Ohio Election Guide 2018: DeWine, Sherrod Brown Win Races

Ohio voters split their ballots, throwing their support behind incumbent Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown, and future governor Mike DeWine, a Republican. Many down-ticket races skewed Republican on Tuesday.

Issue 1, which would have reduced criminal sentences for drug users, was roundly rejected across the state. Troy Balderson again secured the Ohio 12th District, over Democrat Danny O'Connor, and the attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, and state auditor will all be Republicans.

Read all of Patch's Election Day coverage in Ohio below.

At the Polls

Voters in Ohio said they were "terrified" on Tuesday, as ballots were cast across the state and the U.S. in key national races. Polling places across the state reported high turnout for a midterm.

"What's happening in this nation is terrifying," said Jonathan, a voter in inner-ring Cleveland suburb Cleveland Heights. "Checks and balances are important and we just don't have them." He said he would be voting for Democrats Sherrod Brown (for Senate), and Richard Cordray (for governor).

Jonathan's sentiment was shared by other voters that Patch talked to on Tuesday. A 59-year-old man named Dennis, on Cleveland's east side, said he was "horrified" with the direction the country was heading.

The suburban and urban voters in Ohio were matched, and in some cases outweighed, at the polls by rural voters. A poll worker in Munson Township, for example, told Patch they had a line out the door for much of the day. Geauga County appears to have gone heavily red in projected vote totals.

Read about the national impact of Tuesday's vote by clicking here.

Battling the Weather

More than 3,000 Northeast Ohioans were without power on Election Day morning, according to FirstEnergy. Steady rain and strong winds were hammering the region while residents tried to get out to their polling location.

Residents in Cleveland Heights, Strongsville, North Olmsted, Parma and Parma Heights all had power outages hit their cities. Only two polling locations were without electricity — Old Town Hall in Strongsville and Spruce School in North Olmsted. Both facilities ran on battery power and collected paper ballots.

Read more on weather conditions by clicking here.

Succeeding John Kasich

Get the results for Ohio's gubernatorial race by clicking here.

Perhaps one of the most famous governors in the nation, Republican John Kasich was term-limited out of his seat and unable to run as an incumbent. He had no clear successor even from his own party.

Kasich has famously found himself at odds with Donald Trump since the two competed for their party's nomination for president in 2016. Trump won the nomination and the White House, but that has not stopped Ohio's governor from being a vocal critic of his party-mate.

When Renacci conceded defeat to Sherrod Brown on Tuesday night, he took time to blame Kasich for his failures, saying he split Ohio Republicans.

DeWine, Ohio's attorney general, and Kasich's successor, has eschewed the governor's politics. Instead, DeWine has leaned closer to Trump's policies, particularly after a hard-fought primary contest against Kasich's Lieutenant Gov. Mary Taylor.

The two Republican candidates called each other "liberals" and competed for the approval of the president. After winning the nomination, and riding the urgency of the primaries, DeWine launched the first political ad of the mid-terms. He tried to paint his Democratic opponent, Richard Cordray, as a soft-on-crime Democrat.

Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Chief Cordray spent much of his campaign appealing to moderate voters, trying to humanize himself with light-hearted commercials, and attacking DeWine as a radical that wants to strip protections for Ohioans suffering from pre-existing medical conditions.

In the process, he garnered endorsements from many Ohio newspapers and major politicians, like Barack Obama. Elizabeth Warren even called him the "nerd we need" as governor, the Columbus Dispatch reported. And the race was in a near dead-heat before Tuesday, but the late push wasn't enough.

The Incumbent Senator

The race between Brown and Renacci — like so many midterm races in 2018 — was mired in ugly politics. The two accused each of salacious mistakes, including flying on a private jet owned by a strip club proprietor, and pointing to a restraining order filed against Brown in 1987.

Renacci is another prominent Ohio Republican that has aligned himself closely with the president's bombastic rhetorical style, and aggressive political posturing. He was a late-entrant into the race for Senate, after front-runner Josh Mandel dropped out, and was likely trying to make a splash with voters.

Vice President Mike Pence, Eric Trump, Republican Sen. Rob Portman, and other prominent right-wing politicians have appeared with Renacci to try and boost him in the polls.

Renacci was likely hoping a last-minute visit from President Donald Trump would boost his standing with Ohioans.

For his part, Brown combined the use of a substantial political war chest with a blue-collar political philosophy. He touted a message of support for the middle and working classes, while arguing against deep tax cuts for the rich.

"Wages have stagnated for the middle class over the last several decades, all while the 1 percent are getting richer and richer and richer. And one of the ways we fight back against that is by standing up for American manufacturing – which we do by standing up to trade cheats," Brown said on his Twitter.

The Other Races, Issues To Watch

The most compelling statewide issue on ballots this year was Issue 1 — which would have reduced criminal sentences for certain drug crimes. Major groups on both sides of the issue poured money into advertising.

The real nuts and bolts of the initiative were this: Issue 1 would have classified obtaining or possessing fentanyl, heroin, meth, cocaine, LSD and other controlled substances as a misdemeanor, not a felony. It would also have prohibited someone convicted of such a misdemeanor from facing jail time until their third offense in two years.

Had Issue 1 passed, it would have allowed persons already serving jail time for possession to ask for a reduced sentence. Probation violations would also have seen lesser penalties. Any savings the state enjoyed as part of Issue 1's passing (from a reduced prison population) would have been directed toward rehabilitation facilities within Ohio.

Issue 1 would not have changed penalties for drug dealers

The ballot language for Issue 1 can be seen by clicking here.

Finally, Troy Balderson again defended his spot in the House of Representatives against Danny O'Connor. The two squared off in a August in a razor thin special election that many pundits called a referendum on the Trump presidency.

Balderson represents Ohio's 12th District, a historically Republican enclave that has produced several notable Republicans, including John Kasich. In 2016, the district went to Trump by a margin of 11.4 points.

Balderson had to walk a tight rope over the past six months, appealing to Kasich and his vocal contingent of anti-Trump Republicans, while accepting support from Trump and Pence, both of whom stumped for Balderson before the special election. His strategy worked.

O'Connor is a moderate Democrat that distanced himself from far-left politics, particularly on issues like universal healthcare (which he's against). He was not a Nancy Pelosi guy (despite a gaffe), and didn't want to abolish ICE. He was never New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

More Election Articles from Patch

• Who Will Be Ohio's Next Governor? Other 2018 Election Questions
• Ohio's 12th District And Why It Matters Nationally
• Ohio's 14th District Profiled By Politico
• Ohio Senate Race: Josh Mandel Drops Out
• First Ad Launched In Ohio Governor's Race

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