Takeaways from Indiana, Ohio and Michigan: Trump's flex pays off and Democrats win special election

[Dulcinea]

(AP) Elections in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan on Tuesday reinforced a picture that’s becoming increasingly clear — while President Donald Trump still dominates the Republican Party, Democrats seem to have the momentum ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The biggest test of Trump’s power came in Indiana, where he backed primary challenges against seven Republican state senators who rejected his redistricting plan in December. Five of the president’s candidates won with the help of an avalanche of cash.

Meanwhile in Michigan, a Democrat comfortably won a state Senate race in a bellwether district, the latest in a string of special election victories.

Over in Ohio, primaries locked in candidates for two major races with national implications.

https://apnews.com/article/primaries-indiana-ohio-michigan-takeaways-722f8ee155920578db6964f54e910449

[Cheezoholic]

1. In IN, 250k spent on those 7 primaries in 2024. 11 million this year, 90% from outside the state

I still believe repukes are in for a rude awakening here come Nov.

[cmmngrnd]

2. (Off Topic, Pet Peeve) Such poor writing!

"Over in Ohio, primaries locked in candidates for two major races with national implications. "

I don't know any more after reading that sentence than I did before. It's an informationally null sentence. It's writing for clicks instead of writing to inform. And it's the AP! News writers used to pack in the pertinent concrete facts in as concise a form as possible as a service to readers and to not waste a reader's time. Now it's about the tease before the link. Annoys me so much that I wrote this off-topic response, thus wasting your time, too! You're welcome!

I'll try to salvage this reply with a thought about the larger issue: these informationally empty statements abound. They are used to tease, as in the OP, but also used to avoid answering questions (sometimes that's helpful, sometimes not), and used to try to frame something as good/bad/outragous to manipulate you. Recognizing them can help navigate the difficult information landscape that we are in.

[FakeNoose]

3. The Ohio story was run under a separate banner in AP News

We posted this in DU yesterday:

https://apnews.com/article/election-2026-governor-ramaswamy-acton-brown-husted-1b29bfc5cd8cacd7d71d7b550ac894ee

It's about the Governor's race with the two primary candidates being (R) candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and (D) candidate Amy Acton.

Also in the other race, former Senator Sherrod Brown (D) received the nod as the Democratic candidate to run for the US Senate vs. the unopposed R incumbent Sen. Jon Husted.

It's interesting that Husted has never won a senatorial race, he was appointed by Gov. DeWine to fill out JD Vance's term when Vance resigned after the 2024 election to take his place as Vice President. Sherrod Brown has a good chance to flip this seat back to D in November. The Ohio Democratic party must get to work on immediately.

[OhioBack2Blue]

5. Ohio here....

The Ohio Democratic party must get to work on immediately.

I was told by a recent Chair of ODP that all campaigns & ODP are completely separate in Ohio. DO NOT EXPECT ANY HELP WHATSOEVER FROM ODP. I have then had this info confirmed by several candidates. They sought help from ODP & were told to pound sand.

I then asked the state Chair, "just what is hell is ODP for then? "
Chair: "We provide resources, just not for campaigns."
Me: "Resources for who? What kind of resources?"
Chair: "Resources"
Me: "For the county parties?"
Chair: "No. They are all independent & function independently of ODP state org." WTH?

Me to County Dem Chair, asking numerous logistical questions related to above info because the county party is not functioning either.
County Dem Chair: "ODP state says we can't do X,Y, Z (Ex: Cannot have over $2,500 in county account). WTH?

The Ohio ODP party structure is insane & dysfunctional. I have searched other states for reference points regarding roles & responsibilities as well as operational command structure. ODP is missionless, visionless, defunct, and in name only. They hold meetings that are 100% meaningless, just shuffling paper and going through the Robert's rules of order without any regard for actual actions that will yield results.
SAD!

[FakeNoose]

6. Oooh they're completely out of touch and I'm sorry to hear this

This might be Sherrod Brown's last chance to regain his seat in the Senate. He needs all the help he can get, but I believe he has a good chance.

[multigraincracker]

4. If you live and vote in Michigan

please look into voting for Dr. Abdul. He is the only one that doesn’t take a penny from from the Oligarchs. He is running on taking money from the rich and powerful out of politics. He
Is the real deal.