AS WIN AFTER WIN was announced at the Ohio Democrats’ election-night party at the Columbus Hilton, I kept watching the younger Ohioans in the room.
asserted
I → announce → room
This was more winning than they had ever known.
asserted
they → know → ?
People were crying.
asserted
People → cry → ?
People were kissing.
asserted
People → kiss → ?
After the speeches, some were even breakdancing.
asserted
some → breakdance → speeches
Every time the room started to settle down, something else would get the audience screaming again.
asserted
audience → start → ?
Ohio Democrats, who have had decades of practice managing expectations, were suddenly having trouble keeping up with the rapid pace of victory.
asserted
who → have → victory
Accustomed to looking elsewhere for good news on election night, they cheered for the Texas victories nearly as loudly as they did for their own.
asserted
they → look → own
Ohio Democrats have spent years watching their state’s name become a shorthand for what their party had lost.
asserted
party → spend → what
For decades, they have mostly known electoral heartache.
asserted
they → know → heartache
A former presidential battleground had become a launching pad for Donald Trump’s would-be successors, sending JD Vance to Washington and offering Vivek Ramaswamy what he plainly expected would be a rung on the ladder to the presidency.
asserted
he → become → presidency
Now Acton was headed to the governor’s office, and Brown was headed back to the Senate.
asserted
Brown → head → Senate
Whenever I had good reception, my phone lit up with texts from childhood friends expressing happy incredulity: Was this really happening?
asserted
this → have → incredulity
At the Hilton party, I even ran into a high school classmate I hadn’t seen in years.
asserted
I → run → years
He had the same question: How was all of this winning possible?
asserted
all → have → winning
I’d spent Monday night at Ramaswamy’s final campaign stop in West Chester, where he and a coterie of quarter-zipped GOP candidates for other state offices declaimed against Acton for refusing to debate, for her role in the state COVID response, and for substance problems they alleged on the basis of vibes alone.
asserted
they → spend → vibes
Skipping the debates was a gamble.
asserted
Skipping → skip → debates
But on Tuesday night, Acton stood on stage and told a cheering crowd that her heart was full.
asserted
heart → stand → crowd
And she offered an unanswerable rejoinder to Ramaswamy’s personal campaign against her.
asserted
she → offer → her
“Do not underestimate a scrappy kid from Youngstown,” she said.
asserted
she → underestimate → Youngstown
Ramaswamy’s concession call reportedly went to voicemail.1
When I interviewed Acton in August, she kept coming back to a somewhat peculiar leitmotif for a statewide campaign: community.
uncertain
she → go → campaign
She brought up Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone and talked about the loss of civic institutions that used to connect Ohioans to one another.
asserted
that → bring → one
Once upon a time, “people didn’t know what party you were in, they knew what union you were in,” she told me.
asserted
she → know → me
People regularly cried at her events, often surprising themselves, she told me.
asserted
she → cry → me
Her read was that they were exhausted by the fighting.
asserted
they → exhaust → fighting
They wanted things to get better, but they were wary of getting their hopes up.
asserted
they → want → hopes
“Hope feels scary ’cause people have been burned before,” she told me then.
asserted
she → feel → me
Speaking from behind a lectern marked “Governor-Elect” on Tuesday night, Acton returned to her theme.
asserted
Acton → speak → theme
She asked something of the people celebrating with her.
asserted
She → ask → her
Please, don’t give up on anyone in your life,” she said.
asserted
she → give → life
“For me, that is what this race has always been about,” she said, “putting the heart back in the heart of it all.”
asserted
she → say → it
SHERROD BROWN TOOK THE THEME of looking out for one another and scaled it up to the governmental level.
asserted
BROWN → take → level
He spoke of a congressional stock-trading ban, a government that puts working people first, and a fight against the corruption ordinary Ohioans pay for.
asserted
Ohioans → speak → corruption
“I do not work for the utility companies.
asserted
I → work → companies
I do not work for data centers.
asserted
I → work → centers
I do not work for Wall Street,” he said.
asserted
he → work → Street
“I work for you; I work for Ohio.”
asserted
I → work → Ohio
Then: “So we will fight to end these tariffs.”
asserted
we → fight → tariffs
I spent years working in Republican politics, back when free trade was something the party championed and fought about with people like Brown.
asserted
party → spend → Brown
Now, here I was at a Democratic victory party, listening to the man promise to fight a Republican president’s tariffs, and nodding along in agreement.
asserted
man → listen → agreement
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
