After long night, Trump wins re-election
- Published: November 15, 2024
For many in Yellow Springs, Tuesday night felt familiar.
In 2016 — the year Donald Trump won his first term as president — the News described Election Night for Democrats as “a really, really long night.” It was arguably an even longer night for the 2024 presidential race, with Trump’s win projected late Tuesday night and finally confirmed around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6.
At press time, votes were still being tallied, but Trump had gained 277 electoral votes, crossing the threshold of the necessary 270.
And as in 2016, the chance to elect the nation’s first woman president slipped by again, with Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris canceling an expected appearance at the HBCU Howard University Tuesday night as results came in.
Heading into the election, projections from nationwide polls made it seem like it could be either candidate’s game. Expected red states like Florida and Texas were called for Trump fairly early Tuesday night, as expected blue states along the northeastern seaboard were called for Harris.
News outlets identified seven swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — as keys to the election; as in 2016, projection maps for many of those states oscillated between red and blue over the course of Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had all gone solidly red.
Final results had not yet been called at press time for swing states Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, nor for Maine and Alaska, with Maine’s electoral votes expected to go to Harris, and the rest to Trump.
With regard to the popular vote, Trump led Harris by nearly 5 million votes at press time.
Ohio is no longer the battleground state it was in 2016: Trump led the popular vote 55.2% to 43.9%. — a larger margin of victory for the once-and-future president than in 2020, when Trump led President Joe Biden 53.3% to 45.2% in the state.
Greene County predictably favored Trump over Harris, 52,476 votes to 34,916, according to the final unofficial tabulation from the county’s Board of Elections, with a 73.6% voter turnout.
Individual precinct results were not available at press time — but as in previous years, Yellow Springs’ votes are expected to have favored Harris.
Issue 17 approved
In a piece of good news for YS Schools, local voters approved Issue 17, a 9-mill substitute levy that will collect annual revenue of $1,975,000 for a period of 10 years.
The levy combines and continues two emergency levies set to expire in 2025.
A similar levy — with the same millage, but with no set term limit —came before voters during the March primary election this year and was voted down, 722 votes to 589. Local voter turnout was higher at the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 5, with 1,745 voting in favor of the levy and 1,221 voting against, according to unofficial results from the Greene County Board of Elections.
As the News has reported over the last year, the school district was expected to begin deficit-spending in 2025 if the levy did not pass.
State Issue 1 fails
At the state level, the antigerrymandering Issue 1 did not pass at the polls, with 53.8% voting against the proposed constitutional amendment and 46.2% voting in favor.
The issue’s failure at the ballot means that, for now, the power to redraw political districts in the state remains in the hands of state legislators.
Issue 1 was championed by the bipartisan group Citizens Not Politicians, and aimed to remove state elected officials from the redistricting process altogether. If passed, Issue 1 would have established a Citizens Redistricting Commission made up of 15 nonelected officials — three Democrats, three Independents, three Republicans — selected in a bipartisan process.
At present, redistricting is performed by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, composed of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and four lawmakers, as codified by a 2015 amendment to the state constitution intended to combat gerrymandering.
The efforts of Citizens Not Politicians to create a citizen-led commission came after multiple redistricting maps created by the Ohio Redistricting Commission were struck down by the Ohio Supreme Court, leading to delayed primaries in 2022.
Republicans lead Ohio
In the race for Ohio’s seat in the U.S. Senate, Republican candidate Bernie Moreno prevailed over three-term Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. In electing Moreno, Ohio flipped its seat, giving Republicans an edge over control of the U.S. Senate.
According to results from the Associated Press, 50.2% of Ohio voters supported Moreno, with 46.4% supporting Brown. In Greene County, according to preliminary results, voters supported Moreno 55% to Brown’s 42%; Independent Don Kissick took 3.4% of the vote in the county.
Republicans swept the state race for Ohio Supreme Court seats, with the wins of Joe Deters, Megan Shanahan and Dan Hawkins bringing the state’s Supreme Court to a 6–1 Republican majority. Greene County voters reflected the state in this race, too, with each of the candidates for Supreme Court receiving more than 50% of votes.
Area races were also taken by Republican candidates: Yellow Springs resident Krista Magaw’s race for Ohio House, 73rd district — which encompasses all of Clinton County, eastern Greene County and a southern portion of Clark County — was lost to Republican newcomer Levi Dean, 29.6% to 70.4%. The race was closer among Greene County voters, where Magaw earned 36% of the vote to Dean’s 64%.
Levi Dean replaces his father, Bill Dean, in the seat.
Democratic Candidate Dan McGregor, who ran for the State Senate in the 10th District, lost to Republican Kyle Koehler, 35% to 65%. Amy Cox’s bid for 10th District Representative was lost to incumbent Mike Turner, 39.1% to 57.8%, with independent Michael Harbaugh taking 3.1% of the vote.
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