Inflation, abortion, crime on Ohio voters' minds for the 2022 election season

More than 1 million Ohioans have already voted in the upcoming election and those voters have a lot on their minds.

The cost of gas and groceries are up significantly from last year. Abortion access is no longer protected by the federal government. Schools have become battlegrounds in our state and nation's culture wars.

Reporters from across the USA TODAY Network traveled around Ohio to talk to voters about the issues they are focused on and the candidates they are supporting.

Here's what voters had to say:

Economy, abortion among key issues

Once a premier swing state, Ohio voters have shifted toward Republicans in recent years, choosing Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in 2018 and former President Donald Trump in 2020 – two years when Democrats did well nationally.

This November looked like another banner year for Ohio Republicans until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections. Women started outpacing men in new voter registrations in Ohio. Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected changes to the state's abortion protections. And Ohio Democrats saw a potential path to recapture some statewide seats.

“As a Christian, I don’t believe in abortion. I believe that life begins at conception," said retired Canton Police Captain Bruce Allison, 68. "I don’t think that this country has a right to tell a woman that she can’t make her own personal choice. I believe a woman has a right to choose and God will be her judge.”

But Allison's decision to vote for Democrats like U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan and gubernatorial candidate former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley didn't hinge on reproductive rights. He said the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was top of mind as he voted.

Suzanne Mahon, a retired Republican from Reynoldsburg south of Columbus, said rising gas prices, mortgage rates and grocery bills were her biggest concerns.

"I don’t think there’s a positive thing about our economy at this moment," Mahon said. And she thinks President Joe Biden and his policies are to blame.

More than 53% of likely voters in Ohio share Mahon's concerns, labeling the state's economic conditions as “fair" instead of “good” or “excellent," according to a USA TODAY Network Ohio/Suffolk University poll. Twenty-three percent believe conditions are “poor.”

"The gasoline, the shelves in the grocery store are empty, people are out of work," Mahon said.

U.S. Senate race between Democrat Tim Ryan, Republican J.D. Vance

Ryan has heard those same concerns and put the economy front and center in his campaign for U.S. Senate. The Youngstown-area Democrat calls Republican J.D. Vance a “vulture capitalist” from San Francisco and reminds voters of his own skepticism on free trade and his support for Trump on China. Vance's campaign ads say Ryan has been in office for 20 years and the state needs someone new.

Polling has Ryan and Vance statistically tied.

James Hinton, a 25-year-old law student from North Canton, split his vote between Republicans and Democrats. He chose DeWine for governor and Ryan for Senate.

“A lot of it is personality. I really don’t like J.D. Vance. I’ll be open about that. He’s a flip-flopper," Hinton said. "I think he lived in California for too long. He’s kind of disappeared on the campaign trail and Tim Ryan has been pretty relevant on TV. He really made a compelling story that I was willing to vote for a Democrat this time.”

Robert Oldroyd, an 83-year-old retired factory worker from Stark County disagreed. He said Vance is "fresh. He’s new. He’s smart."

Abortion is an issue also on voters' minds in the Senate race.

Ryan has had to explain how he moved from opposing abortion to supporting the Roe v. Wade standard of viability.

“I mostly voted along women’s health care and women’s rights," said Katie Baldasare, a 53-year-old graphic designer from Hamilton County.

Baldasare chose Ryan, but Norbert Woodhams, 76, from Butler County chose Vance because he "support(s) my core beliefs." Vance grew up in Butler County.

On the other side of the state, Patricia Curtis, a stay-at-home mom from Wooster, wanted to see less extremism from politicians.

The 42-year-old picked Ryan over Vance because the latter was "too radical."

"I felt like he brought up immigration a lot when we're in Ohio," she said. "I didn't see how that is an Ohio issue."

Governor's race between Mike DeWine and Nan Whaley

Millions of Ohioans watched DeWine's daily press conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many remember them fondly. His name ID is on par with a president, according to recent polling. No one, it seems, doesn't know the governor.

“I like how (DeWine) handled COVID last year and the year before," said Paula Gue, "I just thought it was well done.”

The retired Stark County nurse is a registered independent and split her ballot between DeWine and Ryan.

Election 2022:How our team is covering the 2022 statewide elections. What's on the ballot?

Even registered Democrats who voted for Whaley said they liked how DeWine bucked conservatives in the GOP who wanted fewer mask mandates and business shutdowns during the early months of the pandemic.

“I’m not a fan of DeWine, but I thought he did a fantastic job during the height of COVID responding, making sure Ohio citizens were up to date on things," Democrat Sophie Gipson, 20, of Dayton, said. "Overall, he did a very good job keeping us safe."

And that's a problem for Whaley.

DeWine has support from 89% of Republicans, 58% of independents and 19% of Democrats, according to a September poll from Siena College. On the other hand, more than half of respondents reported no opinion or real knowledge of Whaley.

“My wife and I really looked forward to Gov. DeWine’s televised presentations ... ,” said Jon Bluebond of Akron. “It was challenging when he had to back down to party pressure, and in the end, I guess I was kinda disappointed.”

Bluebond voted for Whaley, but down in the Cincinnati area Alayna Taylor, 24, chose to support DeWine despite him not being her first choice. She voted for political newcomer Joe Blystone in the Republican primary in May.

“I don’t think he (DeWine) handled everything with COVID the best he could have, but he’s the better of our options," she said.

Where Whaley is trying to make inroads is with women, particularly those who think the state's abortion law that bans almost all abortions after six weeks with no exceptions for rape is too extreme.

DeWine signed the law in 2019, and that was the line in the sand for Margaret Jacobson, a 65-year-old nurse.

"It’s about his stance on women’s rights for me,” Jacobson said.

She voted for Whaley and so did Sarah Donohue, 38, a stay-at-home mom from Newtown village near Cincinnati.

"I had an abortion following a miscarriage and that procedure would potentially be illegal if some people were to get their way," Donohue said. "Women’s rights are a huge issue for me. I’d be dead otherwise.”

Public safety, education and threats to democracy

Abortion and the rising price of groceries weren't the only issues voters are concerned about.

"Crime definitely is high on my list ..." Cincinnati resident and retired realtor Mike Kelly said. "For instance, like the bail. They have to keep these people in jail. What I’m seeing is that people are getting robbed in the parking lots. And half the times they get robbed, the people that rob them are either out with no bail or if you look up their criminal record, it’s ridiculous they should be even out at all."

Kyle Vath, 39, from Bridgetown, northwest of Cincinnati, worried about the message Ohio lawmakers are sending his children.

"All the stuff that’s going on at the state board of education, with the LGBTQ issues, the (critical race theory) issues, and those types of things are really concerning," Vath said. "I have three young kids, and I want them to grow up in a community, a state that is loving and welcoming and protects and cares for our youngest folks."

Over in Butler County, Woodhams disagreed. The retired CEO of Pierre Foods said, "a lot of the children’s issues and the woke issues, they really bother me."

He thinks educators have gone too far with "all (these) sexual comments and who you are and what you are and what you stand for. I think we should leave that more to parents."

Immigration also came up.

"My father came from Europe, and while a lot has changed since 1921, we need to be better and more accepting," said Carol Noel, a 72-year-old retiree from Orrville. "We were described as the melting pot of the world, and we need to embrace other people."

Her ideal solution, as an independent who leans Democratic, would be fast-tracking citizenship for immigrants and refugees. The Republican support of a border wall is "absurd," she said.

But for others, political party mattered most.

"I’m a Democrat," said Meldora Gibson, a retired factory worker from East Canton. "I think they do more for people. Republicans don’t even have an agenda.”

Stan Johnson, a 77-year-old retired salesman from Wooster, said he wants to keep Republicans in office.

"I'm against immigrants coming into this country; I'm against closing the Keystone Pipeline; I'm against how expensive energy costs are; I'm against paying for other people's college tuition," he said after voting early in Wayne County.

Some voters are worried candidates who lose the election won't accept the results.

First-time voter Jacob Hall, 19, is a freshman at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, north of Columbus. He's worried about how some candidates across the country will handle losing.

"Not fully accepting the results of the election really undermines our democracy as a whole," Hall said. "The peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another has been the hallmark of American democracy … and that not happening quickly erodes what makes America a democracy.”

Reporters Scott Wartman, Benjamin Duer, Bryce Buyakie, Nolan Simmons, Micah Walker and Anthony Thompson contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amid early voting, here's what is on the minds of Ohio voters