The Vote Approaches

Ohio Republicans will seek to retain their hold on every branch of state government this Election Day as Democrats look to a competitive U.S. Senate race as a possible pickup. The top race has Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan facing Republican JD Vance for the chance to succeed the GOP’s Rob Portman, who’s retiring. Ryan, a 10-term congressman from the blue-collar Mahoning Valley, has raised more than three and a half times the Donald Trump-endorsed Vance, a venture capitalist and author of the best-selling “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance has relied heavily on a cash infusion from Senate Republican leadership, while Ryan also has appealed to national Democrats to help him to the finish line. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is going for a second term against Democrat Nan Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton. Whaley has struggled to gain traction against the 75-year-old DeWine. Already well-known, DeWine became a household presence during months of daily briefings at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, he helped break ground on a huge new Intel computer chip facility