COLUMBUS — The first multistate contest of the 2022 midterm election season takes place in Ohio and several other states Tuesday.
Early voting continues in Ohio Monday from 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Mail-in absentee ballots must be post-marked by midnight. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Ohio voters will decide gubernatorial nominees and one of the most contentious and expensive Republican U.S. Senate primaries in the nation.
The partial primary is scheduled to go ahead despite months of unresolved legal wrangling over redistricting maps ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.
U.S. House races have been allowed to continue because court proceedings have tied up the latest disputed map beyond Election Day. But state legislative races are being delayed because no set of district boundaries has been settled on long enough to be used for making ballots.
A second primary for General Assembly races is expected to be scheduled in August.
The Trump Factor
Former President Donald Trump’s sway among the party faithful will be tested in Ohio, where he’s issued endorsements in a Senate primary marred by Republican divisions and in races for the U.S. House and secretary of state.
Voters across a dozen states, including Ohio are set to decide primary elections this month that will determine the people and priorities leading the GOP into the fall midterms and beyond.
Trump is not on the ballot, but the Republican former president is actively backing dozens of candidates for Congress, governor and secretary of state across several swing states hosting primaries in May.
He has thrown his support behind J.D. Vance in Ohio’s Senate race and is backing Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is seeking reelection as Ohio’s top elections official.
In nearly every case, Trump has endorsed only those who embrace his false claims of election fraud.
Democrats are watching a threat to incumbent congresswoman Shontel Brown from progressive Nina Turner in Cleveland.