Snollygoster

Last month, Republican House members said they supported State Rep. Derek Merrin of suburban Toledo to be the next speaker, but that was not to be. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown talk about a surprising turn to Jason Stephens for the top job. Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau reporter Jo Ingles joins the show.

Whether it was the November election, unconstitutional legislative maps or the fight over abortion rights, there were a lot of stories that kept on giving throughout 2022. In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown sorts through the biggest political stories in Ohio this year.

After the Dobbs decision came down this summer, abortion rights supporters in Ohio turned their attention to the ballot. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss why a voter-approved change to the state constitution seems like the only way to restore abortion access.

The House and Senate are working on a couple of bills that would change voting rules, including a proposed requirement for a photo ID in order to vote. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss whether such measures are solutions in search of a problem. Mia Lewis from Common Cause Ohio joins the show.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is pushing to update the rules for changing Ohio’s consitution, moving the threshold from 50% to 60% to pass an amendment. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown look to Florida to see what that kind of change might look like. Prof. Susan MacManus of the University of South Florida joins th...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year... the lame-duck session at the Ohio General Assembly. So many bills. So many important issues. So little time to consider them before they become law. It’s anything but lame. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the bills quickly moving through the capitol. Ohio Public Radio'...

Republicans captured every statewide office: Governor, Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, and three seats on the Ohio Supreme Court. The races were not even that close. Every statewide Republican won by double digits, except J.D. Vance in the U.S. Senate race. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discu...

Issue 2 would make Ohio the 7th state to explicitly ban non-citizens from voting in elections. Ohio’s constitution already says you have to be a citizen to vote, but Yellow Springs tried to let non-citizens vote in local contests. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the proposed state constitutional amendment on vot...

Just over a week before the official election day, more than a million Ohioans have voted or requested a mail-in ballot. If you compare this year’s early voting to early voting in the last mid-term election, 40,000 more ballots have been cast.

The race for U.S. Senate remains neck and neck, but there are signs that J.D. Vance is pulling ahead just a bit—at least in one poll.

Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance stood shoulder to shoulder on a Cleveland TV station this week and argued who was the best person to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate.

It's now just five short weeks until election day and just a week or so before Ohioans can start casting early ballots. The ads are all over TV. Our mailboxes are filling with direct mail. Our inboxes are getting swamped with fundraising e-mails.

In the latest Cost of Voting Study, which evaluates all 50 states based on what it calls "the overall investment a resident must make in time and resources to vote," Ohio was ranked 41st.

All around the country candidates are refusing to participate in the age-old tradition of a live political debate. Most of those refusing to debate or throwing up roadblocks to debates are Republicans.

A surprise ruling by a Hamilton County judge has put Ohio’s six-week abortion ban on hold.

The fall campaign season is usually a time when political parties come together. But this is 2022, and this is Ohio, and 67 days before the election, there is a leadership fight in the Ohio Republican Party.

It’s a tradition in party politics that goes back generations—candidates forsake the extreme elements of their parties and distance themselves from popularity-challenged party members. On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss why candidates "race to the middle" in general elections.

Newly-released text messages show that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted worked diligently behind the scenes to pass HB6, the nuclear power plant bailout law. We discuss what this new information means in the ongoing saga of the $60 million bribery scandal that led to multiple arrests and indictments.

After a period of silence, U.S. Senate candidate and author J.D. Vance is back with new campaign ads. One ad featuring his wife, Usha Vance, tells his life story, which seems odd for a candidate who rose to fame for writing a best-selling memoir.

While Ohio voters largely stayed home on Tuesday, a vote on abortion rights brought an impressive amount of Kansas voters to the polls.

Activists on both sides of the abortion issue this week swarmed the Indiana Statehouse to rail against or cheer on a bill that would ban most abortions in our neighbor to the west. The debate provides a preview of what’s to come when Ohio lawmakers take up the issue.

Democrat Tim Ryan has maintained a high-profile presence in Ohio's U.S. Senate race since the May primary, while the Republican nominee J.D. Vance has been laying low.

After the Indianapolis Star reported on a 10-year-old Ohio rape survivor who had to travel to Indiana for an abortion, politicians didn't waste time politicizing the story. In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown talk about how many Republicans were quick to call the story "fake news."

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade and allowed states to regulate abortion once again, just like they could back in 1973. In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss what this means for a state whose leaders strongly oppose abortion rights. Jo Ingles, a reporter for the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News...

President Biden is asking Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months and proposing that states do the same. In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss why Ohio is likely not going to join the effort.