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A Divided GOP Dominated Ohio Elections

Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose speaks during a media tour of the Delaware County Board of Elections in Delaware, Ohio, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020.
Paul Vernon
/
Associated Press
Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose speaks during a media tour of the Delaware County Board of Elections in Delaware, Ohio, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020.

In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the future of the Republican Party in Ohio. Republican former state Rep. Gene Krebs joins the show.

Listen to Snollygoster on theWOSU Public Media mobile app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And make sure to leave a rating and review!

In this week's episode:

Curfew

Gov. Mike DeWine's 10 p.m. curfew goes into effect on Thursday night. DeWine said the authorities are not really going to be running around citing and arresting curfew breakers.

Rather, the goal is to stop the spread of the coronavirus without completely shutting down the state’s economy.

From Bellwether To GOP Stronghold

Ohio Republicans did very well in this election. Athough President Trump lost nationally, he took Ohio by a slightly larger margin than he did four years ago. Every Republican in the U.S. House won re-election. The GOP kept its huge majorities in both the Ohio House and Senate. They lost one Supreme Court seat, but kept a 4-3 majority.

Despite those achievements, the party is divided when it comes to Ohio's coronavirus response and support for Trump. Though he has enjoyed strong favorability ratings, Gov. Mike DeWine could well face a primary challenge when he comes up for re-election.

Though Republicans' grip on Ohio seems secure, polling shows that young voters and college-educated voters favored Joe Biden in the election. Also, the redistrictng of gerrymandered districts could shift the playingfield in the next cycle.

Snollygoster Of The Week: Gov. Mike DeWine

This week, FBI agents raided the Columbus home of Sam Randazzo, chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. They lugged out several boxes that did not appear to be early Christmas presents.

When DeWine was asked for his reaction to the raid on agency head he appointed, he sidestepped with a non-answer: “We have no indication he’s under investigation or he’s the target of an investigation," DeWine responded.

Send questions and comments to snollygoster@wosu.org.

Michael De Bonis develops and produces digital content including podcasts, videos, and news stories. He is also the editor of WOSU's award-winning Curious Cbus project. He moved to Columbus in 2012 to work as the producer of All Sides with Ann Fisher, the live news talk show on 89.7 NPR News.
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