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Politics Chat: Ohio Will Be A Competitive State This Presidential Election

Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.
Alex Brandon, Patrick Semansky
/
AP
Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and President Donald Trump.

When this year began, few people in politics believed Ohio would be in play this presidential election, mainly because Donald Trump won the Buckeye State in 2016 with a comfortable eight percentage point cushion.

But times have certainly changed since then, says WVXU Senior Political Analyst Howard Wilkinson. He told News Director Maryanne Zeleznik the pandemic and the rising death toll of COVID-19, along with the collapse of a previously strong economy, have turned Ohio into a competitive state.

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Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU News Team after 30 years of covering local and state politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio governor’s race since 1974 as well as 12 presidential nominating conventions. His streak continued by covering both the 2012 Republican and Democratic conventions for 91.7 WVXU. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots; the Lucasville Prison riot in 1993; the Air Canada plane crash at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983; and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. The Cincinnati Reds are his passion. "I've been listening to WVXU and public radio for many years, and I couldn't be more pleased at the opportunity to be part of it,” he says.