The Ohio Democratic Party has been wandering in the wilderness of Ohio politics for a generation now. As grim as it has been, Ohio Democrats may have found a way out. "May have" being the operative words.
The last 30 years have been grim indeed for Ohio Democrats: Since the Newt Gingrich revolution of 1994 until now, with Donald Trump winning Ohio’s electoral votes in three straight presidential elections, Ohio Republicans have dominated state offices, from governor on down through the statewide offices.
The last Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, was defeated in his bid for a second term nearly 20 years ago. Last fall, the one solid rock of Ohio Democratic politics, Sen. Sherrod Brown, fell to an inexperienced car dealer from Cleveland named Bernie Moreno, who jumped on Trump’s back and rode to an unexpected win. The last statewide office held by a Democrat belongs to Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner, and she, too, faces a challenge next year from one of her GOP colleagues, Justice Patrick Fischer, who is looking to get around Ohio’s judicial age limits law.
Democrats hold only five of Ohio’s 15 seats in the U.S. House; and, with the appointment of Jon Husted to the seat vacated by JD Vance, Republicans have both U.S. Senate seats. Republicans hold on to their veto-proof supermajorities in both the Ohio Senate (24-9) and the Ohio House (65-34).
Nothing in politics lasts forever. Not a thing. The pendulum of political power swings eventually from one side to the other; and it will do so again, even in what the national political pundits like to call “ruby red Ohio.”
Tuesday night in Columbus, the Ohio Democratic Party’s central committee met and took the first step in pushing that pendulum in the other direction when they elected 46-year-old Kathleen Clyde of Portage County as the new state party chair.
It wasn’t that the former chair, Liz Walters, was not well-liked and competent; she left a few months ago to become the head of a Democratic data and analytics firm.
Clyde, a former state representative and county commissioner, stepped up and ran, leaving rivals by the wayside to the point that, by Tuesday night, she was elected in a 107-1 vote.
“She is a strong, capable leader,” said former Cincinnati mayor and state senator Mark Mallory, who was there Tuesday night when Clyde was elected chair.
Clyde, Mallory said, “fully understands the situation. It’s a tough road ahead, but she believes there’s an opportunity here for Democrats in Ohio.”
Ironically, the opportunity was created by Trump himself, whose actions and policies are proving to be unpopular with a majority of Americans. Ohio is no exception.
Consider this: In late April, Bowling Green State University’s pollsters . It showed something that was rather shocking to many on both sides — that Trump’s approval rating among Ohioans was, for the first time, under water.
Not by much — only 1percentage point, according to the poll. But, in February, the same poll showed Trump with a net favorability of 6 percentage points. That’s a steep drop in only two months. For a president who won Ohio in November over Kamala Harris by 11 percentage points to be in negative territory seven months later is serious business.
What is driving Ohio voters to turn on Trump?
The Bowling Green poll makes it clear that Trump’s on-and-off-again tariffs are deeply unpopular. Only 25% said they thought Trump’s tariffs would help them, while 51% would be harmed by tariffs.
Mallory said it's Trump himself who is causing buyer’s remorse among his Ohio voters.
“People who voted for Donald Trump are the ones being hurt the most by his policies,” Mallory said. “And that is true in both red and blue counties. Everything he’s done is cutting into his support in Ohio.”
Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” is a prime example. Democrats argue that it will mean millions of Americans will lose Medicaid benefits and help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
In Ohio, there are more than three million people receiving Medicaid and 1.5 million who benefit from SNAP. Ohio’s state government is in no position financially to fill that kind of hole in federal funding.
What, though, can a new Ohio Democratic Party chair do to push the pendulum back to blue, or at least purple?
David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, said that if he were in Clyde’s shoes, he would try to “humanize the Democratic Party in places where they have lost their grip.”
“There are red counties where Democrats have been credible in the past 20 years,’’ Niven said. “Identify those counties and find the most credible Democrats in those counties and run them for local offices, up and down the ballot.”
Pike County in southeast Ohio is a good example, Niven said. It’s a county that voted 50-50 20 years ago and is voting Republican 75-25 now.
“There are credible Democrats who could run in counties like that,” Niven said. “And they don’t have to win. If they lose by 10% instead of 30%, it is a win for whoever is at the top of the Democratic ticket next year.”
But, Niven said, the most important thing for Ohio Democrats to remember is very simple.
“They have to assume that 2026 is a very promising year for Democrats.”
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