The 2016 Ohio Democratic presidential primary took place on March 15 in the U.S. state of Ohio as one of the Democratic Party's primaries prior to the 2016 presidential election.
The same day, the Democratic Party held primaries in Florida, Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, while the Republican Party held primaries in the same five states and a caucus in the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as their own Ohio primary.
Clinton handily won the primary, putting her upset Rust Belt loss in Michigan behind her. She earned congressional endorsements from Reps. Tim Ryan, Joyce Beatty, Marcia Fudge and Sen. Sherrod Brown, while Sanders earned one Ohio backer, Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
Background By the time Ohio held its primaries, voters from 21 states and two territories already cast their vote for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. As of the March 12 elections, Hillary Clinton was projected to have earned 775 pledged delegates to Bernie Sanders' 552. Clinton gained significant victories in the Southern United States, often described as her "firewall", including landslide victories in Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders gained victories in the Midwestern United States, where Ohio resides, including an upset victory in neighboring Michigan on March 8. After the fact, Sanders' campaign took advantage of the momentum gained from the Michigan win, by targeting Illinois, Missouri and Ohio in the March 15 elections, hoping to repeat the same result. Sanders stated that "Not only is Michigan the gateway to the rest of the industrial Midwest, the results there show that we are a national campaign."
Before the Michigan primaries, Clinton and Sanders had debated over economic policies relating to the industrial midwest states and the so-called "rust belt". The disagreements centered around trade deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Clinton's past support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and its effect on economies such as Michigan and Ohio.
Controversy Ohio is one of at least seventeen states that have laws allowing voters who are 17 years of age, but will be 18 by the time of the general election, to vote in the presidential primaries. However, Ohio Secretary of State Jon A. Husted had announced in December 2015 that 17 year olds would be outright barred from participating in the 2016 primaries. The rationale for the decision was based on an interpretation of the law in which 17 year olds could "nominate" officials for office, but not "elect". In the case of the presidential primaries, by definition, voters would be electing officials - delegates to each party's presidential nominating convention. The decision was met with criticism by the public, after it was brought to mainstream attention by Representative Kathleen Clyde, after she condemned the rule in a statement released on March 5. Clyde described it as a "underhanded, backroom attack" against young voters. Nine teenagers filed a lawsuit with the Ohio Courts of Common Pleas in Franklin County over the decision, stating that the decision contradicted state law and a decision by the Supreme Court of Ohio that allowed 17 year olds turning 18 by the general election to vote.
Bernie Sanders' campaign, whose voter base includes the majority of young voters, also filed a lawsuit against the decision, accusing Husted of "arbitrarily" and "unconsititutionally" discriminating against young African-American and Latino voters, citing data from the 2010 United States census that showed younger voters in Ohio were mostly African-American and Latino. Husted, in response to Sanders' lawsuit, said in a public statement that he welcomed the lawsuit, further stating that "I am very happy to be sued on this issue because the law is crystal clear". He later spoke out negatively against the Sanders lawsuit, claiming it was "a last-minute political act" designed to "draw attention to his campaign." Many Ohio officials, past and present, such as former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, came out in support of Sanders' lawsuit, and had attracted protests by not only Bernie Sanders supporters, but also Donald Trump supporters as well. In a decision handed down on March 11, an Ohio state judge ruled in favour of both lawsuits by the teenage group and the Sanders campaign, effectively lifting the ban on 17 year olds from voting in the Ohio presidential primaries. Husted initially announced that he would appeal the ruling, but after learning that an appeal would not be heard by the court until the day before the primaries, he retracted his intent to appeal.
Debates and forums March 13, 2016 – Columbus, Ohio
The ninth forum was held at 8:00 pm EDT on March 13, 2016, at the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and aired on CNN.
March 14, 2016 – Columbus, Ohio and Springfield, Illinois
The tenth forum was held at 6:00 pm EDT on March 14, 2016, at the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and at the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. It aired on MSNBC. The first section of the town hall with Bernie Sanders was moderated by Chuck Todd; the second section of the town hall with Hillary Clinton was moderated by Chris Matthews.
Opinion polling
Results
Ohio Democratic primary, March 15, 2016 District Delegates available Votes Delegates Clinton Sanders De La Fuente Total Qualified total Clinton Sanders 1 4 42,600 29,747 272 72,619 72,347 2 2 2 4 39,061 30,597 483 70,141 69,658 2 2 3 12 59,740 43,898 302 103,940 103,638 7 5 4 4 29,317 25,831 677 55,825 55,148 2 2 5 4 32,068 32,279 544 64,891 64,347 2 2 6 4 32,611 27,413 1,545 61,569 60,024 2 2 7 4 33,596 27,823 745 62,164 61,419 2 2 8 4 26,463 21,879 413 48,755 48,342 2 2 9 8 55,401 42,141 680 98,222 97,542 5 3 10 4 41,641 31,089 350 73,080 72,730 2 2 11 17 91,235 43,124 382 134,741 134,359 12 5 12 4 38,046 34,109 352 72,507 72,155 2 2 13 8 56,933 45,981 1,055 103,969 102,914 4 4 14 4 43,317 33,627 537 77,481 76,944 2 2 15 4 33,764 32,516 516 66,796 66,280 2 2 16 4 40,888 33,341 549 74,778 74,229 2 2 Total 93 696,681 535,395 9,402 1,241,478 1,232,076 52 41 PLEO 19 11 8 At Large 31 18 13 Gr. Total 143 81 62 Total vote 56.12% 43.13% 0.76% 100.00% 99.24% Source: Ohio Secretary of State Presidential Preference Primary Precinct Level Official Results (Democrat)
Results by county County Clinton Votes Sanders Votes Adams 56.8% 877 41.3% 638 Allen 56.6% 3,670 42.1% 2,730 Ashland 49.1% 1,451 49.5% 1,465 Ashtabula 54.9% 5,320 43.9% 4,256 Athens 38.2% 3,533 61.2% 5,663 Auglaize 51.0% 1,031 47.1% 952 Belmont 53.1% 3,982 43.5% 3,263 Belmont 58.3% 1,562 39.8% 1,067 Butler 53.4% 12,874 46.0% 11,102 Carroll 51.4% 1,084 46.2% 976 Champaign 51.9% 1,226 46.6% 1,099 Clark 58.7% 7,107 40.5% 4,905 Clermont 49.4% 5,642 50.0% 5,710 Clinton 48.5% 909 50.3% 942 Columbiana 52.6% 4,106 45.8% 3,573 Coshocton 53.6% 1,358 44.5% 1,128 Crawford 51.4% 1,344 43.6% 1,141 Cuyahoga 63.2% 125,914 36.3% 72,297 Darke 54.2% 1,246 43.4% 999 Defiance 50.6% 1,507 48.2% 1,435 Delaware 57.9% 9,552 41.8% 6,891 Erie 55.3% 5,449 43.6% 4,299 Fairfield 55.3% 6,408 43.8% 5,074 Fayette 58.3% 760 40.9% 533 Franklin 55.3% 84,654 44.4% 67,855 Fulton 48.7% 1,480 50.3% 1,528 Gallia 47.7% 945 48.8% 966 Geauga 54.0% 4,171 45.5% 3,516 Greene 49.4% 6,672 50.0% 6,759 Guernsey 53.0% 1,440 45.2% 1,228 Hamilton 59.5% 57,687 40.2% 38,956 Hancock 44.9% 2,062 54.2% 2,490 Hardin 52.6% 771 45.7% 669 Harrison 53.2% 818 43.8% 674 Henry 50.0% 977 48.7% 952 Highland 55.2% 1,119 43.1% 873 Hocking 52.3% 1,204 46.0% 1,060 Holmes 48.8% 561 48.5% 558 Huron 50.9% 2,036 47.7% 1,907 Jackson 58.3% 1,010 40.1% 694 Jefferson 54.7% 4,328 42.3% 3,353 Knox 48.5% 1,902 50.6% 1,987 Lake 54.3% 12,506 44.9% 10,351 Lawrence 55.4% 2,654 41.6% 1,994 Licking 53.3% 6,785 45.9% 5,849 Logan 49.6% 1,012 48.9% 998 Lorain 56.1% 21,144 42.9% 16,154 Lucas 56.9% 32,137 42.7% 24,111 Madison 56.8% 1,225 42.8% 923 Mahoning 59.3% 21,000 39.7% 14,066 Marion 56.9% 2,585 42.0% 1,909 Medina 53.1% 7,913 46.3% 6,888 Meigs 49.9% 800 47.2% 757 Mercer 53.5% 1,037 44.4% 860 Miami 53.2% 3,155 45.6% 2,706 Monroe 48.1% 1,191 45.9% 1,138 Montgomery 59.4% 33,352 40.1% 22,538 Morgan 56.2% 566 42.7% 430 Morrow 52.1% 1,164 46.3% 1,035 Muskingum 56.6% 3,066 42.4% 2,299 Noble 53.9% 522 41.7% 404 Ottawa 55.4% 2,566 43.4% 2,012 Paulding 55.8% 723 41.7% 540 Perry 56.7% 1,465 41.4% 1,070 Pickaway 55.6% 2,097 43.2% 1,631 Pike 56.8% 1,336 40.3% 949 Portage 49.0% 8,665 50.2% 8,877 Preble 52.2% 1,176 46.4% 1,046 Putnam 45.3% 811 52.3% 936 Richland 55.5% 5,225 43.3% 4,080 Ross 57.2% 3,582 41.4% 2,595 Sandusky 53.4% 2,866 45.7% 2,456 Scioto 53.7% 3,499 44.6% 2,903 Seneca 49.6% 2,081 49.2% 2,064 Shelby 52.3% 1,284 45.2% 1,110 Stark 56.5% 21,515 42.6% 16,235 Summit 56.6% 38,874 42.9% 29,451 Trumbull 53.9% 17,903 44.4% 14,726 Tuscarawas 51.6% 4,479 46.3% 4,019 Union 50.8% 1,580 48.3% 1,501 Van Wert 51.9% 710 45.4% 621 Vinton 49.5% 515 47.7% 496 Warren 53.3% 6,970 46.3% 6,054 Washington 50.5% 2,557 47.6% 2,411 Wayne 51.3% 3,448 48.0% 3,225 Williams 45.8% 1,007 52.6% 1,156 Wood 45.8% 6,108 53.7% 7,165 Wyandot 49.7% 661 48.6% 647 Total 56.5% 679,266 42.7% 513,549
Analysis Clinton received a commanding win in the Ohio primary which mirrored her 2008 performance. Clinton won the white vote 53–47 which comprised 74% of the Ohio electorate. She also won the African American vote, 71–28. And while Sanders won men 51–48 and voters under the age of 45 65–34, Clinton won women 63–36 (including white women 61–38 who made up 41% of the electorate, and won both married and unmarried women) and she won older voters 70–29. She swept all income levels and educational attainment levels in Ohio. She also won unions, an important demographic in the industrial Rust Belt, by a margin of 55–45.
In terms of political ideology, Clinton swept all groups: liberals, moderates, and conservatives. She won Democrats 64–35, but lost Independents 66–33 to Sanders.
Clinton swept most counties in the state, winning urban areas 61–38, suburban areas 63–36, and rural areas by a modest 51–48. Clinton won in the Cleveland area 63–35, in Northern Ohio 57–43, in the Ohio Valley and Western Ohio 52–47, in the Columbus area 52–47, and in Cincinnati/Dayton, 55–45.
References