Republican Donald Trump won Ohio with 52 percent of the vote last night, to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 43 percent.
The result comes despite the Trump campaign's complicated relationship with the Ohio GOP, which saw top members including Governor John Kasich never truly embracing Trump's candidacy.
Last night ideastream's Tony Ganzer spoke to a number of politicians about the election results, including Republican State Senator Frank LaRose of Hudson, who spoke about where the GOP goes from here.
LaRose: “I believe that my party is going to have some work to do. I think that we have been rightfully, were focused previously, many of us were, on trying to broaden our appeal, to reach out to the minority community in a more robust way, not just at election season but year-round, in the way that we govern and talking about opportunities for people regardless of their ethnic background and that kind of thing. And I think in some ways the campaign that we just endured set those efforts back a step. And so I hope that we re-focus on that and get back to our roots as a party and to me what it means to be a Republican is about limited government, and reasonable low taxes, and free markets, and economic prosperity, and rule of law, these kind of things that we ought to be focused on.”
Ganzer: “Even though the party itself in Ohio kind of had a complicated relationship with the candidate, Donald Trump, for president, many voters did respond to his message. How do you think the Ohio GOP can reach out to those voters and maybe bring them back into the fold?”
LaRose: “Well what they wanted are the same things that I hope all Republicans want. And that is to…Mr. Trump’s been talking about draining the swamp. We need to focus in general on making government work again, making it more efficient, making it more responsive to the people. That was a lot of the message that he had—talking about bringing our economy back to the thriving economy that it should be. Those are messages that transcend any kind of disagreement between this group of Republicans and that group of Republicans. To me, that’s what we should be focusing on going forward. We win as a party when we’re a Big Tent Party.”
Before the election was called last night, Ganzer also spoke with Teresa Fedor, a Democratic State Representative from Toledo.
She was very much supporting Hillary Clinton in the race.
Fedor: “You know we’re going to have to live with the results in Ohio. It’s unfortunate to me, as a woman, that we did not elect her in Ohio to be president.”
Ganzer: “You expressed—I mean, we were just exchanging messages—but I got the sense that you really did feel the weight of the history that is being made just having Hillary Clinton on the ballot, first of all, and then having the potential to win.”
Fedor: “Right. My first paper in college was why we haven’t had a woman president. And that was many years ago, but a lot of young women wonder this, and I ask them. And I also ask them about what their thoughts are on the fact that women don’t get paid the same as men for the same job. And they’re very surprised, young women are very surprised, that we are not progressive enough to be fair in our society, and it’s time.”
Ganzer: “I’ve spoke to a lot of people from all over the political spectrum tonight, and it seems like a common theme is the need for healing after this election, no matter what the results are. It feels like there’s this collective belief that we all need to take some time to take care of ourselves. Do you think that’s possible? Are you hopeful for that healing to take place?”
Fedor: “Quite frankly it would be nice to see the leader of the free world, if it were Trump, to heal himself on the prejudice, sexism, misogyny—I’m not going to go along with that. I don’t know why I would have to heal, when I’m inclusive, and I want fairness, and he does not. So, you know you can say that because it’s a nice thing to say, but the fact remains that the man still feels this way, and he still will act this way, and that will be the presence that we will have from America to the rest of the world. Are we going to ask the rest of the world to heal, too? I guess I’m just not buying it.”
