Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper recently claimed that “Ohio could very well be the state that ends the Trump presidency.”
The comment was made during an interview on “The State of Ohio,” Statehouse News Bureau’s television program. He appeared on the show with Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken. The two discussed everything from Ohio’s Congressional map to the recent Lordstown plant closure, but they focused much of their attention on President Donald Trump’s chances of winning the state in 2020.
“No, not at all,” Timken said in response to whether she thinks a Democrat can beat Trump in Ohio. “Donald Trump’s popularity is very high in Ohio. You think about the booming economy we’ve had. Ohio’s unemployment rate, I think it’s 4.4 percent. I travel around the state of Ohio and the biggest complaint from small and big businesses is not that they need to layoff workers—it’s that they can’t find enough workers.”
“I think Ohio is doing very well under President Trump’s leadership,” she said, while arguing that the Democrats are “lurching further and further to the left” with policy initiatives like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.
“All of those things are not what Ohioans want,” she continued.
Pepper, however, argued that Trump’s chances were better in 2016 because of the momentum he had coming off of a contested primary.
“I think our winner will have the same. My guess is we’ll have a much higher primary turnout next March than the Republicans will,” he said.
He went on to claim that Democrats are even more united around “beating Donald Trump” in 2020 than they were in 2016.
“Obviously Joe Biden started his campaign that way. He got a very good response,” Pepper said, claiming Trump is “right to be concerned” about winning in Ohio.
“I mean, Donald Trump’s coming here often for a reason. I think he knows it’s not some automatic red state,” he continued. “I think Ohio could very well be the state that ends the Trump presidency.” ‘
The full interview can be watched here:
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “David Pepper” by The State of Ohio.
