Are state politics dead in Ohio? • Ohio Capital Magazine

me in 2018 Conducted an analysis of state House races. In this analysis, I found that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election results explained 90 percent of the variation in state House races and 98 percent of the variation in state Senate races.

This week we got new evidence about why local elections may fail in Ohio. Republican lawmakers voted in 2022 State Supreme Court pits partisans against each other. While Democrats won state Supreme Court seats in nonpartisan elections, this year three candidates with the letter “R” next to their name won with 55.7 percent, 55.2 percent and 55.1 percent of the vote; that was nearly equal to Donald Trump’s 55.2 percent statewide. vote.

Sherrod Brown, who won his first Senate election by 12 percentage points against then-Senator Mike DeWine in 2006, was re-elected by six percentage points in 2012, and won a third time by nearly seven points in 2018, ultimately lost to his Trump-backed opponent. Bernie Moreno by nearly four points. Moreno was trailing Trump by about five points, but the “R” next to his name was definitely a big deal.

The function of the federal system is to provide different services at different levels of government. National defense and basic human rights are provided at the federal level. Health and education services are provided at the state level. Public safety and infrastructure are provided at the local level. Voters are given the power to choose people at different levels of government who will ensure they get the services they need at each level of government.

This approach collapses if state and local government are viewed as merely an extension of national politics. The last two speakers of the Ohio House of Representatives left office following FBI corruption investigations. One of them is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in the largest racketeering case in Ohio history. What did this cost the party in power? Zero statewide offices and perhaps a few state legislative offices that will change hands due to reapportionment. They still have majorities in both houses of parliament. But the nationalization of politics made the letter “R” next to their names more important than the actions of their members.

When I lived in Nebraska a decade ago, I saw a state government with strong institutions built on nonpartisan elections. State legislators were elected by ballot measure without party affiliation. There was no party meeting in the capital building; The speaker and all committee chairmen were elected by secret ballot. Although there are only 17 registered Democrats in the 49-member House, nine of them were serving as committee chairs the first year I was there. This was because people were elected based on the trust of other members, not on their partisan affiliation.

I don’t know what the remedy is for Ohio’s state policies to be subsumed by national policies. But I don’t think it helps when politicians make all elections more partisan. Ballot boxes, redistricting commissions, courts: What do any of these roles have to do with partisan politics? The answer is nothing. Nothing, that is, just trying to deceive the public into believing that state government is not important.