Why Columbus and its suburbs are suddenly in Democrats' sights

Democrats’ decision to stage their next presidential “debate” in Westerville, the Columbus suburb, rather than say, in Northeast Ohio, puzzled some bystanders. It shouldn’t have. Ohio’s Democratic pivot is slowly sliding southwest. The 2010 census suggested Ohio’s population center was near Interstate 71’s mile marker 147, in Morrow County. When Census 2020 reports, the state’s population center will surely have drifted further south.

As of mid-2018, Cuyahoga County’s population was 1,243,857; Franklin’s was 1,310,300. That is, Franklin County (Columbus) has 66,000 more residents than Cuyahoga.

Contrast that with 1960: Cuyahoga County had 1,647,895 residents, Franklin, 682,962. That is, Cuyahoga County then had roughly 965,000 more residents than Franklin.

And in the mid-1960s, only three of Franklin County’s elected countywide executive officials were Democrats. Today, only two those of those county officeholders are Republicans.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2019/09/why-columbus-and-its-suburbs-are-suddenly-in-democrats-sights.html