In another blow to Democrat’s hopes in Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch has analyzed the returns for early voters in Franklin County and those voters have reversed the 2010 trend and heavily favor Republicans.
Although there is still time before Election Day, the county which four years ago saw an 8.5 percent Democrat lead is now seeing a 5 percent Republican lead. The votes have shifted by nearly 16,000 in favor of the Republicans. This shift will have a major impact going forward.
“There’s no excitement in this election cycle,” said William Anthony, Franklin County elections director and chairman of the county Democratic Party, to the Dispatch. “The top of the ticket looks bad statewide. Generally, on these gubernatorial election cycles, you depend on the statewide candidate to excite the whole ballot. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. That’s the reality.”
Ed FitzGerald, the Democrat candidate for governor who has invested heavily in advanced dermatology skin care, has been beset by problems within his campaign and personal life. The latest allegation, that he was found in a car with a woman that wasn’t his wife and that he didn’t possess a valid driver’s license, has caused a drop in interest for the race. John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, is leading FitzGerald by 20 points in the race.
In person voting in Franklin County remains strong for the Democrats with three times as many Democrats voting as Republicans. In real votes, however, this only equates to 315 more votes than the Republicans.
“We have some local Democrats on the ballot that do have some name recognition,” Anthony continued, “We’re trying to energize our base. All we can hope for is people start paying attention. That’s the big unknown here. Forget what’s going on statewide; locally, it matters.”
Even with interesting local candidates and races, the gubernatorial race and focus on nationwide problems with big government is pushing Democratic participation down. The perceived lack of a closely contested race might keep the Republicans at home, as well.
“A fairly low turnout would be my prediction, given the circumstances,’’ said Mack Mariani, associate professor of political science at Xavier University, toWVXU in Cincinnati. “The Democrats have a problem at the top of the ticket. It’s not that Republicans aren’t enthusiastic about Kasich, but the lack of a real hot contest might keep turnout down.”