Vice President JD Vance made his last campaign stop of the 2026 cycle in Swanton, Ohio, on Monday, urging voters to back Republican Senate candidate Jon Husted and gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy a day before polls opened in a contest both parties were watching closely. The rally capped a frenetic final 24 hours of campaigning across the state, with Democrats staging their own closing event in Columbus the same night.
According to the Washington Examiner, Vance held his final rally of the 2026 campaign cycle in the small town near Toledo, where he urged support for Husted, Ramaswamy and congressional candidate Derek Merrin. WLWT reported the Swanton event was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., part of a packed slate of appearances crisscrossing the state ahead of Election Day.
The station's report also detailed the Democratic side of the closing push: gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and Senate candidate Sherrod Brown were set to rally together in Columbus Monday night at 6:30 p.m. Ramaswamy had an additional stop planned for later that evening, at Lori's Roadhouse in West Chester starting at 8:30 p.m., per the same account.
Close Races Heading Into Election Day
The Swanton rally came as Husted and Ramaswamy faced close races heading into Election Day, underscoring why both parties sent their biggest names to the trail in the campaign's final hours.
NPR framed Vance's barnstorming as more than a favor to down-ballot candidates, describing his delivery as distinct from President Donald Trump's style. As NPR put it, “Vance's delivery was different from the president's – less borscht-belt comedian, more practiced politician – it contained plenty of MAGA DNA.” The outlet also noted that Vance faced a particular challenge in promoting Republican candidates while serving as vice president to an unpopular Republican president.
Ohio Early Voting Breaks Midterm Record
While candidates made their final appeals, Ohio election officials were tracking a surge in early turnout. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a Monday news release that the state's final early-vote total broke the midterm early-voting record, according to WVXU. More than 1.7 million Ohioans were expected to have cast ballots before Election Day.
WVXU's reporting also showed a more complicated picture beneath that headline number. More than 630,000 mail-in ballots had been returned as of Nov. 1, about 86% of all those requested this year, even as mail-in ballot requests themselves fell by more than 26%, from 1 million in 2022 to 730,000 in 2026. A separate Ohio Secretary of State release described the result in broader terms, with LaRose saying “Ohioans crushed the 2022 early voting record for a gubernatorial election,” though that release snippet did not provide a specific total.
Closing Arguments In A Nationally Watched Contest
The dueling rallies in Swanton and Columbus reflected how closely both parties were watching Ohio's outcome, with Republicans and Democrats rallying their supporters ahead of an election being closely tracked well beyond the state's borders. As the Columbus Dispatch reported, Vance traveled to Ohio on Monday as part of that final, intensive push to turn out voters before polls opened Tuesday.
