How Portage County voted in the 2020 election

By Molly Heideman and Michael Indriolo

Ohio is known to be a bellwether state in past presidential elections and has consistently been a determining factor in a candidate winning — until now. Portage County and the state of Ohio voted red for Donald Trump, but Joe Biden was ultimately called the winner of the presidential election.

Associate professor of political science Michael Ensley said Ohio voters have moved toward a tendency to vote for Republican candidates, and Portage County is no exception.

“I think Portage is probably a good kind of microcosm of how Ohio as a state is changing,” Ensley said. “I think what you’re seeing is that white voters with a high school education, so those without have been trending in a Republican direction.”

Portage County is 89.7 percent white according to Data USA, so it is not surprising these trends Ensley spoke of aligned with the way Portage County voted in this election. 

Portage County overwhelmingly voted for Trump, giving him 55 percent of the vote compared to Biden’s 42 percent. Ensley said because younger people are moving into either more urban areas in Ohio or out of the state completely, it changes the way Portage County votes. 

“The extent to which young voters were mobilized this election, the fact that they’ll remain mobilized in future elections is probably one of the things to sort of keep an eye on,” Ensley said. 

Ensley described a “cultural war” going on between different political ideologies and the way voters with those beliefs respond to different social movements. Social movements like Black Lives Matter reflects racial issues among these ideologies, and Ensley said the way people react to these movements can influence the way they vote. 

“I think part of the attraction of evangelicals, rural voters, older voters, there’s overlap between all of those is tied to sort of that battle over culture war issues,” Ensley said. “Black Lives Matter, I think, is important as well. And I think there’s an aspect of race and racial resentment that is also sort of tied into that. And people also talk about sort of a rural, urban resentment as well. And again, they’re not exactly the same things but those things overlap significantly.”

Between Black Lives Matter protests and the County Commission declaring racism a countywide public health crisis, the impacts of those culture wars have been on display in recent months in Portage County; however, stereotypes about rural and urban peoples’ voting patterns didn’t exactly play out this past election. 

The county comprises 18 unincorporated townships containing six villages and two population-dense cities. The City of Kent is nestled in Franklin Township along Central Portage County’s western border with Summit County, and the City of Ravenna is located within Ravenna Township in the county’s heart. Additionally, the county holds two high-population incorporated townships in its northwest quadrant, Aurora and Streetsboro, each entirely occupied by cities of the same name. The county’s eastern municipalities remain much more rural with comparatively fewer inhabitants. 

While Kent and Streetsboro, the two most populated municipalities in Portage County, voted for Biden, Aurora and Ravenna, the next two most populated municipalities, voted for Trump, according to the Portage County Board of Elections’ unofficial results. Trump also swept most of the county’s townships and villages, losing only in the Village of Hiram, Franklin Township and neighboring Sugar Bush Knolls Village. 

The two races for Portage County Commission on the ballot this past election also illustrate rooted political divisions throughout the county’s municipal and geographical map. The commission flipped in Republicans’ favor for the first time in decades. Sabrina Christian-Bennett defended her post against Democratic challenger John Kennedy, and Republican Tony Badalamenti unseated Cathleen Clyde, president of the Board of County Commissioners and a rising star in Ohio’s Democratic Party. Vicki Kline will remain the commission’s only Democrat in 2021.

Christian-Bennet swept all but Kent, Franklin Township, Sugar Bush Knolls Village and the Village of Hiram, affirming her election by more than 10,000 votes. Those areas she lost in all voted for Biden as well, holding fast to their reputations as Democratic strongholds. Kent State University is located in Kent and Franklin Township by proxy. The Village of Hiram in more rural Northeastern Portage County houses Hiram College; however, Hiram Township, the area surrounding the village, voted red in the presidential election and both County Commission races.

The Clyde and Badalamenti race mostly followed suit. In a deviation from trends in the presidential election and the other County Commission race, the City of Ravenna voted blue, opting for Clyde over Badalamenti, but Ravenna Township voted for Badalamenti. He decisively lost at every voting precinct in both Franklin Township and Kent, but won at every precinct in Aurora. Clyde narrowly won Streetsboro, but besides the Village of Hiram, Badalamenti won every other village and township.

While Christian-Bennett’s victory upheld the common notion that an incumbent more easily wins elections, the same didn’t hold true for Clyde. She spent eight years representing Ohio’s 75th Congressional District, which includes Portage County. She unsuccessfully ran for Ohio Secretary of State in 2018 and was appointed County Commissioner later that year when her predecessor resigned. But her experience serving the county wasn’t enough to secure her victory. She lost to Badalamenti by more than 5,000 votes. 

Badalamenti, an ex-marine who works as a chiropractor in Aurora, attributed his victory to being active in the community. He said the leadership skills he learned in the Marines and the empathy he learned as a chiropractor lend him a unique perspective as a local politician. 

“I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps and learned how to lead men in different directions and get them to do very difficult tasks,” he said. “I decided and was able to accomplish becoming a doctor. … I think when you blend them together, and you have some intelligence and want to care for people, it makes you a unique type of leader.”

Clyde attended a series of pop-up food pantries for those struggling financially during the pandemic. She also visited Black Lives Matter rallies and led the effort to declare racism a countywide public health crisis. Portage County NAACP President Geraldine Hayes-Nelson said that effort may have hurt her chances at reelection. 

“Hearing some of the things that people may have associated with racism as a social crisis, there were some people who felt threatened,” Hayes-Nelson said. “There are people who get nervous when you say the race word or you put the, they call it the race card. And because of that white fragility, they go into a defense mode.”

Hayes-Nelson and the Portage County NAACP maintain a partnership with local chapters of the League of Women Voters to encourage people of color, women and other socioeconomically underrepresented groups to vote in Portage County, she said. People of color are not adequately represented in Portage County’s government, so she said voting is essential for these groups. With more representation and more direct communication, oppressed groups can challenge implicit biases against them that some people may unknowingly carry.  

“When you have people, those voices at the table, it helps to take away and break down what we call walls of disparity, walls of discrimination, walls of biases,” Hayes-Nelson said.

Molly Heideman interviewed Michael Ensley, edited audio for his interview and made the infographic.

Michael Indriolo interviewed Tony Badalamenti and Geraldine Hayes-Nelson, edited audio for interviews and took pictures.

How did Portage County vote in the 2020 election? Read more:https://t.co/U19NWyECDe

— Molly Heideman (@mollyhjmc) November 18, 2020