Few issues have vexed Democrats more than the long-running defection of White, working-class voters to the Republican Party. Ohio’s upcoming Senate race will test whether Democrats have a formula to win some of them back.
Ohio Republicans have just come off one of the most expensive Senate primaries in history, with a fractured field and a fractious, months-long debate. The winner was J.D. Vance, a Yale-educated, Silicon Valley venture capitalist who surged at the end of the campaign after securing the endorsement of former president Donald Trump. … The Democratic nominee is Rep. Tim Ryan, a 10-term House member who represents a district in northeast Ohio that has suffered through the decline of manufacturing in the United States and the shipment of jobs overseas. …
Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg said Ryan has the potential both to win support from working-class White voters who have drifted away from the Democratic Party and potentially gain support from establishment Republicans who have become disenchanted with a party dominated by Trump. But, like others, Greenberg sees Ohio’s overall landscape as challenging for a Democrat and the national trends in this election year as formidable for Ryan’s candidacy. CONTINUED
Dan Balz, Washington Post
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