How Ohio became less politically relevant — and why that’s now changing

TOLEDO, Ohio — Once upon a time, the attention of the national media and political parties was always on Ohio, as a predictor of how the rest of the country would decide when it came to presidential elections and hot-button issues. But in recent years, that attention has dwindled. What’s up with that?

“If you look at the counties, in Ohio, that Joe Biden won — keeping in mind that Joe Biden lost the state of Ohio in 2020 — Donald Trump won by eight points … Issue 1 went down in not just those seven counties that Biden won, but a total of 22 counties,” Dr. Melissa Miller, professor of political science for Bowling Green State University explained August 13th on Community Focus.

Counties that include Wood, Medina, Delaware etc. Counties that backed former President Trump in 2020, signaling that on certain issues, Ohio still has surprises up its sleeve — and aligns more with the rest of the country than thought after that 2020 presidential election.

“Women in the suburbs will sort of hold the key to these kinds of election outcomes. And when reproductive rights are on the ballot, that may change things,” Miller said.

But why did so many suburban women in the state support Donald Trump back in 2020, even though they were key to the defeat of Issue 1, a victory for reproductive rights?

“During the 2020 election, Dobbs hadn’t been handed down yet, so reproductive rights were still guaranteed nationally,” she explained.

So the big takeaway here is that when things get personal, Ohio becomes important, even though 2020 is a year some Democrats in the state would like to forget.