How the war in Ukraine is shaping Ohio’s Senate race
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 October 2022
⏱️ 21 minutes
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Summary
The war in Ukraine may be thousands of miles away from Ohio. But because of the state’s large Ukrainian population, the war could determine who wins the state’s open Senate seat: isolationist Republican J.D. Vance or Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan.
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Republican J.D. Vance and Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan are in a tight race over an open Senate seat in Ohio, a state Donald Trump carried in 2020. While both candidates have talked plenty about domestic matters, there is one issue that could swing the race: what America’s role in the war in Ukraine should be.
Ohio has a large population of people descended from Eastern Europe. One small city — Parma — is home to the largest community of Ukrainian Americans in the state. While these voters often support conservatives, Vance’s opposition to providing more aid to Ukraine in the war with Russia has caused many of them to reconsider.
Reporter Cara McGoogan joins us on “Post Reports” to discuss what she learned when she spoke to voters in Ohio.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Here on State Road in Palmer, there are Ukrainian flags on the road signs and at the back |
| 0:10.9 | of the St. Josephats Ukrainian Cathedral, there are signs to Kiev which is 4,896 miles away. |
| 0:23.0 | That's Karamagukin. |
| 0:24.6 | She's been reporting on the midterm elections for the post and she recently visited a city |
| 0:29.6 | called Palmer, Ohio. |
| 0:31.4 | It's home to one of the largest Ukrainian-American populations in a state that has many descendants |
| 0:37.3 | from Eastern Europe. |
| 0:38.4 | There's Ukrainian flags and solidarity with Ukraine in every shop window, you know, from |
| 0:45.6 | the butchers, to the dentists, all of them are run by Ukrainian-Americans. |
| 0:54.2 | When you go into shops, a lot of people are speaking Ukrainian. |
| 0:57.5 | I went into a few where the owners couldn't actually talk to me because we didn't have |
| 1:02.8 | a translator, so really the roots are strong to Eastern Europe there. |
| 1:09.2 | People in this community are paying very close attention to the war in Ukraine. |
| 1:14.2 | They're also paying attention to something else, the Ohio Senate race and where the candidates |
| 1:20.1 | stand on the war in Ukraine. |
| 1:22.9 | And I want a foreign policy establishment that puts the interest of our citizens first. |
| 1:27.9 | Republican JD Vance is running against Democrat Tim Ryan in a state that Trump won in 2020. |
| 1:35.1 | And what Karam found is many of these Ukrainian-American communities usually vote conservative, but |
| 1:41.5 | they're not happy that Vance has said he wants to cut off aid to Ukraine. |
| 1:46.6 | Regardless of your political background, to express that you really don't care what happens |
| 1:54.8 | in Ukraine is heartbreaking. |
| 1:57.0 | I've always voted for conservative candidates. |
... |
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