CLEVELAND — Republican Donald Trump is projected to win Ohio in the 2024 presidential election, marking his third consecutive victory in the increasingly reddening swing state.
Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris, 1,862,142 votes (54.3%) to 1,541,101 (44.9%) with 58% of precincts reporting, bringing him 17 electoral votes closer to the 270 he needs to win back the White House, the Associated Press reports.
That puts him ahead of his previous winning margins in the state, where he bested Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden by 8 points apiece in 2016 and 2020, respectively.
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Economic anxiety and flawed border and immigration policies bolstered Trump’s support in Ohio, particularly in suburban and rural counties, where changing demographics continue to favor the former president.
Ohio became a cultural touchpoint this election cycle when the small town of Springfield was thrust into the news — over dubious claims that its burgeoning Haitian population was eating cats and dogs, underscoring the country’s migrant crisis.
Trump’s campaign swiftly capitalized on the issue, deploying vice presidential candidate and native Ohioan JD Vance to the scene, where he promised voters: “Kamala Harris’ plan is to turn basically every city in this country into Springfield.”
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While Trump didn’t make stops in super-safe Ohio this election cycle, he frequently deployed Vance and other proxy speakers like his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and former presidential primary rival-turned-surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy to make the campaign’s case to Buckeye State voters.
Stumping with Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in Oxford last month, Ramaswamy spoke to a crowd of college students, tailoring his message to the young men in the room, who he says have been “emasculated” by a weak economy.
“This is the largest loss of confidence in American history,” he said, referring to young men who aspire to provide for a family, but struggle to do so as a result of inflation and a weaker dollar.
That message resonated with 19-year-old University of Miami student Jonah Hendershof, who attended the event, and told The Post he began saving for a house four years ago — when he was just a freshman in high school.
“Being able to work after school is really important to me. It seems like conservatives will be better at building an economy to support that right now,” he said, adding that although he knows his success is up to him, it helps to have politicians who are plugged into Americans’ economic struggles.
“The values I grew up with don’t really change depending on who’s president, but it does make it easier to feel like my work is paying off if the person in charge seems to care about what’s actually happening.”
