Rotunda Rumblings
A milly: More than 1 million absentee ballots have been requested and more than 551,000 have voted so far, Jake Zuckerman reports. The ballots submitted so far come from voters who trend older and unaffiliated with any political party. But Republicans generally have been more involved in early voting so far than Democrats.
Election denier: After repeatedly refusing to say whether he thinks ex-President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance of Ohio on Wednesday took the plunge into election denialism by telling a Pennsylvania crowd that he does not believe Trump lost, Sabrina Eaton reports. “Did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use,” Vance said in response to a reporter’s question at a Williamsport campaign appearance.
Big bucks: The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Cleveland nearly $59.7 million to help turn the Ohio 2 Shoreway around Cleveland Browns stadium into a “pedestrian-friendly boulevard,” Courtney Astolfi writes. Mayor Justin Bibb on Wednesday described the award as a “crucial step” toward making Cleveland a more connected and more accessible city. The money comes from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
More money: A Northeast Ohio town where a train derailment spilled toxic chemicals last year is getting nearly $16 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build a new public safety complex, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced Thursday, Eaton writes. Brown, a Cleveland Democrat who is in a tight reelection fight with Republican businessman Bernie Marino, said the February 3, 2023, derailment in East Palestine brought to light the community’s serious need for updated public safety infrastructure.
High on success: Recreational marijuana sales for the week that ended Saturday were $11.1 million, bringing the grand total to $109.5 million since creational sales began. When combined with medical marijuana sales, which began in January 2019, total marijuana sales in Ohio is now over $2 billion. Prices per ounce continue to drop, Laura Hancock reports.
I’ll drink to that: Communities across Ohio will vote on local options deciding whether particular businesses are able to sell a certain type of alcohol at a specific location, whether they can engage in regular sales, or whether they can sell alcohol on Sundays, Molly Walsh reports. Local option elections give voters a say in what types of alcohol get sold, including where, when, and how. The state has a new guide for explaining why Ohioans vote on the measures.
Extra, Extra – Vance kicked off a Wednesday campaign appearance in Wilmington, North Carolina, by revealing that he’d been an extra in a TV show filmed there when he was stationed at a North Carolina Marine Corps base. “They showed up one day and they said, ‘All right, we’ll feed you and we’ll pay you $300 to be an extra in One Tree Hill. So that was my exposure to Wilmington. It’s good to be back, and it’s good to be back as your vice-presidential candidate,” Vance told the crowd.
With friends like these: One of Vance’s key policy advisers, Aaron Kofsky, has for years posted extensively on Reddit about using a variety of drugs, including cocaine and opiates, under the username PsychoticMammal, Wired reports. In the posts, which are as recent as three months ago, Kofsky wrote about experiencing withdrawal from and trying to “kick” tianeptine—also known as “gas station heroin”—and kratom; advised other users on how to transport drugs on domestic flights; and called Vance “a Trump boot licker.” According to his LinkedIn profile, Kofsky, who is in his late twenties, has been advising Vance on financial policy since this past May, and has been working in Vance’s Senate office since March of last year.
Angling for a promotion? U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee seems to be positioning himself for another run at leading Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to Punchbowl News. He’s dramatically stepped up his giving to the National Republican Congressional Committee by sending in $2.5 million, Buckeye Liberty PAC, raised nearly five times as much this election cycle as last and it spent 10 times as much money as it did in 2022. Jordan is also showing up in districts to campaign for GOP incumbents and candidates even when he’s not asked to be there.
Buckeye Brain Tease
Question: A disease that is the scourge of cruise ship passengers takes its name from this Ohio county seat. What is it?
Email your response to [email protected]. The first correct respondent will be mentioned in next week’s newsletter.
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s trivia question: The first chapter of the March of Dimes was founded in this Ohio city in May of 1939.
Last week’s answer: Coshocton. The March of Dimes, founded by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, was created to combat polio, though the nonprofit organization now focuses on lowering infant mortality and preventing birth defects.
Capitol Letter reader Rob Kirchstein, of Plain Township in Stark County, was the first to provide the correct answer.
Tick Tock
The 2024 election is approaching, where Ohioans will help decide the presidential race, control of the U.S. Senate, how the state draws state legislative and congressional lines and many other down-ballot races. Here are some key dates in the election countdown:
Deadline to request an absentee ballot… 11 days (Oct. 29)
Final day of early voting… 16 days (Nov. 3)
Last day to postmark an absentee ballot... 17 days (Nov. 4)
Election Day… 18 days (Nov. 5)
Also, make sure to check out our Ohio guide to the 2024 November election
On the Move
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute honored Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted with the 2024 Champion for Charter Schools Award. Husted was awarded for championing a $3,000 per pupil award for low-income students attending high-quality charter schools.
Birthdays
Friday, Oct. 18: Susan Waidner Humphrey, fundraising consultant, Precision88
Saturday, Oct. 19: State Rep. Thad Claggett; State Rep. Riordan McClain
Sunday, Oct. 20: Jett Facemyer, director of government relations, Intralot; Cole Weidman, legislative aide to state Rep. Richard Dell’Aquila
Straight From The Source
“That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions, it’s like hundreds of thousands, it could have been the largest group I’ve ever spoken before. They asked me to speak, I went, and I spoke. And I used the term peacefully and patriotically.”
–Ex-President Donald Trump discussing the Jan. 6 riot at a Univision Town Hall on Wednesday.
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