I’m back in Ohio for a social event and also a political event. I’ll start with the social. I went to the Christmas dinner for a suburban lady book club where I no longer read the books or go the discussions, but I was in the club for 25 years, so I still get invited to the parties.  It’s ten upper middle class, college educated women, eight of whom are Republicans. Two of the eight are completely disgusted with Donald Trump, so a 25% drop. I think this is good news so I was gleefully feeding their negativity, but you can’t get too giddy or you spook them and they might bolt back to the cult, so I backed off and just nodded sympathetically.

The political event, a county party gathering, was surprisingly positive compared to the very negative, almost despairing online discourse among liberals and Lefties. There is often a disconnect between the local and the Very Online, but right now that seems particularly wide. Ohio Democrats are feeling pretty good because the very talented and weirdly charismatic Dr. Amy Acton is doing quite well polling wise versus the unlikeable Mr. Ramaswamy.

I have recounted my experience with Acton here before, so quick recap. When she first announced I was not hopeful because I thought people would connect her to covid (she was the Ohio health director during covid) and that was just too big a negative association to overcome. But then people kept telling me “no, she’s great, you’ll see” and, well, those people were right.

We talk a lot about “authenticity” in politics and I sometimes think our definition or description of that is too narrow. People are individuals and varied so Amy Acton’s authenticity is not of the straight shooting, shouting combative variety but is instead softer spoken and brainy and warm. It’s her brand of authenticity and apparently other people find it as appealing as I do because she is polling quite well in this deep red, misogynist state.

Ohio 2026 Poll: Democrats Make Gains in Races for Governor and US Senate - Emerson Polling