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Gov. John Kasich says he doesn’t know if it’s possible for Republicans to win in Mahoning County
YOUNGSTOWN
Statewide Republicans say it will be difficult to win in Mahoning County, traditionally a Democratic stronghold, but it doesn’t mean they won’t try.
“You know the Mahoning Valley can make a very large statement” in this election, Gov. John Kasich said Thursday. “I don’t know if it’s possible, frankly, for Republicans to win over here.”
Kasich was joined at Dearing Compressor & Pump Co. at 801 Midlothian Blvd. by five other Republican statewide officeholders at one of the first stops of a three-day “Ohio Works Bus Tour” to drum up support for the GOP ticket.
About 250 people, primarily Dearing workers, attended the rally.
Kasich made a direct plea to Democrats, bringing up those who crossed party lines to vote in 1980 for Republican Ronald Reagan.
“You forget your party this time and you vote for results, and you vote for values, and you vote to continue to lift the state and to lift our Valley,” he said.
As he often does when he comes to this area, Kasich mentioned his “blue-collar, ethnic values” and his family’s long history as Democrats growing up in McKees Rocks, Pa.
“I get Youngstown. I get the Mahoning Valley,” he said. “My dad was a Democrat” who voted for Reagan.
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.
Secretary of State Jon Husted joked that it was “great to be in the heart of Republican politics right here in Mahoning County.”
Joining them were Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, Attorney General Mike DeWine, Auditor Dave Yost and Supreme Court Justice Judi French.
In response to the visit, Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras said, “Now that the GOP statewide candidates have used their GPS to find the Mahoning Valley, I’m wondering what they’re going to bring us besides empty promises and tax cuts for the wealthy.”
In response to a question by The Vindicator after the rally about his party’s statewide slate being competitive in Mahoning County, Yost said, “Obviously, a Republican [who] does 45 percent [of the vote] in Mahoning County is doing well.”
He added: “The situation on the ground with the county auditor and the top of the [Democratic] ticket with the governor’s race is affecting the environment a little bit.”
Yost was referring to county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, a Democrat indicted on political corruption charges, and various problems with the campaign of Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee for governor.
Lauren Hitt, FitzGerald’s spokeswoman, playing on the Ohio Works name of the bus tour, said, “The only person this state is working for is John Kasich and other wealthy, well-connected millionaires.”