Ohio Republican voters speak out against Trump even as state's outcome seems pretty certain

Republican Donald Trump was a controversial political figure even before he launched his first presidential campaign. He carries a laundry list of well-publicized racist, sexist and bigoted remarks not to mention a track record of abusing the power of his office. His unfiltered approach has been central to Trump’s appeal. Even when supporters don’t fully embrace what he’s saying, his willingness to say it has earned him a strong base of devoted adherents.

But it has also turned off many Republican voters.

The “Never Trump” wing of the party has been around from the outset, but after his victory in 2016, many of those opponents got in line. Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election fractured the party more deeply. Again, given time, many Republicans came around.

But now in Trump’s third presidential campaign, a chunk of disaffected Republicans has crystalized into a group called Republican Voters Against Trump. The group has the backing of Republican Accountability PAC, an anti-Trump committee organized by prominent conservative figures like Sarah Longwell and Bill Kristol.

Part of their approach is to collect and share testimonials from Republicans voters who will not be supporting Trump. Ohio Capital Journal spoke with a handful of those voters about what drove their decisions.

Nathan Price

Nathan Price is in his late 20s and lives in Kettering, Ohio. He grew up in Republican household in Republican community and voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. He parted ways with the candidate following the January 6 riot.

“I had the Trump flag, the Trump mug, the hat, I had socks — all the merchandise,” he said. “And then January 6 happened, and I packed it all up in a box that night, and I never looked back.”

His first big political memory is his mom pulling him out of school to attend the rally where John McCain announced he was selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate.

“I just thought it was the coolest thing ever, you know, going to something like that,” he explained.

Price still considers himself a Republican, but says he split his ballot pretty evenly between Democratic and Republican candidates. He and his husband want to adopt in the next few years. Pointing to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda, he worries that some in the GOP don’t want to see them as parents. Price spoke favorably of U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-OH, but also said he was “ecstatic” to cast a ballot for Kamala Harris.

“I’m feeling homeless,” he described, “And the longer this goes on, the more I’m going to become a Democrat.”

One thing he’s keeping his eye on is how the GOP responds win or lose following Election Day.

He described how he was initially drawn to Trump’s lack of filter, but noticed how it was a political liability during his first term. Still, when the 2020 election came around, he saw Trump as the better option. Following Trump’s attempt to overturn the election Price hit a fork in the road and compared Trump’s self-aggrandizing rhetoric to a toxic relationship.

Price knows Trump is likely to win in Ohio. But based on the number of people in his orbit who have changed their mind about the former president, he believes the margins will be tighter. While he acknowledged that’s purely anecdotal, he argued narrowing the gap could send a message.

“I think that those types of votes help show that whatever track the Republican Party has chosen with him is not the track that’s going to help them win long term,” he said.

Dale Struble

Dale Struble is in his late 60s and lives in Troy. He describes himself as a retired educator. “I’ve been a band director, shop teacher, special ed teacher,” he said. Struble said Ronald Reagan drew him to the Republican Party and he supported both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

“The idea of small government, of lower taxes, perhaps fewer services,” he explained. “But I was the kind of person that took care of myself and felt that everybody else should do that.”

He voted for Trump in 2016 despite feeling “a little leery” of the candidate. His biggest red flag was the way Trump talked about John McCain.

“I was not in the service, but I really have a lot of respect,” he said. “I realized the sacrifices that people made, and gosh, I knew his story and the sacrifices he made, and for Trump to not respect him for that, that was the first inkling there was something wrong.”

He can’t point to specific breaking point, but he grew disillusioned enough with Trump to vote for a Libertarian candidate in 2020. Like Price, he saw the January 6 riot as a breaking point.

“And not only it happening,” he said, “but the ‘big lie’ that precipitated it, and all the lies that occurred after it, and saying that those people are heroes and patriots. It just, I mean, it still boggles my mind.”

As for where he stands now, Struble recalled describing himself to a friend as a Liz Cheney Republican following January 6.

“According to the state, I’m still a Republican, because I requested the (primary) ballot to vote for Nikki Haley,” he explained. “So technically, I am a Republican. In my mind, I’m an independent.”

He said his congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, R-OH, seems like a good guy, but Struble complained he hasn’t been clear about whether Trump won or lost in 2020. “And until Republicans can just say that simple truth,” he added, “then I will vote for Democrats.” After decades voting for Republicans, he said it’s a bit disorienting to support Kamala Harris.

Struble acknowledged they probably won’t see eye to eye on plenty of issues, “but overall, I feel like she says what is true.”

Chris Gibbs

Chris Gibbs’ conversion came a few years earlier than Price’s or Struble’s, and his change of heart has gotten much more publicity. Gibbs is in late 60s and he’s been a farmer in Shelby County for decades. He got his start politically through the local farm bureau in the early 1980s, and eventually became chair of the Shelby County Republican Party.

He now leads the Shelby County Democratic Party.

In describing how he got there, Gibbs explained he was skeptical about Trump from the start. To him, the failure of immigration reform in 2013, signaled the Tea Party would be a lasting political force. At that point, he found himself at odds with his own party so he stepped down as county chair but remained on the central committee.

“(20)16 comes along, no way I was going to vote for Donald Trump for primary, so I voted for Jeb Bush,” he explained.

When the general election came around, he still didn’t like Trump but saw him as the lesser of two evils. “I just wasn’t built to vote for another Clinton,” he said.

“I ended up finally justifying a vote for Donald Trump in ’16,” he said, after deciding “there’s nothing he can do that our Congress and our institutions can’t fix. So what’s the punchline? Boy, was I wrong.”

Gibbs has spoken before about his frustration with Donald Trump’s decision to launch a trade war. Those tariffs all but guaranteed other countries would retaliate, targeting the country’s “soft underbelly.”

“And what is that? That’s agriculture,” Gibbs insisted.

To make matters worse, Gibbs argued, the administration then “raided our treasury and paid farmers the difference in hush money.” The Market Facilitation Program he’s referring to served as a backstop for farmers who saw the price of crops like soybeans plummet in response to the trade war. In all, the program cost $23 billion.

But Gibbs said he parted company with Trump about two months before the largest chunk of tariffs were imposed. He points to a 2018 summit in Helsinki between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader had insisted his country played no role in the 2016 election despite U.S. intelligence agencies agreeing Russian actors engaged in a major misinformation campaign.

“Trump then stood up and says I believe him,” Gibbs described. “My intelligence services, all 17 intelligence services said, yes, they did have an influential role in in the 2016 election, Russia did with disinformation, but I believe Putin over my intelligence agencies. And I knew right then I’m done. You do not do that. You do not do that.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and X.