Even decades ago when I lived there, very liberal candidates like Metzenbaum and Gilligan were elected in Ohio.
The governor slot seems to bounce back and forth between Dems and RINOs.
Ohio is NO bastion of conservatism. There are many good people in Ohio. There is also a LARGE contingent of leftists also. There is now virtually no path to victory for Republicans in the presidential election. They’ve lost many of their bigger states. Virginia is gone. Colorado is gone. North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico are going fast. Florida is going even faster. Ohio probably won’t go Republican again. Pennsylvania is an out-of-reach dream. Even Texas is beginning to shift as Democrat-voting people swell in it’s cities. New England is a Democrat wasteland. The industrial heartland is too. Remember 1984 when Reagan won 49 states?? Yeah, it won’t happen again. The U.S.A. is not conservative anymore. Dark days are ahead.