| Just 70 days out from the midterm elections, Democrats are gaining momentum as Ohio families get squeezed by Republicans’ agenda of raising costs and gutting health care.
Recent reporting from the New York Times suggests that “Ohio may be up for grabs in the 2026 midterms” as “the basics of life and business have gotten punishingly expensive, and many have come to doubt that relief is coming anytime soon.”
And Politico confirmed what Ohio voters already know: “mounting voter anger over rising health costs and GOP-backed insurance cuts [are Democrats’] best opportunity in years, if not decades, to flip control of the state.”
As Ohio Republicans continue to make life worse for hardworking families, the choice is clear for voters up and down the ballot: “straight Democratic.”
DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“The writing is on the wall for Ohio Republicans. Voters are making it abundantly clear that Republicans’ health care cuts and price hikes will cost them their seats in November. Ohio families are ready for change, and they will make their voices heard at the ballot box.”
Read more:
The New York Times: Angry Ohio Voters Could Turn Their State Purple Again
- Across Ohio, a state that receded from the nation’s political battle zone as its voting patterns turned an ever deeper shade of red, signs of discontent this year are everywhere.
- In packed public forums, residents rage about data center projects. In grocery store aisles, shoppers lament to cashiers how little they can get for $50. In the soybean and corn fields, farmers express anxiety and pessimism. The basics of life and business have gotten punishingly expensive, and many have come to doubt that relief is coming anytime soon.
- “It’s all dumpy. Businesses are closing, the roads look like crap,” Kim Hall, 59, said as she shopped at a Dollar General in North Ridgeville, Ohio, on Wednesday. “Grocery prices are outrageous, and I can barely afford to live.”
- Frustration like hers is evident in every region and demographic in the state, and it’s why Ohio may be up for grabs in the 2026 midterms. With the general election less than 75 days away, polls show dead heats for governor and a coveted Senate seat. Enough congressional seats are in play for either party to swing control of the House. Come November, the state that once bragged “So goes Ohio, so goes the nation” will find out if it is truly inching back toward purple.
- [Taylor Dupont’s] grocery costs, utility bills and rent on her two-bedroom duplex were all rising, and she didn’t know what to do about it all. But she did know who she blamed: “The president,” she said, “and the billionaires.”
- On Wednesday, she was combing through the half-off aisle at Goodwill. She said she planned to vote in the midterms for the first time, straight Democratic, but she hadn’t yet paid too much attention to any of the races. She needed to land another job, get her car fixed, and before any of that, find her daughter outfits for her first week of school.
Politico: Democrats see political gain in Ohio’s health care pain
- Democrats long shut out of power in Ohio see mounting voter anger over rising health costs and GOP-backed insurance cuts as their best opportunity in years, if not decades, to flip control of the state.
- In the leadup to November’s midterms, emboldened by recent polling showing their candidates tied or leading in statewide races, they’re fanning out to small towns and rural enclaves that don’t typically vote blue to court the voters hardest hit.
- More than 160,000 Ohioans have lost Affordable Care Act insurance since Republicans in Washington allowed Covid-era subsidies to expire — nearly a third of the Obamacare market and the biggest coverage dropoff of any state. Another 360,000 are poised to lose Medicaid next year due to cuts Congress passed last year. As Republicans either avoid discussing health care on the campaign trail or dismiss those losing insurance as fraudsters or undeserving of public assistance, Democrats are offering sympathy and pitching solutions.
- With Democrats bullish on statewide races, Ohio voters’ focus on health care has also given the party the confidence to go after House seats in redder parts of Ohio that they had once given up on winning.
- House Majority Forward has reserved nearly $5 million in airtime to run ads in the state’s 10th and 15th congressional districts, which cover the suburbs of Dayton and Columbus. It’s the group’s first push in those districts in several cycles.
- Both seats have been held by Republicans for more than a decade, but the Cook Political Report recently updated their predictions for both races in Democrats’ favor as the challengers run hard on health. Don Leonard, the Democrat running to represent suburban Columbus, describes himself as a “Medicaid Kid” and lists “fighting for universal health care” as a top priority. Kristina Knickerbocker, who is seeking the Dayton seat, is a nurse practitioner who stresses in her press releases and stump speeches that she “has seen the failings of the health care system firsthand.”
- Ohio-based and national progressive advocacy groups have mounted their own health care-focused campaigns to flip these same seats — now held by GOP Reps. Turner and Mike Carey.
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