It’s no surprise some Republicans ‘de-friending’ DeWine
Were
A half-dozen Republican county organizations in Western and Southwestern Ohio have said they’re unhappy with Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. In a way, it would be a bigger story if those same Republicans said they
happy with how DeWine does his job.
Draw a north-south line through Columbus. The counties west of that line are part of the nation’s federally designated Corn Belt. Except for Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo and (depending on the year) Dayton, Western
Ohio is reliably Republican. The Corn Belt is a GOP preserve.
Till a couple decades ago, Columbus, too, was reliably Republican: In 1962, President John F. Kennedy, speaking at a Democratic Party dinner in Columbus, wryly said, “There is no city in the United States in which I get a warmer welcome and less votes than Columbus, Ohio!”
Statewide, there are Republicans and “Republicans.” It’s “socialism” if the federal and state governments help provide health care to low-income Ohioans via Medicaid expansion. But the ocean of federal tax money subsidizing agri-business and factory farming? Hey! That’s The American Way.
Voters in the suburban crescent around Cincinnati (Butler, Clermont,
Warren counties) seem to live in a permanent state of discontent.
Their General Assembly delegation is among the most newsworthy in the Statehouse, because of the sometimes edgy bills those legislators occasionally propose, especially pertaining to guns and abortion.
One thing the region’s not is wine-and-cheese country – it’s more like beer ’n’ brats. In 1968, when Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon and Alabama segregationist George Wallace ran for president, Wallace drew just under 12 percent of Ohio’s statewide vote. But race-baiter Wallace drew 25 percent of the vote in Warren County, the biggest share he drew in any Ohio county, and 19 percent in Butler.
Moreover, Western
Ohio Republicans have sent to Congress such robustly conservative Republicans as Marion super-isolationist Frederick Smith; Middletown’s Donald E. (Buz) Lukens, once president of the Young Republican National Federation; and Urbana’s Jim Jordan. Things didn’t end well for Lukens, born in Warren County’s Harveysburg; he eventually landed in prison. But fans of Jim Jordan think he might reach the White House, and not just as a visitor.
In separate developments last month, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, five Republican county parties in Western Ohio approved a letter criticizing DeWine for his stewardship of the state during the coronavirus pandemic: Darke; Mercer; Shelby; Van Wert; and Williams. (Williams is where Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted grew up.) Later in June, Warren County’s ever-simmering GOP chimed in.
It’s hard to figure why Republicans in heavily Catholic Mercer — one of just two Ohio counties that supported Catholic Democrat Al Smith for president in 1928 — have a big problem with Mike DeWine. DeWine has sincerely, consistently, opposed abortion.
In any case, none of those counties is likely to support any Democrat who might challenge Republican DeWine for re-election as governor of Ohio in 2022. The six counties’ pro-Donald Trump margins in 2016 ranged from 69 percent (Williams County) to 80 percent (Mercer). In 2022, the voters in those counties aren’t going to support a Democrat who’d be challenging DeWine.
The griping will continue; it’s a tradition.
Last week, the governor ordered people to wear masks in public places in Franklin, Butler, Hamilton, Montgomery, Cuyahoga, Trumbull (Warren) and Huron (Norwalk) counties because of the number of coronavirus cases those counties are suffering.
That’s a sound move, though it won’t win Mike DeWine any fans among those Ohioans predisposed to complain.
But it’ll save lives — including the lives of those Ohioans who’ll survive to gripe another day.
Thomas Suddes is an expert on Ohio politics who has written for 35 years. Send email to tsuddes@gmail.com