DAVID MARCUS: In Dayton, Ohio, both parties face bitter political despondency

Generally, on reporting trips, the job begins once I land on the ground, hence, "on the ground reporting." But in Dayton, Ohio, I got my first tidbit of information in the air, looking out of my plane’s window to a large farm field below with the giant words, "Trump 28," blasted onto it like a crop circle.It was a reminder that President Donald Trump won the Buckeye State by 11 points in 2024, and yet, both the Senate and gubernatorial races here are proving uphill climbs for the GOP’s respective nominees — Sen.Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy — even with Democratic challengers in former Sen.

Sherrod Brown and Dr.Amy Acton whose support feels rather tepid.I spoke with Michael in the Oregon District neighborhood, one of few in this beat-down city of empty storefronts still brimming with life.

His attitude seemed to be something akin to a pox on both political parties’ houses.FOX NEWS POLL: DEMOCRATIC UNITY, REPUBLICAN CROSSOVERS SHAPE OHIO SENATE RACEAn abandoned building pictured in downtown Dayton, Ohio.(David Marcus)"It doesn’t seem like either candidate is going to be good for anybody," the young man said, regarding Ramaswamy and Amy Acton.

He added, "It doesn’t matter who you vote for, either way, they’re not going to represent what the people actually want."When I asked Michael if there was a politician these days who did inspire him, his answer was Texas GOP Congressman Brandon Gill, a far more populist figure than either the technocratic Ramaswamy or the establishment Husted, the latter of whom Michael admitted to knowing almost nothing about.At Blind Bob’s, I met Miss Barbara — as the men there all dotingly called her — a woman in her 70s who has lived in Dayton her entire life.She regaled me with tales of the busy metropolis she remembers from the 1970s and 1980s."I suppose it was sometime in the 90s that things started going downhill," she told me, citing the loss of GM factories.On the elections, Miss Barbara told me, "I’ll start...