UPDATE: Rep. Eric Swalwell joins the crowded 2020 presidential field

[BumRushDaShow]

44. One of my BILs was born and raised in OH

(Dayton area)... and his mother, one of his older brothers and a sister (and their families) are still there, although some of his nieces have moved over here to the east coast (Philly, Philly 'burbs and NYC metro & 'burbs) after getting married and starting to raise a family.

One of the things that happened there, particularly in western OH, was that folks (many of them Democrats) left. My BIL has told me that most of his friends from his old neighborhood and from school, moved out of the state completely (as he did, living in the suburbs here outside of Philly with my sister). His uncle had actually come here many years ago, so he had someone here to touch base with before meeting my sister. But regardless, he and my sister make that 10 hour drive back to OH at least once or twice a year (he is afraid to fly) to see his mom and the rest of the family there.

I don't think there is really true leveraging of the vote in the cities in OH (and there are a number of them) to get blue turnout up and battle all the shenanigans that the GOP has put in place there - at least enough to overcome the red small town/rural areas. As you know here in PA, if it wasn't for Philly, Pittsburgh and the Scranton/Allentown/Bethlehem area, PA would have continually voted red, where 2016 was the first time since 1988 that it did so.

And I agree about the 2016 fluke here (some of it turnout, some of it Stein, some of it Erie actually flipping to red for the first time).

And yup - can't really get that vested in the huge field at this point until I see who is left as we get closer to April 2020!