Ohio looms as a potential spoiler state for Trump

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

Ohioans are again getting plenty of attention in the presidential race’s final weeks.

After a lull last month, high-level campaigning has accelerated in the perennial battleground state. Republican Donald Trump campaigned here Thursday, while President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton followed Hillary Clinton’s return to the state earlier in the week.

The state’s role this year shapes up to be potential spoiler for Trump’s chances of reaching 270 electoral votes. While Clinton appears to have paths to the total needed without Ohio, the state’s 18 votes are considered crucial for Trump.

No Republican has won the presidency without Ohio.

Kyle Kondik, of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said, “If Clinton wins Ohio, Trump has no chance.”

Kondik said, though, that Ohio has “a Republican lean” in presidential elections, but Trump still needs to pick up votes where Romney couldn’t. Trump’s campaign points to his shows of strength in blue-collar areas such as Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.