NEW: It’s not just Iowa and Ohio. Trump also has scaled back TV ads significantly in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota — signaling a retreat from the Midwest.
Henry J. Gomez
19.3K posts
Henry J. Gomez
@HenryJGomez
Senior National Political Reporter @NBCNews. Board member @SignalOhio. Youngstown native. Ohio Forever.
Cleveland
Born September 17
Joined April 2008
- Joe Biden is the first candidate to win the White House without winning Ohio since JFK in 1960, thus ending a shopworn cliche that every Ohio political operative loves. (And more broadly ratifying the notion that Ohio is no longer a battleground state.)
- Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio today in Youngstown on the Biden question, per his campaign: "I'm not a pundit. I've talked to people across Ohio. They have legitimate questions about whether the president should continue his campaign, and I'll keep listening to people."
- NEW: Tim Ryan "all by his lonesome" as national Democrats ignore #OHSen and national Republicans pour in buckets of cash for J.D. Vance. "If we lose this race by a few points ... blame should squarely fall on the D.C. forces who unfairly wrote off Ohio."
- NEW: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signals plans to be a major player in 2024, with a newly launched federal PAC that will raise money intended to support Biden’s re-elect and boost other Dems nationwide.
- Some personal news: I’m headed to @NBCNews Digital as a national political reporter! So excited to join the excellent team there and to continue covering big and important stories around (gestures broadly) all of this in the coming years.
- The Ohio Republican Party is inviting people to “Join President Trump & Vote By Absentee Ballot.” The quote at the bottom is what makes it, though.
- One 👀 nugget in Gretchen Whitmer's new book — when she compares her violation of social distancing rules to Gavin Newsom's meal at The French Laundry: "So, Gavin and I had that in common — even though he was dining at a Michelin three-star restaurant and I was in a dive bar."
- The Godfather is on cable like 27 times a year and I swear every time I stumble upon it right as Sonny gets to the toll booth.
- Two years ago, no one knew @PeteButtigieg and @AndrewYang. Tonight they'll speak on the closing night of the Democratic convention. I talked with both about what they learned from their campaigns, about Biden, and about the future.
- There’s this idea that Pete Buttigieg has been bad for people of color in South Bend. I spent last week talking to a bunch of people there, including his close black allies, and came away with a different view.
- The J.D. Vance exploratory committee appears to be piggybacking off web templates leftover from John Inhulsen, a state rep candidate in Michigan. If you type /issues into the URL you’ll get a message every Ohio voter wants to see. ohiovaluesproject.com/issues/
- A spox for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tells me this is state law enforcement that he approved Saturday at 6:40 pm. A source familiar says it’s NOT Secret Service, not related to veepstakes and that the presence is strictly precautionary after yesterday.Bunch of official, secret service-looking vehicles + two cop cars parked outside JD Vance’s house this afternoon He’s been told he’s VP already for sure
