Despite SCOTUS Roe Leak, Republicans Double Democrat Turnout in Ohio Primaries

The Supreme Court’s potential decision to overrule Roe v. Wade certainly did not prompt Democrat voters to turn up at Ohio’s midterm primaries on Tuesday.

The House Democrat’s campaign chief Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) announced after Politico’s bombshell report on Monday night that abortion will “now” become the “central choice” in the November midterms and claimed that “only Democrats will protect our freedoms.” But despite the Democrat Party’s attempt to rile their base over the supposed “right” to end the lives of unborn children, Republican voters doubled Democrat voters in the Ohio gubernatorial primary just a day after the Supreme Court’s potential ruling was leaked.

Data from the New York Times shows Republicans cast 1,068,817 ballots in the GOP primary for governor, the highest number of ballots cast in a midterm primary in two decades, according to the Republican National Committee (RNC). GOP voters outdid themselves by roughly 200,000 votes compared to 2018 gubernatorial primary numbers and increased their turnout by 29 percent. In stark contrast, only 502,100 Democrats cast their ballots, a 26 percent decrease from 679,738 ballots cast in 2018.

“Congratulations to Governor Mike DeWine, J.D. Vance, Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, Max Miller, and the rest of the Ohio Republican Congressional Delegation whose wins tonight will pave the way for Republican victories in November,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Breitbart News.

“Ohioans reject Biden’s failed agenda of historic inflation, Biden’s gas hike, and the crisis at our southern border, and will hold Democrats accountable and vote for Republicans up and down the ballot. The RNC’s multi-million dollar investment in the Buckeye State will propel Ohio Republicans to victory come November,” McDaniel continued.

The most recent update from Ohio’s Secretary of State showed 7,948,302 total registered voters in the state, and as of 2021, Ohio had 947,027 registered Democrats, 836,080 Republicans, and 6,196,547 unaffiliated voters. Democrats would seemingly have a narrow edge over Republicans by sheer numbers, though in most national polling, unaffiliated voters share similar views to Republicans on some of the nation’s most pressing issues.

An analysis from RNC showed Democrat turnout “cratered in urban areas.” Democrat ballots decreased by 97,000 (34 percent) from 2018 to 2022, going from 284,000 to 187,000 in Hamilton, Franklin, and Cuyahoga counties. Republicans, however, jumped in suburban counties from 2018 — GOP ballots increase by 30 percent in Butler County, 22 percent in Clermont County, 28 percent in Delaware County, and 48 percent in Lake County.

Ohio’s primaries truly tested the power of an endorsement from former President Donald Trump — all 22 candidates in Ohio and Indiana endorsed by Trump won in a clean sweep of Tuesday’s primaries, indicating the strength of a Trump endorsement is as mighty as it has ever been.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter.