Democrats Say the ‘Three C’s’ Are Crucial to Make Ohio Competitive Again

Democrats think the key to winning races in Ohio is shoring up support in the pockets that reliably vote for them.

Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati — collectively known as the “three C’s” — make up the state’s largest Democratic voting blocs. The cities have helped Democrats in recent local elections, which they say could serve as a blueprint for other higher-profile wins. Still, Democratic enthusiasm and turnout in the three C’s need a significant boost if they want the state to be competitive in 2026, when they’ll look to flip a Republican-held Senate seat and take back the governor’s mansion.

Democrats made the case that they can tap more voters there as urban areas increasingly become the national strongholds for the party, but they acknowledged that they have work to do to win over their own base.

“Even though we’re the most Democratic county in the state, it doesn’t necessarily mean people feel strongly connected to the Democratic Party,” David Brock, the chair of the Democratic Party in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, told NOTUS.

Brock and other county leaders in and around Ohio’s largest cities say half the battle is turning out existing Democratic voters on Election Day, not necessarily recruiting new ones. These state Democrats have identified what they believe are the two key factors for depressed turnout and low enthusiasm: a party brand in crisis and Republican domination at the statehouse, which led to gerrymandering and stricter voting laws.

State Democrats alone can’t rebrand the Democratic Party or make voting laws easier. But they argue they could tap into some of the messaging focused on high prices and the cost of living that Democrats elsewhere have used successfully. Democrats in the three C’s believe that with boosted engagement and turnout, they can pick up the slack to shift Ohio back toward the Democratic Party more broadly.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the state by more than 600,000 votes last year, while former Sen. Sherrod Brown lost reelection by a little more than 200,000.

The 2024 election data also shows weak support for Democrats in some key areas. For example, Cuyahoga County saw 63% turnout of eligible voters last year, eight percentage points below the statewide average. In each of the three largest precincts in Cleveland, which make up nearly 500,000 voters, turnout averaged just 47% in the 2024 election. In Franklin and Hamilton Counties, where Columbus and Cincinnati are located, respectively, 67% of eligible voters turned out.

Brown, who is running for Senate again, and Amy Acton, the presumed Democratic nominee running for governor, did not comment on how the three C’s will play into their campaign strategy.

Alex Linser, chair of the Hamilton County Democrats, said the party needs to reach the threshold of 70% to be genuinely competitive statewide if rural counties remain staunch Republican strongholds.

The Democratic National Committee announced in October that record money would be coming Ohio’s way, and party leaders in the three C’s want it spent on on-the-ground infrastructure. Ohio Democrats say they hope the DNC will turn to local leaders rather than national strategists to regain the voters they’ve lost.

“We have to go back and get those folks. We’re working on that, we are working on that infrastructure now,” Kim Agyekum, executive director of the Franklin County Democrats in Columbus, told NOTUS.

Each of the leaders in the three cities said that Democrats succeed when they return to basics.

Linser said that success around Cincinnati has started with grassroots-level organizing, a recipe that has led to higher-quality candidates and campaigns, from school board elections to the mayor’s office.

“It’s going to take a lot of boots on the ground in order to build successful campaigns next year. So having people who are willing to take organizing roles in their own neighborhoods, that’s the most important piece of the puzzle,” Linser said.

Kathy Wyenandt, the chair of Cincinnati-area Butler County Democrats, expressed concern about Democrats’ focus on presidential races at the expense of down-ballot elections. Wyenandt said that between those presidential elections, they have to stay focused on smaller races to keep the momentum going.

“The Democratic Party has been so short-sighted in recent decades, and all they focused on was the presidential, and they lost sight of the thing that matters most in many cases, and that’s the state house,” Wyenandt said. “Sometimes people see the big sparkly things, and those are the things that catch most of our attention, but the things that matter most, those things that are closest to home.”