Democratic PAC “Priorities USA” announced that Ohio isn’t on the list of states that Democrats feel they need to win in order to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020, according to a Wednesday report.
“It’s not in our initial spending plans,” Priorities USA spokesman Josh Schwerin told Cleveland.com. “It is in the states to watch and see if an investment is worth making.”
“That doesn’t mean we don’t think Ohio is winnable for a Democrat,” Schwerin said. “What we think that means is if Ohio is in play, we’ll have already won the easier states and have 270 electoral votes. Our investment strategy is how to get to 270 electoral votes.”
The group classified Ohio as a “GOP watch” state, putting it in the same vein as Republican safe havens like Texas and Iowa. The PAC’s first wave of funding will target $100 million of ads in the swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. (RELATED: Mark Cuban Considering 2020 Run)
Ohio has 18 electoral college votes and very narrowly went to Trump in the 2016 election, giving him 51.7 percent of the vote. The state went to former President Barack Obama in both 2008 and in 2012, and went to former President George W. Bush for both of his presidential elections.
Ohio state Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper appeared surprised at the idea of rejecting Ohio as a key battleground state.
“Any look at the actual hard-nosed data of 2018 belies what they’re saying,” Pepper said. “We were closer being blue in 2018 than we were in 2010, and two years after 2010 we were blue.”