Numbers from the Ohio Secretary of State's office show the so-called blue wave of Democratic enthusiasm evident in races in other states might not be a reality here.
Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.
Only a fifth of Ohio’s registered voters cast ballots and of those, there were 20% more Republican ballots cast than Democratic ones. Republicans say that’s evidence there’s not a blue wave in Ohio. But Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper says there was more Democratic participation this year than in the 2016 primary. Still he says there are reasons why more Republicans voted.
“Because we maintained neutrality, we were not pushing the vote out. That was up to the individual candidates. There also was $8 million more spent in the Republican primary than our side.”
Democrats are already taking a page from the playbook from 2006, when they nearly all statewide offices. They are using phrases like “culture of corruption” and “pay to play” when talking about controversies surrounding ECOT and payday loans.