{"id":27395,"date":"2026-08-04T14:39:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27395"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:39:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T09:39:42","slug":"reliably-red-ohio-suddenly-a-red-hot-mess-for-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27395","title":{"rendered":"Reliably red Ohio suddenly a red-hot mess for GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/XEPHFtVlN_t3Kcmq-PCSRKlwnEI=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/03\/1785782741821.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ohio, the red state that helped fuel President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Trump<\/a>&#8216;s political comeback \u2014 and launched his presumed heir, JD <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/02\/vance-wsj-trump-rubio-2028\" target=\"_blank\">Vance<\/a>, onto the national stage \u2014 has become one of the GOP&#8217;s biggest headaches for the midterms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Republicans are struggling up and down the ballot in the Rust Belt state, which transformed from a perennial battleground into a Republican stronghold under Trump.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Ohio&#8217;s GOP is scrambling under the weight of domestic abuse allegations, sluggish campaigns and a working-class rebellion. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in:<\/strong> The most immediate concern is the race in northeastern Ohio&#8217;s normally red 7th House District, where Rep. Max Miller faces allegations that he abused his ex-wife and daughter, which Miller has denied.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trump, who previously called the allegations a family matter, phoned Miller on Monday and expressed worries about his candidacy, three sources briefed on the call told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;It&#8217;s not looking good for you,&#8221; the president told Miller, the sources said. &#8220;I&#8217;m hearing from people you&#8217;re not going to win.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Miller told Trump he was staying in the race.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>For Ohio Republicans, <\/strong>Miller&#8217;s situation has muddied their prospects in a November election that will be a key test of whether Trump&#8217;s populist coalition can withstand the growing discontent with his war in Iran and the economy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Republicans now say they&#8217;ll spend tens of millions of dollars in Ohio races they once were heavily favored to win this fall.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s a striking turn of events: Two years ago, Trump won Ohio by 11 points \u2014 the largest margin in Ohio<strong> <\/strong>for any winning presidential candidate in four decades.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Ohio is ground zero<strong> <\/strong>of the environment this cycle,&#8221; a national Republican strategist tells Axios. &#8220;Take a GOP voter depression, mix it with the war in Iran, and now sprinkle with some Max Miller abuse [allegations], and you&#8217;ve got the recipe for a very dicey outcome in November.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The races giving Republicans the most heartburn:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Miller&#8217;s debacle<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The ex-wife he&#8217;s accused of abusing <\/strong>is Emily Moreno, the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Strategists from both parties agree the allegations have helped Democrat Brian Poindexter run neck-and-neck with Miller in the conservative House district. <\/li>\n<li>Republicans worry that Democrats will run ads tying Miller to other Ohio candidates, who are beginning to face uncomfortable questions about whether they support Miller. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>One leading Republican <\/strong>definitely does not: Moreno, who over the weekend <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/berniemoreno\/status\/2083936589424582942?s=20\" target=\"_blank\">said his former son-in-law<\/a> &#8220;should not serve&#8221; in Congress and called on him to resign. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Other Ohio Republicans are holding out hope that Miller quits and is replaced on the ballot by state Sen. Jane Timken \u2014 a move that would have to happen by Wednesday.<\/li>\n<li>But as he told Trump on Monday, Miller has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/02\/max-miller-moreno-abuse-allegations\" target=\"_blank\">vowed to stay in the race<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. The Senate race<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Republicans say they&#8217;ve viewed <\/strong>private polling showing GOP Sen. Jon Husted in a dead heat against former Sen. Sherrod Brown.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Brown, a populist-minded Democrat who served three terms before losing his seat to Moreno in 2024, has outraised Husted by nearly 3 to 1. <\/li>\n<li>Republicans concede Brown has found a potent line of attack against Husted by casting him as &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AdImpact_Pol\/status\/2074493471247728721\" target=\"_blank\">the face of data centers in Ohio<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Some Republicans worry that Husted has run a lackluster campaign and hasn&#8217;t distinguished himself since being appointed to succeed Vance last year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>But a senior Republican <\/strong>told Axios that Husted has taken steps to get on track, including by hiring veteran strategist Matt Mason to help oversee his campaign.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Others noted that Moreno was trailing Brown at this point two years ago, but ended up winning by 4 points.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. The governor&#8217;s race<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Polls are showing <\/strong>former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in a neck-and-neck race against Democrat Amy Acton.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some Republicans say Ramaswamy, an Ivy League-educated former biotech investor, has struggled to win over the state&#8217;s blue-collar voters. <\/li>\n<li>He&#8217;s also faced some backlash from conservatives, particularly over his support for developing data centers for AI. He was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/politics\/articles\/republican-booed-while-addressing-students-060813902.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL7-XqyDnvuy8pZiepjHNBKCYYTaYBhxNgXTY-GwhcbkoAJf5OkF9BvOhSQ-C8pk9R9qRtow866xeqkT4vs8EaYsUEuh9wWlc_g9Ph8hM0Tk06ObWp6sYKYgedxnknfepyuvEwulEmTvC9vwzzW4vG6wd1sSI-ZyU4WuwkgMTNkJ\" target=\"_blank\">heckled<\/a> at a libertarian conference last week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Still, Republicans say Ramaswamy <\/strong>appears to be in better shape than Miller or Husted, and that he&#8217;s the most likely of the three to win in November.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re watching: <\/strong>Some Republicans fear the party&#8217;s struggles in Ohio could signal broader weakness across blue-collar states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ohio, the red state that helped fuel President Trump&#8216;s political comeback \u2014 and launched his presumed heir, JD Vance, onto the national stage \u2014 has become one of the GOP&#8217;s biggest headaches for the midterms. Why it matters: Republicans are struggling up and down the ballot in the Rust Belt state, which transformed from a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/XEPHFtVlN_t3Kcmq-PCSRKlwnEI=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/03\/1785782741821.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}