Commentary: Ohio voters show their frustration over corruption and cost of living

Amid interminable refreshes of Associated Press Ohio election projections Tuesday night and into late Wednesday morning, one thing repeatedly stuck out to me.

It was the AP Voter Poll survey of Ohio voters.

The AP Voter Poll is a survey of the American electorate conducted by SSRS for The Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, FOX News Media, NBC News and Versant.

The survey looked at what Ohio voters prioritized on different issues.

The two that stick out by far above the rest are the cost of living and government corruption.

These are both well-worn topics here at the Ohio Capital Journal, where we have reported news stories and written commentary for seven years on rampant corruption and the struggle Ohio families are having to make ends meet.

After a historic election night in Ohio, alleviating these concerns of Ohio voters should be the primary goal and project of every elected official in the state.

Ohio voters proved this Election Day that politicians are far more obsessed with political labels and rank partisanship than normal everyday Ohioans. There’s a reason the vast majority of Ohioans are unaffiliated voters.

Like much of the country, everyday people in Ohio are pretty cynical and cautious about politicians of all types. For many years now, everyday people have suspected with good reason and ample evidence that our politicians have not been looking out for us, but for themselves, for their buddies, for the special interests.

What’s been left out of all the favors and back-scratching and handouts to big money interests are the interests of everyday Ohio families.

Folks aren’t asking for too much: They want safe neighborhoods, good schools, access to healthcare, and access to opportunity to earn a good living to support their families and live a dignified life.

In Ohio, many families feel that was all once possible, but no more. The rug has slowly been pulled out from under us.

Nearly half of Ohioans don’t make enough to be economically secure, the Urban Institute reported this year.

Over one-third of Ohioans do not make enough to afford basic expenses.

And 1 in 5 Ohio children continue to experience food insecurity.

Sharp increases in the price of gas and electric and heating bills have played hell on middle-class Ohio family budgets.

As Ohio families have struggled, we’ve seen countless corruption scandals at the local and state level where politicians take pennies on the dollar to give out public resources like candy to their donor networks.

The results of the 2026 Election in Ohio should not be read through a lens of hyper-partisanship.

The results of the 2026 Election in Ohio should be heard as a scream from struggling Ohio families that enough is enough and that it’s time, at long last, to put Ohio families first.

Political gamesmanship can not accomplish that amid a split state government.

The toxic, intoxicating distraction of partisanship will only destroy the opportunity and frustrate Ohio families further.

The only thing that can accomplish that is if our politicians hear that scream — that plea from Ohio families — and realize that their job is not to be a mindless team player for one political party or the other; their job is to do the hard work of compromise and coalition-building and lawmaking and governance that makes life better in tangible ways for all of the everyday people of Ohio.

A lot of people who’ve had their brains and hearts eaten away by the rot of partisan politics will try every trick right now to keep that ugliness going.

To paraphrase the bard, it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, and accomplishing nothing.

To accomplish something, to put Ohio families first, the mental and emotional adults of both parties will now need to step up.