Candidates in Ohio make final campaign pushes before Election Day

DAYTON — We are getting closer and closer to Election Day and candidates for office are making their final pushes for votes.

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Both Ohio Senate candidates Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance have spent a lot of time in the Miami Valley. Congressman Ryan stopped by the Montgomery County Job Center on Friday and will be in northeastern Ohio Election Day Eve.

Mr. Vance will spend the first part of his day Monday in Westlake and Toledo and will be at a rally here in Dayton with former President Donald Trump.

News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis spoke with voters, election officials and political experts Sunday as Election Day draws near.

“Interest has certainly been spiked for this election,” said Llyn McCoy, Greene County Board of Elections Deputy Director.

A steady stream of voters stopped by the Greene County Board of Elections Sunday to cast their ballots. McCoy told Lewis early voting numbers are up.

“We’ve actually voted over 11,000 people here, so for comparison in the last gubernatorial election we only voted a little over 9,000 people total through the whole period,” she said.

McCoy believes the races on the ballot have a lot do with the early voting, one of them being Ohio’s U.S. Senate race.

Former President Donald Trump will be stopping here in the Miami Valley Monday evening for the Republican candidate in that race, J.D. Vance.

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“I think for him anything that Donald Trump can say that kind of assures voters that J.D. Vance is really with him now is a big deal,” said Lee Hannah, Wright State University Associate Professor of Political Science. “At the same time Donald Trump is polarizing so there may be some Democrats that may have been tuned out, they’ll see this former President who they don’t like that much on the airwaves and that may even mobilize them more to go out and vote against J.D. Vance.”

Hannah told Lewis Tim Ryan, the Democratic candidate, has used a different strategy.

“It is worth noting that J.D. Vance wants to be seen with President Trump. Tim Ryan has not invited Joe Biden to do a similar rally,” said Hannah. “He’s kind of kept some of the major national Democratic heavyweights out of the state because he believes his best way to win is really to race to the middle.”

Last minute pushes are not just coming from the candidates.

Dozens showed up at Ethan Temple SDA Church on Shiloh Springs Road for Souls to the Polls Community Festival.

“I talked to a lot of young people who say that they’re not going to vote,” said Jacqueline More, AMOS Projoct- Dayton Fellow. “I talked to them and say look I’m 61 years old I could live tomorrow and be okay but you have to make a change somewhere and so I pray that these young folks will understand and the old ones will understand that it is so important that we vote.”

This election season is on track to be the most expensive midterms in history with nearly $17 billion expected to be spent in statewide and federal races, according to the nonpartisan research group, Open Secrets.

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