By Richard Cowan
MEDINA, OHIO, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Voters started lining up while it was still dark on Tuesday morning at the Medina County Board of Elections on first day of early voting in Ohio, a state that looms large in the nationwide campaigns between Republicans and Democrats battling for control of the US Congress.
If this biennial midterm election is similar to years past, voter turnout will be lower than in the presidential elections every four years.
But at least in Medina County in northeast Ohio, residents queuing at 7:15 a.m. (1115 GMT) were taking seriously their right to vote at a time when one US Senate race and two for the US House of Representatives in the state are seen as “toss-ups,” according to the Cook Political Report.
Registered Republicans, Democrats and independents interviewed by Reuters all shared similar frustrations: they are exhausted by political ads they see as deceptive and mean, they hate the US war with Iran and they really hate the inflation that has become chronic.
Nobody said they expected things to improved any time soon.
Third in the line that awaited the 8 a.m. opening of the polling center was Eddie St. John, 83, who retired years ago from a career working “offshore” in Louisiana, and who lives in Wadsworth, Ohio, population around 24,700.
Asked what he most wanted to see fixed as a result of the election, which ends on November 3, St. John said, “Mostly its our economy. It sucks.”
“You can’t afford nothing anymore. Everything’s so high. Gas is getting worse all the time,” he said, adding, “This guy in office now he promises this. He promises that… (but) nothing’s coming down.”
“This guy,” St. John said, is President Donald Trump, who isn’t on the ballot. He stressed, however, that he lays blame less on political parties than “the person that’s in office.”
INFLATION, WAR ON BALLOT
The political party out of power usually benefits in midterm elections. With Republicans holding the White House and both chambers of Congress at a time when Trump’s approval rating is at a record-low 32%, Democrats are feeling increasingly competitive.
Political analysts will be watching closely what unfolds in Ohio, as Trump has been a dominant force, especially among blue-collar workers who used to align with the Democratic Party.
But with inflation running at around 3.4%, there is deep discontent over rising food, energy and housing costs.
The US war with Iran, launched by Trump on February 28 for reasons that critics say he has not clearly presented to the nation, also has voters worried that it will become yet another “forever war.”
Troy Flohr, 59, a retired policeman with the Medina County Sheriff, complained about the campaign ads from all sides that he said were riddled with “half-truths.”
Standing just feet away from a voting booth, Flohr said he was still undecided on whether to vote to reelect Republican Representative Max Miller for a third term, despite the fact that he generally votes for the Republican ticket. “I tend to like the rest of them” running as Republicans on this year’s ballot, Flohr said.
He said his nephew is serving in the US Army and stationed in the Middle East.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Flohr said, “I’m tired of him saying the war’s going to end in two weeks, the war’s going to end next month…I’m getting fed up with that.”
Yet Flohr said he would “probably” vote for Trump again given the chance. “I don’t like where the Democrat Party has gone. I’m going to leave the rest of that comment alone,” he said when asked to elaborate.
INDEPENDENTS
Trump won Ohio and the state’s 17 electoral votes handily in 2016, 2020 and 2024, despite losing the 2020 presidential race to Democrat Joe Biden.
This election could depend on whether disaffected Democrats return to their party and whether many independents turn their backs on Trump’s Republicans.
Medina County, seen as a swing district, has 132,345 registered voters of which 29,466 are Republicans and 15,872 Democrats. Election officials say there are 86,762 independents, who could determine whether Republicans continue their success there.
Early voting, which so far was off to a vibrant start, plus mail-in ballots are seen as an early indicator of what turnout could be on the November 3 election day, according to officials.
SENATE SEAT IN PLAY
Former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, is trying to return to the Senate, where he served for 18 years before being defeated two years ago by Republican Senator Bernie Moreno.
This time around, Brown, a populist Democrat who long railed against US trade deals with foreign competitors, is attempting to unseat Republican Jon Husted in a special election with the winner holding the seat through 2028.
Political analysts see the race between Husted and Brown as a toss-up.
With Republicans currently holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Democrats are hoping for a net gain of at least four seats, including in Ohio, in order to control the chamber.
CLOSE HOUSE RACES
Meanwhile, two neck-and-neck US House races could help determine next year’s majority in that chamber, which Republicans currently hold with a 218-214 margin. One independent is aligned with Republicans and there are two vacancies that will be filled in the midterm elections.
In the 7th congressional district, which includes Medina, just south of Cleveland, incumbent Miller is seen facing a tough challenge from Democrat Brian Poindexter.
While Miller has raised far more funds than his Democratic opponent and has Trump’s endorsement in a Republican-leaning district, his campaign has been hit by allegations of domestic violence, which he denies.
Poindexter is a labor union ironworker and member of a suburban city council.
Meanwhile, in Ohio’s 9th congressional district that covers most of northwest Ohio and hugs the shores of Lake Erie, Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, a moderate who was first elected in 1982, is battling in another toss-up race against Republican challenger Derek Merrin, who nearly defeated her in 2024.
Annie Wild, 64, a retired public school teacher, said she will vote for all Democrats on the ballot. She also said since the early days of Trump’s second term she has begun to see some of the president’s supporters saying they are abandoning him. But that is not coming from the voters she called “MAGA.”
“I’ve lost friends that I’ve had for 50 years,” she said of some Trump supporters, because of the gulf between them.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan. Editing by Michael Learmonth and Jonathan Spicer)
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