DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump faces a test of his political influence on Tuesday [8-7-18] in a special congressional election in Ohio that has become a referendum on his leadership and a last chance to gauge Democratic strength ahead of November’s midterm elections. The Ohio race for a U.S. House of Representatives seat headlines a day of voting across the country that also features primaries in four other states. Other key contests include a Democratic battle for governor in Michigan between a progressive and a mainstream candidate and a high-profile conservative challenge to the incumbent Republican governor in Kansas. Trump charged into the Ohio race, the final special election before November. He visited the reliably Republican 12th Congressional District over the weekend to try to head off an upset after polls showed a tightening battle between Republican Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O’Connor. The district, split between suburban Columbus and rural areas, has been represented by a Republican since the early 1980s. Trump carried it by 11 percentage points in the 2016 presidential race. But O’Connor has wiped out most or all of Balderson’s lead in opinion polls, and a Democratic win would set off alarm bells for Republicans already worried by a series of strong performances in special elections by Democrats in the Trump era.”
–John Whitesides, “Trump faces political test in Ohio as five states cast votes,” Reuters, August 7, 2018 3:06 am