For Only 3rd Time Since 1900, Ohio Did Not Pick The President

OHIO — With Joe Biden now the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election, it appears, for only the third time since 1900, Ohio has not elected the president.

While pundits have often repeated the tired cliché, "As Ohio goes, so goes the nation," that aphorism may be losing its validity.

As the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia noted, since 1900 there have been 30 presidential elections. Ohio has correctly picked the winner in 27 of those elections. One of those incorrect picks was this year.

Incumbent Donald Trump is the projected winner of the Buckeye State, which has previously been a bellwether for the nation. In fact, no Republican president has ever secured the White House without winning Ohio. Democrats had only done it twice — until 2020.

Pundits have long suggested Ohio may be skewing more red, and the state's two previous misfires in presidential picks were both for Republicans. The Buckeye State went for Republican Tom Dewey in 1944 (instead of FDR) and for Richard Nixon in 1960 (instead of JFK). The third entry on that list will say Ohio went for Trump instead of Biden.

Biden is also only the second person to win the presidency while losing both the key swing states of Ohio and Florida. Kennedy secured the White House in 1960 without either state, but the Deep South was then a staunch Democratic stronghold, according to 270 to Win.

Some analysts have suggested Ohio may be surrendering its bellwether status and trending deeper red. Trump won Ohio by nearly 8 points in 2016 and carried the state by a similar margin in 2020. What's causing Ohio to break from its traditional role? Several factors.

For one, the Columbus Dispatch noted, Ohioans are older and less educated than the average American. The Buckeye State is also whiter than the average U.S. state.

Time will tell if Ohio will regain its bellwether status or morph into a Republican stronghold.