
Resistance to Trump is filtering down to local offices — even in a county Trump won by over 30 points.

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, Democrats delivered shattering victories in the Virginia and New Jersey elections, and nationwide brought the total of state legislative seats flipped from red to blue since Donald Trump was elected to 32.

A less touted, but no less impressive, story is how Democrats have been flipping county and municipal offices in unexpected places.

Going into this week, Democrats had already made gains this year in local races in Illinois, New Mexico, and Virginia. And on Tuesday, local Democrats scored big in Ohio.


One of the most telling signs of growing Democratic strength is the results of elections in Ohio’s Warren County.

There are no more reliably red counties in the state than Warren County. Except for 1964, its residents have voted GOP in every presidential election since the party was founded, and went for Trump by 32 points. Democrats are so unpopular there that last year, a man was arrested for dumping huge quantities of manure outside the Democrats’ county headquarters in the city of Lebanon.

Democrats have had no meaningful presence in county or local offices since the 1980s, and rarely even bother running candidates at all.

But on Tuesday, Warren County elected 9 new Democrats to local offices, and re-elected all 4 incumbents. Democrats now have multiple school board members, township trustees, a municipal court judge in Franklin, and a seat on the Educational Services Center. For good measure, they helped a moderate Republican defeat a far-right candidate for trustee in Deerfield Township.

In conversation with Shareblue Media, Warren County Democratic Party Chair Bethe Goldenfield took on an optimistic tone. "I think that people now see that we can help them get elected in these kinds of areas," she said.

As the political signs shift more and more towards a coming wave election, Democrats are finding themselves competitive in places they have been locked out of for decades.

What happened in Warren County is happening all around the country — and will only continue.