Ohio was a swing state, but was seen as leaning Republican.  Republicans controlled all statewide offices except the U.S. Senate seat held by Sherrod Brown, had 12 of 16 U.S. House seats and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.  Trump won by 8.13 points in 2016, but not so long ago Obama-Biden carried the state, by 4.59 percentage points in 2008 and 2.98 points in 2012.

Two Ohio politicians figured marginally in the Democratic presidential primary campaign.  Sen. Sherrod Brown was seen as a potentially strong candidate, able to appeal to blue collar voters.  After doing a "Dignity of Work" tour in early 2019, he announced on Mar. 7, 2019 that he would remain in the Senate and would not run (+).  Rep. Tim Ryan announced his candidacy on Apr. 4, 2019 but withdrew after a bit more than six months on Oct. 24 (+).

Given Trump's promises to revive manufacturing, the closure of General Motors' Lordstown assembly plant in Warren (Trumbull County in the Mahoning Valley) was a political issue.  GM announced the move in Nov. 2018 and the last Chevrolet Cruze rolled off the line in Mar. 2019.  The story did not end there however.  On Mar. 5, 2020 a new company, Lordstown Motors, announced it would build electric pick up trucks at the plant.  On Sept. 28, 2020, President Trump inspected one of the trucks in an event on the South Lawn at the White House (+).

In Aug. 2020, Trump set off a bit of controversy when he tweeted a call for a boycott of Goodyear, the Akron-based firm.  Democrats were quick to criticize him, even running ads (+).

The Trump ground game started early and was fully engaged; by early October the campaign reported 10 million voter contacts including two million door knocks.  The Biden campaign did not name a state director until July 17.  One local Democratic leader in Cleveland opined that, "The Democratic Party in Ohio and Cuyahoga County did not perform well."  In a Nov. 4 opinion piece, Rebecca Maurer, a local attorney and Ward Leader in Ward 12 for the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, complained that, "The Biden campaign wrote off Ohio. We had few resources, little support and no field offices. Strategy does change when you are campaigning in a global pandemic, but the apathy towards the state was palpable."  Further, she wrote, "There was no consistent direction or resources given from Party leadership."  [Registration numbers in Cuyahoga Co. were lower in 2020 than in 2016.  Turnout was higher in 2020 than 2016, 70.41% compared to 67.80% of registered voters in 2016.  Trump did chip off a bit off the Democratic margin].

On Sept. 29 Cleveland was the center of attention as the two candidates debated at the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.  The event proved to be a verbal food fight. 

The race seemed to tighten in the closing weeks.  The Trump campaign put in nine visits in the last 14 days, six of which were by family members.  Ivanka Trump made the campaign's closing appearance, in Youngstown on Oct. 31; Trump carried Mahoning Co., the first time since 1972 that a Republican had won there.  During the course of the Fall campaign, Trump surrogates made three appearances at Cedar Springs Pavilion in Tipp City: Don Trump Jr. on Sept. 30, Karen Pence on Oct. 22 and Eric Trump on Oct. 28.  This was a case of turning out the base; Tipp City is in Miami Co., a solidly Republican county just outside Dayton.  [Trump carried Miami Co. with a slightly higher share of the vote but a slightly reduced margin, obtaining 41,371 votes (71.36%) to 15,663 votes for Biden (27.02%) compared to 37,079 votes (70.31%) for Trump and 13,120 (24.88%) for Clinton in 2016].  On the Democratic side there were only six visits in the Fall.  Biden's first visit was a train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania following the debate; he also made a late visit to Cleveland on Nov. 2.

Ohio saw modest spending on presidential advertising, but nowhere near the level of the most competitive states.  The Trump campaign, which in June planned to spend $18.4 million on network TV advertising in Ohio, shifted a lot of that to other states and ultimately spent $4.4 million.

Ultimately the result was quite similar to 2016.  Trump won by a margin of 8.03 percentage points compared to 8.13 percentage points in 2016.  Trump carried 81 counties to seven for Biden; Biden won the six biggest counties plus Athens Co. in the Southeast.  In 2016 Trump carried 80 counties to eight for Clinton.  The 2020 and 2016 showings represent a considerable narrowing for the Democrats; in 2012 Obama carried 17 counties, in 2008 Obama carried 22 counties, and in 2004 and 2000 the Democratic ticket carried 16 counties.