Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown are set to rally together in Youngstown Tuesday evening, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and the event kicking off at 7 p.m. Attendees won't know exactly where they're headed until 24 hours before showtime — the venue address is only released to people who RSVP in advance.
The Youngstown stop comes straight from the OhioWins! event page, according to WKBN.com, which reports that people can RSVP through the event page itself. Acton is the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor, while Brown, a Democrat and former U.S. senator, is seeking to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted, as abc6onyourside.com notes.
Security at the Youngstown event will mirror what you'd find at an airport, per the same WKBN report. Attendees are asked to bring as few items as possible and to leave large bags, sharp objects, metal water bottles and handmade signs at home — though cameras and cell phones are allowed inside.
Part of a Statewide Closing Push
Youngstown is just one leg of a broader tour. The abc6onyourside.com newsletter reports that Acton and Brown are scheduled to visit Dayton, Youngstown, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron and Columbus before Ohio's Nov. 3 midterm election, part of a final sprint to turn out voters statewide.
The Youngstown visit follows a much larger gathering three days earlier, when several thousand Ohioans packed the Cleveland Public Auditorium for a rally featuring former President Barack Obama alongside Acton and Brown, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. At that event, Acton described herself as “a scrappy kid from Youngstown,” recalling how her hometown neighbors used to know more about a person's union or church than their political party.
Acton also used the Cleveland stage to pitch what she called a “working families tax cut,” pairing a child tax credit with an earned income credit while committing to lower childcare and utility costs, the outlet reported. Brown, for his part, told the crowd that corporate profits keep climbing while “CEOs earn 300 times what the average worker does.” Obama weighed in too, criticizing a Republican ad targeting Acton by saying, “There's a decency that we should expect out of our public officials.”
Where the Polls Stand
The Youngstown rally arrives as multiple polls show both Ohio Democrats with leads over their Republican rivals, though the margins differ depending on the survey. A Fox News poll conducted October 15-19 found Acton edging Republican Vivek Ramaswamy 50% to 48% and Brown ahead of Husted 52% to 47%, according to NBC4 WCMH-TV. An earlier Cook Political Report survey taken October 9-13 had Acton ahead 49% to 44% and Brown leading 49% to 43%, per the same NBC4 account.
The Marist Poll, surveying 1,176 Ohio registered voters from October 15 through October 18 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points for likely voters, found Acton leading Ramaswamy 50% to 43% and Brown ahead of Husted by a narrower four-point gap, 48% to 44%. Separately, The Hill reported that the Cook Political Report shifted the governor's race from toss-up to lean Democrat in Acton's favor, while Decision Desk HQ gave her a 62 percent chance of winning.
Whether any of that polling momentum translates into a bigger crowd than Cleveland's remains to be seen heading into Tuesday night in Youngstown. For now, the only way to find out exactly where the rally will be held is to RSVP and wait for the address to land 24 hours out.
