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Statewide Republican ticket to campaign Thursday in Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN
Among the first stops for a three-day bus tour around the state for the Republican Party’s statewide ticket is Youngstown, one of the most Democratic cities in one of the most Democratic counties in Ohio.
Six of the eight statewide Republicans — the party’s slate features all incumbents — are expected in Youngstown at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Dearing Compressor & Pump Co. at 801 Midlothian Blvd. Doors will open at 2 p.m.
The candidates expected in Youngstown as part of the “Ohio Works Bus Tour” are Gov. John Kasich and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor — the two were in Boardman on Thursday to receive the endorsement of the Ohio Laborers’ District Council — along with Attorney General Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Jon Husted, Auditor Dave Yost and Supreme Court Justice Judi French.
In the 2010 GOP statewide sweep, all but two opposed Democratic candidates for Ohio Supreme Court — and judicial candidates don’t run with party affiliation in the general election — won in Mahoning County.
Statewide Democrats often have campaigned in the Mahoning Valley, including in this election.
Two were in the area Monday.
Ed FitzGerald, the party’s gubernatorial nominee, was in Niles to kickoff an area phone-bank effort with volunteer members of the Ohio Civil Service Employee Association.
David Pepper, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, spent most of Monday in Mahoning County, including urging early voters to cast ballots for him and the party’s ticket outside the board of elections on Youngstown’s South Side and speaking at a Mahoning Valley Democratic Club meeting in Campbell.
“I’m meeting as many people as possible, encouraging early voting as much as I can, and doing all I can to emphasize that people should vote for me,” Pepper said. The Youngstown-area “is such an important part of the state in terms of voting.”
When asked about the GOP’s Thursday visit, Pepper said, “I’m three days ahead of them. I am often in Republican areas. When you run for statewide office, you want to run up the score in your power bases and go to the other areas to cut into [the other party’s] support.”