Kelly Savage-Radich grew up in a Republican-supporting Ohio family and voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
asserted
Radich → grow → 2016
But today the mother of three, who lives in a Montgomery county suburb of Dayton, is facing the prospect of having to sell one of her family’s vehicles due to the high cost of gas.
asserted
who → live → gas
Her grocery bill has gone up about $100 a week.
asserted
bill → go → ?
She lays the blame squarely at the Trump administration’s door.
asserted
She → lay → door
“He wants his name on everything,” she said.
asserted
she → want → everything
“I’m sorry, but I don’t give a shit whose name is on the Kennedy Center.”
asserted
name → ’m → Center
That wasn’t the only matter on her list of grievances – Savage-Radich also brought up the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.
asserted
Radich → bring → Minneapolis
She said: “The shooting of an American citizen dead in the street, and no one was held accountable?
asserted
one → say → street
I have two daughters, and I’m trying to teach them all the freedoms this country has, but it feels like our freedoms are being taken.
asserted
freedoms → have → freedoms
“For people that always claim, ‘Don’t tread on me,’ they sure have no problem now.”
uncertain
they → claim → problem
On Saturday, Trump will visit Montgomery county, which he only barely lost in 2024, to rally for two Republicans struggling in key Ohio election races: incumbent US senator Jon Husted, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the candidate for Ohio governor.
asserted
he → visit → governor
Trump won Ohio by handy margins in the past three presidential elections, and the state has not voted for a Democratic president since Barack Obama in 2012.
asserted
state → win → 2012
The Republican party holds a supermajority in the state’s legislature.
asserted
party → hold → legislature
But the president’s popularity in the industrial midwestern state has plummeted during his second term, and his presence may be more of a hindrance than a help.
uncertain
presence → plummet → help
A Marist poll of nearly 1,300 registered Ohio voters conducted late last month found that 56% of participants disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president.
asserted
Trump → register → president
In two important primaries held earlier this year, turnout for Republicans in Montgomery county was just two-thirds of that for Democrats.
asserted
turnout → hold → Democrats
In last May’s Republican gubernatorial primary, turnout was down 33% or 362,000 votes compared to the previous primary, held in 2022.
uncertain
turnout → compare → 2022
In a US Senate race that could help decide which party controls the national political landscape, Husted is polling behind his Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown.
uncertain
Husted → help → challenger
Despite Ohio electing Republican governors in six out of the past seven elections, Ramaswamy, a billionaire former Republican presidential candidate who until recently was one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, is also polling behind Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate.
asserted
who → elect → Acton
Representative Max Miller, who until domestic and child abuse allegations against him emerged last summer enjoyed close ties with Trump, faces stiff opposition to retain his congressional seat from a union ironworker.
asserted
allegations → emerge → ironworker
(Miller has denied all of the allegations, and has not faced criminal charges.
asserted
Miller → deny → charges
The House ethics committee is investigating the allegations.)
asserted
committee → investigate → allegations
Montgomery county, a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities, has been a swing county for decades: in the presidential election two years ago, Trump lost it by just 1,201 votes, one of just seven of 88 counties in Ohio to fall Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’s way.
asserted
Trump → lose → Ohio
With the midterms just a month away, the county’s leading Republicans admit that they’re in a fight.
asserted
they → lead → fight
“You know, it’s been slower [than in previous election cycles], but it’s picking up.
asserted
it → know → cycles
Honestly, I haven’t seen much energy on either side, but we’re getting more interest, people are getting engaged,” said Phil Plummer, the chair of the Montgomery county Republican party and a member of the Ohio house of representatives.
asserted
Plummer → see → representatives
“Obviously our candidates knocking on doors are hearing about the affordability issues.
asserted
candidates → knock → issues
But we tell them: we didn’t create that, the Democrats did, and it’s hard to fix it in two years.”
asserted
it → tell → years
Plummer said that during the Biden administration too much money was printed in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal tax breaks and investment spending, which has fueled higher costs today.
asserted
which → say → costs
Democrats say Biden’s spending surge was to combat the economic recession caused by the 2020 pandemic and point to Trump’s war on Iran costing Americans more than $44bn.
asserted
war → say → 44bn
“Obviously, the war [on Iran] hasn’t helped as far as oil prices, but Ohio has been deemed the number one state to do business in the nation.
asserted
Ohio → help → nation
We’re moving the ball in Ohio; we’ve lowered property tax and cut income tax,” he said.
asserted
he → move → tax
“So we’re doing the best we can.”
asserted
we → do → best
Few residents care to talk politics in the neighborhoods of Dayton, Montgomery county’s largest city.
asserted
residents → care → Dayton
I think he’s a disaster,” said a woman who declined to give her name as she stood outside a tattoo parlor in the Old North district, a working-class area north of downtown Dayton.
asserted
she → think → Dayton
Caring for his invalid mother on the porch of his home, Bill, a former nurse and Republican voter who asked not to be fully identified in order to speak freely, disagreed, and said the wider focus on rising gas prices was misplaced.
“It’s always been crazy high, and people will buy a whole lot of gas at $2.99 but act like it’s out of control when it’s $3,” he says, adding that he has not decided whether he will vote in the midterms yet.
asserted
he → care → midterms
“It seems like everybody is making more money, even with the most menial jobs.”
Independents are set to play a major role in deciding Ohio’s next governor and the senate race between Husted and Brown.
asserted
Independents → seem → Husted
Nearly 38% of Ohio voters, or 2.9 million people, are independents, according to the Independent Voter Project.
uncertain
people → accord → Project
Running as an independent candidate for US house of representatives, Sandeep Dixit has knocked on hundreds of doors and met thousands of Ohioans on the campaign trail in north-east Ohio’s 13th district.
asserted
Dixit → run → district
He says the biggest issue voters are talking about is the hate-filled language coming from the political class.
asserted
voters → say → class
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
