Hillary Clinton won the Ohio primary after a hard fought fight between the two candidates in the crucial general election swing state.
Going in to the primary Clinton led Sanders 51-43, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages, and held a consistent yet slowly shrinking lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders since they both launched their campaigns.
After Sanders’ surprise win in Michigan last Tuesday the democratic socialist’s campaign became hopeful that they could pull off a similar feat in Ohio as the two Midwestern states have similar demographics.
Sanders also emphasized his populist economic message and appealed to union worker in order to win over Ohio Democrats. But Ohio has large African-American populations in its city centers, which hurt Sanders as he struggles to appeal to minority voters in the same way Clinton has.
Following last Tuesday’s loss, Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook warned that Sanders could very well beat them in Ohio, but since the delegates are split proportionally the loss would not hurt their overall delegate lead.
Now it won’t be an issue at all.
As voters headed to the polls Tuesday, early reports showed that an unusually large amount of Democratic voters requested Republican ballots in order to vote for John Kasich and block Donald Trump. The two-term Ohio governor is very popular in the state among both parties.
Clinton’s Ohio win will raise further questions about Sanders’ path going forward.
