Democrats are feeling good about taking back control of JD Vance's old Senate seat in Ohio.
The one-time swing state has leaned heavily Republican in recent elections, but Democrats believe thing might be different in November because President Donald Trump won't be on the ballot, and they sense voters have soured on his second term in the White House and will take out their frustration on GOP candidates, reported The Guardian.
“We haven’t had any success in a long time,” said Chris Redfern, who chaired Ohio’s Democratic Party when Barack Obama won there in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. “For me, it feels like there is a wave coming, and I’m not sure there’s anything Donald Trump and the MAGA right can do to stop it.”
Reporters found evidence of that wave building at Golden Dawn, an Italian restaurant that has served Youngstown since 1932, where a hamburger runs $7 and a domestic beer costs $2 at happy hour. The price getting the most attention these days, though, is the one approaching $5 at gas stations across town.
Who's to blame for it is a question dividing this city — and potentially the state.
"It's because of that damn war with Iran," said Tom Goodman, 47, a political independent who works odd jobs. "Trump can go ride back into the sunset on whatever white horse he rode in on."
Across the bar, contractor Chris Vitello sees it differently. "I'm not too worked up about this Iran war thing right now," he said. "Oil'll come down rapidly. The economy, I think, is about to burst open."
That disagreement encapsulates the stakes in Ohio's marquee Senate race, in which Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown is attempting to unseat Republican incumbent Jon Husted in a special election this November. The winner will serve the remaining two years of the term JD Vance won in 2022, but Husted was appointed to fill when Vance became vice president.
Trump has carried Ohio in three consecutive elections with growing margins, and he sits at the center of Democratic hopes to retake the Senate. Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has named it one of four top targets, and the Senate GOP's super PAC has already pledged $79 million to defend the seat.
Brown, now 73, is running on kitchen-table economics, casting Husted as complicit in rising costs. But the political terrain remains steep. Polls show a close race, and Youngstown State political scientist Paul Sracic warned that Trump's loyalty among his base is durable even amid discontent: "Even when they disagree, they're not going to abandon him."
Still, cracks are showing. Lifelong area resident Ron Yacobony, who backed Trump and Bernie Moreno in 2024, said he now plans to vote straight Democratic.
“Republicans are so way out of line … I have to go all Democrat," said the 71-year-old Yacobony. "I try and change from time to time, depending on the situation, but we have to get some change in Washington, so I’m gonna go with as many Democrats as I can."
His wife, a Trump voter, said she's reconsidering. "I think he's gone a little overboard this time," she said.