Ohio Democratic Party/Biden for President–Selected Communications Showing Examples of Activity


Ohio Democratic Party
May 1, 2020

ICYMI — Democratic Turnout Outpaced Republicans’ for First Time in Ohio Primary Election Since 2008

In case you missed it… For the first time in 12 years, Democratic turnout outpaced Republican turnout in a presidential primary election in Ohio, as Democrats continue to make significant gains in formerly deep-red suburban strongholds.

Even with more than 200,000 absentee ballots still outstanding, Democratic turnout was 25 percent higher than GOP turnout.

On a conference call with reporters this week, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said, “It doesn’t mean that we’re guaranteed to win. We’re a close state but it puts us in a much better position to win than we’ve been in any year since ’08. We are now in the mix as a swing state in a way that we weren’t.”

This follows on the heels of two consecutive polls showing Joe Biden in the lead in the Buckeye State. The Trump campaign is clearly concerned about Ohio — Donald Trump visited the Buckeye State for his first campaign rally of 2020, and his campaign is spending big on Facebook advertising targeting the state.

And then Donald Trump announced this week he would be traveling to Ohio “very soon.”

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Turnout among Democrats in 2020 was higher than the nearly 542,000 who voted for President Barack Obama, who was running unopposed in the 2012 primary.

Despite an odd primary, Democrats are buoyed by strong performances in suburban counties, such as Warren County, and a better showing than Republicans, who didn’t have a contested primary.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re guaranteed to win. We’re a close state but it puts us in a much better position to win than we’ve been in any year since ’08,” Pepper said. “We are now in the mix as a swing state in a way that we weren’t.”

…

Republican turnout – 682,843 votes cast – in this year’s primary was down significantly from the nearly 2 million votes cast in 2016 when Trump faced Ohio Gov. John Kasich in a heated race.

GOP turnout was also higher in 2012 – 1.2 million votes cast – when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney faced former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Speaker Newt Gingrich and others in the Republican primary.

From CBS News’ 2020 Daily Trail Markers newsletter:

Even with the challenges of transitioning to a vote-by-mail primary, Pepper said Democratic voter turnout surpassed 2012 turnout among Democratic primary voters. Over 860,000 ballots were cast in the 2020 Democratic primary according to unofficial results posted on the secretary of state’s website. That number is expected to increase as more mail-in ballots that are postmarked before or by April 27 are received. “I think it shows an underlying level of Democratic enthusiasm, even amid all these challenges,” Pepper said.

More on turnout levels in suburban Ohio:

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Ohio Democratic Party
April 13, 2020

ICYMI — Ohio Dems: “Folks Around The Country Are Seeing That Ohio Is In Play”

In case you missed it… Even though the coronavirus pandemic has stopped traditional campaigning for the moment, Ohio Democrats are continuing to gear up for this fall’s general election with presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who led Donald Trump by 4 percentage points in Ohio in a recent poll by NBC News/Marist College.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper told Youngstown’s WFMJ-TV: “Even though we can’t campaign in person we are able to build up an operation right now because a lot of folks around the country are seeing that Ohio is in play, both because of Biden and both because of the economic picture and Trump’s broken promises.”

The Democratic National Committee recently announced it was adding Ohio to its “Battleground Build-up 2020” program. Fair Fight PAC, Swing Left and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee are also investing in Ohio.

As Ohio Democrats ramp up their organizing efforts, the coronavirus crisis is highlighting the contrast between Trump’s failed leadership and mismanagement and Biden’s decades-long record of delivering results for the American people.

Pepper noted that Trump’s approval ratings have started to plummet as Americans “now see every day that he’s just not up to this … because he’s not up to this, we’re having people lose their lives, people lose their livelihoods.”

Pepper told Columbus’s WSYX-TV: “Joe Biden puts Ohio in play. Where he’s from, how he campaigns, he’s got a lot of similarities in his appeal to blue-collar voters as Sherrod Brown does.”

More from WFMJ:
He says Biden is still campaigning though, even if it’s not face to face.
“Even though we can’t campaign in person we are able to build up an operation right now because a lot of folks around the country are seeing that Ohio is in play, both because of Biden and both because of the economic picture and Trump’s broken promises, in a way that we end up not being as close in 2016 so the good news is we have a lot of momentum.”

21 News asked him how Joe Biden overcomes not being able to campaign in a traditional sense right now with the pandemic, as President Trump holds daily news conferences.

Pepper said they are building an operation with support from national Democrats and other groups and that Biden needs to show what presidential leadership looks like in a crisis as a candidate, which he feels President Donald Trump is not doing.

“This is a health crisis and I want it to be solved as quickly as possible, that’s why even as the chair of the Democratic Party, I have been loudly praising of Mike DeWine for the last month. This is not about partisan politics.”

He feels that when all is said and done, if the pandemic is not as bad as we feared, the top group to get credit will be governors and mayors.
More from WSYX:
Early polls during the pandemic showed a majority of Americans approving of President Trump’s response to the coronavirus but more recent polls have flipped. A majority of Americans now disapprove of his performance.

“(People are) rallying behind Mike DeWine, they’re rallying their mayors, they were rallying around the president until they now see every day that he’s just not up to this,”
Pepper said. “Because he’s not up to this, we’re having people lose their lives, people lose their livelihoods.”
…
Democrats think Biden may be their best bet to win back the Buckeye State.
“Joe Biden puts Ohio in play,” Pepper said. “Where he’s from, how he campaigns, he’s got a lot of similarities in his appeal to blue-collar voters as Sherrod Brown does.”
WATCH NOW:
WFMJ: Ohio’s Democratic Party Chair says they have a lot of momentum
WSYX: Presidential campaign takes backseat to pandemic
 
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