Ohio Republicans are embroiled in scandal. Could they lose the election for Trump?

Opinion by Gary Abernathy

HILLSBORO, Ohio — Ohio has long been considered a reliable bellwether for presidential election outcomes, and recent polling has President Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden more or less tied. Many analysts consider the Buckeye State a toss-up. In 2016, pre-election polling underestimated the size of Trump’s win there, and the same could happen in 2020. A recent NPR analysis observed, “There’s an argument for putting Ohio in the toss-up category, strictly based on the closeness of polling. But this is a state Trump should win based on demographic and voting trends.”

What these polls might not be capturing, however, is a series of recent scandals involving Ohio Republicans. These events might give anti-Trumpers reason to hope the president’s prospects here are in jeopardy.

On July 21, the Republican speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder, was awakened by federal agents converging on his southeastern Ohio farmhouse. They were there to arrest him in connection with a $60 million racketeering and bribery investigation. Four others — lobbyists and Householder associates — were also arrested around the state in connection with the probe.

According to the criminal complaint, Householder funneled millions of dollars in contributions from Akron-based electric utility FirstEnergy Solutions into a non-reportable account. He then used the funds both for personal expenses and to support the 2018 election of Republican lawmakers — dubbed “Team Householder” — who would be loyal to him, back his bid to become speaker and then push for legislation providing a $1 billion taxpayer bailout for two nuclear power plants in northern Ohio.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/31/ohio-republicans-are-embroiled-scandal-could-they-lose-election-trump/