Tight Ohio race a test for Trump
Close contest an encouraging sign for Dems ahead of midterms
Two high-stakes elections that tested US President Donald Trump’s clout and cost both parties millions of dollars were too close to call last night. Trump claimed victory in one nevertheless.
In battleground Ohio, the President took credit for Republican Troy Balderson’s performance, calling it “a great victory”, even though the contest could be headed to a recount. Democrats could also celebrate their showing in a district that has gone Republican for decades.
“We’re not stopping now,” Democrat Danny O’Connor told cheering supporters. He’ll reprise his campaign against Balderson from now through November’s general election.
In deep-red Kansas’ Republican gubernatorial primary, the candidate Trump backed on the eve of the election, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, was neck and neck with current Republican Governor Jeff Colyer.
The day’s races in five states, like many before them, tested the persistence of Trump’s fiery supporters and the momentum of the Democratic Party’s anti-Trump resistance.
The results were helping determine the political landscape — and Trump’s standing within his own party — as the GOP defends its House and Senate majorities in November.
In Kansas, Republicans were fighting among themselves in an unusual battle for governor in which Trump sided with the incumbent’s challenger.
Should the polarising Kobach win the primary, some Republican operatives fear he could lose the governorship to Democrats. The race could become further disrupted if Kansas City-area businessman Greg Orman makes it onto the November ballot. He submitted petitions on Tuesday with more than 10,000 signatures for what could become the most serious independent run for Kansas governor in decades.
Trump made his preference clear for Kobach.
This district should have been a slam dunk for the GOP. Ben Ray Lujan
“He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country — he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! Strong on Crime, Border & Military,” the President tweeted on the eve of the election.
Republicans were hoping for Democratic discord in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, a suburban Kansas City district where several candidates were fighting for the chance to take on Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder.
The five-way Democratic primary featured labour lawyer Brent Welder, who campaigned recently with selfdescribed democratic socialists Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and rising political star Alexandria OcasioCortez, a New York congressional candidate.
Also in the race: Native American attorney Sharice Davids and former school teacher Tom Niermann.
In Ohio, the script for the special election was somewhat familiar: An experienced Trump loyalist, Balderson, was fighting a strong challenge from O’Connor, a fresh-faced Democrat, in a congressional district held by the Republican Party for more than three decades. As voters were going to the polls, Trump said Balderson would make a “great congressman”. The winner takes the seat previously held by Pat Tiberi, a nine-term incumbent who resigned to take a job with an Ohio business group.
Democratic leaders viewed the closeness of the contest as further confirmation that they were poised to take back Congress.
“This district should have been a slam dunk for the GOP,” said Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, the leader of the Democratic midterm effort in the House. “The fact that we are still counting ballots is an ominous sign for their prospects in November.”
Balderson and O’Connor will reprise their race in the general election in just three months. There were at least 3367 provisional ballots left to be reviewed. That’s enough for O’Connor to potentially pick up enough to force a recount.
Democratic candidates often perform significantly better than their party in those same places two years earlier.
Trump won Ohio’s 12th Congressional District, for example, by more than 11 points in 2016. Yesterday, Balderson and O’Connor were separated by less than 1 point.
There are 79 House races in November considered more competitive than the Ohio district — at least looking at Trump’s 2016 performance — according to data compiled by the Democrats’ national campaign committee.
Despite the deadlocked race, the specific Ohio returns suggest considerably higher Democratic enthusiasm less than 100 days before the midterms.
O’Connor’s total of nearly 100,000 votes far exceeded what the district’s former Republican congressman Pat Tiberi’s Democratic opponent got in 2014. Balderson’s total — just more than 101,500 votes — is barely two-thirds of Tiberi’s 2014 mark of about 150,000.
The two will face off again in November to see who holds the seat in 2019 and 2020.
It’s unclear how much Trump’s support helped or hurt Balderson. The largely suburban region features a more affluent and educated voter base than the typical Trump stronghold.