The hoped-for red wave did not materialize for Republicans on Tuesday, but the election was still very good for the GOP, especially in Ohio, where an extremely important ballot measure was voted in with a huge majority.
Buckeye State residents were thrilled that Republican J.D. Vance, author of the best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, won his bid for the U.S. Senate as a Republican — handily beating his Democrat opponent by more than seven percentage points.
Vance surprised Ohio voters with a standout performance during the debates with his Democrat opponent, Tim Ryan, and cruised to election once he got past the early results that trended Ryan’s way.
Ryan made many stumbles during his campaign. For instance, in one ad he tried to make it look like he was a big gun guy and filmed an ad showing him firing a handgun. But voters saw that it looked more like he’d never fired a gun in his life as opposed to having been a long-time enthusiast.
In another case, Ryan appeared in an interview on far-left cable network MSNBC holding a Miller Lite beer can, in an attempt to make himself look like a regular guy. That ploy apparently failed, too.
Vance is not the only Ohio candidate who earned good news and a landslide win. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine also won his reelection bid, absolutely trouncing his Democrat opponent and winning by an incredible 25 percent margin.
This is all good news and seems to take Ohio out of the “swing state” category and into the reliably Republican area. This is fantastic news for the GOP in that, along with Florida, it may give them a bulwark of electoral votes going into future elections.
But, these two important races are not the only amazing news out of the Buckeye State. There was also the lopsided success of Ohio’s Amendment 2 which passed with a landslide vote on Tuesday night.
“Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that clarifies that illegal aliens are banned from voting in local and state elections,” Breitbart News reported on Tuesday.
Amendment 2 asked Ohio voters to pass an amendment to the state’s constitution that enshrines in law that only legal citizens can vote in Ohio.
The measure passed with an astounding 77 percent “yes” margin!
The monumental “yes” vote means that local governments are prohibited from allowing noncitizens or those who lack the qualifications of an elector to vote in local elections, according to Ballotpedia.
“Issue 2 prohibits local governments from allowing persons who lack certain qualifications to vote in local elections,” Ballotpedia explained. Those qualifications include, being 18 years old or older, being a resident of the state, county, township, or ward, having been registered to vote for thirty days, and having the qualifications of an elector.
In support of the law during the run-up to Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) said, “American elections are only for American citizens,” he said, “And the cities in other states that have granted non-citizens the right to vote in local elections are undermining the value of what it means to be an American … This is a smart preventative measure that will provide the certainty needed to ensure this right is protected for Ohioans.”
The ballot measure amended Section 1 of Article V, Section 3 of Article X, and Section 3 of Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution, Ballotpedia added.
The red wave did hit Ohio and a “red swell” also rose in other states, it appears. But it wasn’t for Biden’s attempt to prevent it.
As Texas Rep. Troy Nehls (R) noted in October, Biden’s Census Bureau did its best to jigger the population numbers to hurt Republicans states as best it could.
“The numbers don’t lie,” Nehls said. “Texas was undercounted by 2%, which means we were cheated out of an additional seat in Congress. And four other Republican states were as well. As a result, these red states have less representation in Congress, fewer votes in the Electoral College, and therefore receive less federal funding.”
While it appears that Ohio was overcounted, five GOP states were undercounted, Nehls insisted. Those states include Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. This prevented Texas from picking up another representative in the House.
The fallout from the 2022 midterm elections is just beginning to be felt. Several important contests have yet to be settled, and control of the U.S. Senate seems likely to be left undecided until the runoff election in Georgia in December.
But we do now know that the GOP came in strong in Ohio. Where Ohio was once a “purple” state that could swing an election to one side or the other, it now appears that the state is a solidly red, GOP vote, and this ballot measure shows that the red runs deep, too.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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