Republican Panic Grows As Ohio Special Election Is A Less Than 1 Point Margin In District Trump Won By Double Digits

Republican candidate Troy Balderson eked out an apparent victory in Ohio’s 12th congressional district special election on Tuesday, beating Democratic opponent Danny O’Connor by less than one percentage point in a district Trump won by double digits in 2016.

O’Connor had taken an initial lead based on strong early vote support, but the less urban counties combined with the district’s historically red roots was enough to help Balderson crawl across the finish line.

While Trump has already taken a victory lap for Tuesday’s results, he and his party should be terrified by them.

As Sarah Jones pointed out early in the night, results like those we’re seeing out of Ohio are proof that Trump’s support has great deteriorated since he was elected two years ago.

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There is no way to slice this in a positive way for the GOP

As I mentioned before, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are more than likely to pat themselves on the back for Tuesday’s so-called victory in Ohio’s 12th congressional district. But today’s results should have them deeply concerned about the fact that they can’t even coast to victory in their own territory.

That’s because Republicans have spent the last year and a half bear hugging Donald Trump, a man that a majority of the country didn’t want – and still doesn’t want – to be their president.

Each special election result leading up to November, including Tuesday’s in Ohio, indicates that the GOP is about to pay a massive price for their complicity.

On the policy front – trying to repeal Obamacare, cutting taxes for the wealthy, destroying environmental protections, starting a trade war, separating children from their parents and more – Trump and Republicans have been a disaster.

Their appeasement of Trump’s unhinged and often unpatriotic behavior – trying to destroy American institutions, standing with Russia on the world stage, inciting violence against the free press and more – has been just as bad.

This is a morally bankrupt political party that is in free fall because they have repeatedly refused to put country before politics.

On Tuesday in Ohio, voters showed that they are eager to hold them accountable for it, even if Republicans did manage to hold on – again, in a district that shouldn’t have even been in question.

The blue wave is real, and there are dozens of GOP seats even more closely contested than OH-12 that are about to be swept away by it.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.