President Donald Trump is set to campaign in Vandalia, Ohio, on Saturday for Sen. Jon Husted and Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The visit lands at an awkward moment. A new Marist poll shows Democrat Sherrod Brown leading Husted by 8 points, even though Ohio has voted reliably Republican in recent cycles and Trump has carried the state three times. The same survey found 56% of Ohio voters strongly disapprove of Trump’s job performance.
That combination puts Husted and Ramaswamy in a familiar bind for swing-state candidates: stand close to the President and energize his base, or create some distance and compete for the middle. Their choice on Saturday will be watched closely by campaigns in other competitive states.
The Ohio stop is part of a 32-day rally series that also includes Iowa, Florida, Alaska and Nebraska. For those of us along the Suncoast, Florida’s place on that list is the detail worth circling, since the same strategy being tested in Ohio could soon arrive here. Do you think a presidential rally still moves the needle in a state like Florida, or are the voters already locked in?
