Trump campaigns in Ohio to rescue Republican candidates in close midterm races

President Donald Trump has taken his midterm campaign blitz to Ohio, trying to rescue Republican candidates locked in surprisingly tight races in a state that has spent the last decade shifting firmly to the right.

Stumping just outside Dayton, Trump is seeking to boost Senator Jon Husted and gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy. Both are struggling to secure comfortable leads in races that national Republicans once hoped would be easy victories.

The state, which Trump won handily in his last three presidential bids, is proving more resistant this time around. A Marist poll of registered Ohio voters late last month showed that 56 per cent disapprove of the president's job performance.

Why is Donald Trump campaigning in Ohio?

Ohio is a key battleground for control of the US Senate. Husted, who was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Vice-President JD Vance, is trying to win the seat outright against Democrat Sherrod Brown. Brown is a veteran politician seeking to return to the Senate after losing his seat two years ago.

Democrats view Ohio as one of their best opportunities to flip a seat and gain control of the Senate. The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senator Tim Scott, admitted the race is "right at a dead-even race" after Husted recently closed a small polling gap.

At the same time, Ramaswamy is locked in a tight contest for the governor's mansion against Democrat Dr Amy Acton, the state's former health director. Despite a massive funding advantage, Ramaswamy’s campaign has failed to clear a path to an easy victory in a state that has elected Republican governors in six of the last seven elections.

What are the key issues for Ohio voters?

Local economic anxieties are dominating the campaign. Voters in Montgomery County, a key swing area that Trump lost by just 1,201 votes in 2024, are struggling with rising petrol prices and inflation.

The economic pain became more acute just days before Trump's arrival, when a truck factory in nearby Springfield laid off nearly 1,400 workers.

"I’m facing the prospect of having to sell one of our family’s vehicles," said Kelly Savage-Radich, a mother of three from a Dayton suburb who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. She blamed the administration for rising costs, noting her weekly grocery bill has jumped by $100. "I think I’m going to vote Democrat all the way down."

A massive local controversy has also erupted over artificial intelligence data centres. Brown has hammered Husted for giving billions in tax breaks to Big Tech companies to build these energy-hungry facilities when Husted served as lieutenant governor. Voters are worried the data centres will drive up household electricity bills, consume scarce farmland, and strain local water supplies.

While Trump has defended the data centres as necessary to keep pace with China in AI development, Brown has turned the issue into a potent campaign weapon. "Senator Jon Husted gave billions in tax breaks to Big Tech," Brown wrote on social media. "Now, he's making Ohioans foot the bill."

What happens next?

With the midterm elections only a month away, local Republican leaders are working to drum up enthusiasm. Montgomery County Republican party chair Phil Plummer acknowledged that voter energy has been slow to build but insisted momentum is growing.

Plummer blamed the Biden administration for printing too much money and driving inflation, arguing that Ohio Republicans have done their best by lowering property and income taxes. "We're moving the ball in Ohio," Plummer said. "So we're doing the best we can."