome WOSU-TV’s Columbus on the Record panel: reporters Jo Ingles of Ohio Public Radio and Jake Zuckerman of Signal Statewide, as well as progressive activist Morgan Harper and Republican strategist Mark Weaver.

Snollygoster of the week

This week we give it to AEP and its tech company partners in building and powering data centers. Ohioans have seen their electricity bills jump more than 20 percent in the past year.

Data centers get a lot of the blame for the rising electric bills. Tech companies, utilities and politicians are feeling the heat.

This week, AEP announced it was partnering with several tech companies, including Meta, Amazon and Google, to contribute more than $18 million to a fund that helps Ohioans pay their electric bills.

Eighteen million dollars seems like a lot of money. AEP is chipping in $1 million.

But it can afford it. Last month, AEP reported a $713 million profit last quarter. Last year, it had a profit of $3.5 billion. But the announcement got some nice headlines and perhaps softened some of the blowback of higher bills and data center anxiety. For that, AEP and tech companies get our Snollygoster of the Week award.

When it comes to politics, Ohio has little in common with New York or California. Michigan is a different story.

So lessons learned from a Michigan election are a little more valuable than ones from New York or L.A.

So what lessons can Ohio Democrats, or Ohio politicians in general, learn from Abdul El-Sayed's far-left progressive victory in that state's Senate primary?

To discuss that and the latest on data center posturing, we turn to the "Columbus on the Record" panel: reporter Jessie Balmert from the USA Today Ohio Network, former state legislator Gene Krebs, and Ohio State University political scientist Herb Asher.

Snollygoster of the week

Let's just say Amy Acton is not trying to win over Democratic Socialists in Ohio. She has come out against transgender women participating in girls' and women's sports. She wants to regulate data centers, but not shut them down.

This week, she came out in favor of the fall ballot issue that would enshrine Ohio's photo voter ID law into the state constitution. Many Democrats and progressives say the amendment is unnecessary because it is already state law.

But voter photo ID is popular. More than 80% of Americans support showing a driver's license at the polls.

And that is where Amy Acton is: annoying the far left, but right with popular opinion. For a Democrat running in Ohio, that is pretty shrewd.

photo: Paul Sancya / AP