Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Castbox 
Goodpods 
JioSaavn 
Overcast 
Anghami 
Fountain 
Gaana 
PlayerFM 
Rumble 
YouTube 
RSS Feed 
Ohio's Democratic nominee for governor won't debate. Ohio's Republican nominee
has accepted two invitations. Neither has ever held elected office, and right now
the plan is for you to pick one without ever seeing them answer a hard question
in the same room.
This week: Issue 3 explained in plain English, including the part the official
ballot language gets wrong. The Ohio Supreme Court orders Trenton, in Butler
County, to put a data center ban in front of its own voters. Two Republicans and
two Democrats ask the state to stop expanding license plate surveillance. And a
full breakdown of Amy Acton's COVID record against what Texas and Florida
actually did.
Political solutions without political bias.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open: nobody is debating
02:32 Welcome to Purple Political Breakdown, Ohio Edition
03:15 What is in this episode
05:37 Ohio Issue 3: the voter ID amendment explained
06:51 Issue 3: the strongest case for and the strongest case against
12:13 Ohio Supreme Court orders a Trenton data center vote, Butler County
15:39 Flock cameras: two Republicans and two Democrats write to ODOT
20:39 Ohio homeschooling oversight rollback and the boom that followed
23:56 Springfield: the death of Pierre Damas Bel, DeWine and Moreno respond
29:42 Ohio House target seats: Lucas County 41 to 44, Senate District 11
30:37 OH-9: Toledo police name a suspect in the Marcy Kaptur hit and run
32:34 OH-1: Greg Landsman versus Eric Conroy on a redrawn map
33:31 Ohio governor 2026: who is actually on the ballot
34:07 The debate standoff and the 2022 DeWine reversal
42:00 Amy Acton's COVID record compared to Texas and Florida
47:13 The ad war: the nursing home fact check and the public schools ad
50:56 Property taxes: what the Ramaswamy rollback would actually cost
56:43 Data centers: both plans and the question nobody has answered
58:55 What the polling says
59:54 Closing
WHAT WE COVERED
Issue 3 is the only statewide question on the November 3 ballot. Ohio has
required photo ID for in person voting since 2023, so Issue 3 changes nothing
immediately. What it changes is how hard the requirement is to undo later. It
does not require photo ID for mail voting, even though the certified ballot
language reads like it might.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Trenton's city council disregarded
applicable law when it rejected a data center ban petition over the meaning of
one word: electors. Five residents gathered 336 signatures. The council wanted
820. The court sided with the residents. It is the second data center ballot
case at the court in a month, after Ashville in Pickaway County.
On the governor's race: Ramaswamy accepted invitations from WLWT and CNN. Acton
declined, citing his ad campaign. In 2022 it was Mike DeWine who refused to
debate, and Ohio Democrats ran a month long DeWine Debate Watch calling debates
a job interview. Acton's own running mate said the same thing about DeWine in
2014.
On COVID: Ohio closed schools the same day Florida did. Ohio declined a statewide
mask mandate while roughly two dozen states imposed one. Ohio never ordered
churches closed. A Columbus Dispatch fact check found the woman in the Ramaswamy
nursing home ad lived in Kentucky and died after Ohio lifted its stay at home
order.
On property taxes: Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank, estimates the
Ramaswamy rollback would cut 4 billion dollars a year, growing to 6.6 billion.
The honest caveat is that Ramaswamy has never said what year he would roll back
to, so that estimate rests on an assumption he has not confirmed.
RESOURCES
ALIVE Podcast Network: https://alivepodcastnetwork.com/
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/purplepoliticalbreakdown
Discord: https://discord.gg/ptPAsZtHC9
r/PolicySolutions: https://www.reddit.com/r/policysolutions/
Equal Vote Coalition and STAR Voting: https://www.equal.vote/star
Independent Center: https://www.independentcenter.org/
Us United: https://www.us-united.org/
Living Room Conversations: https://livingroomconversations.org/
CIVICS App: https://www.civicpolitics.com
The Purple Political Breakdown is committed to fostering productive political
dialogue that transcends partisan divides. Our mission: "Political solutions
without political bias." Subscribe, rate, and share if you believe in purple
politics - where we find common ground in the middle!