on 2018 silverado pickups when you finance with gm financial. plus, during truck month make no monthly payments for 90 days. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. sandra: the march to the mid-terms kicking into high gear with big primary battles happening today in key states. welcome to a new hour of america s newsroom. i m sandra smith. bill: i m bill hemmer. five states have either a primary or special election today. two states that could serve as a bellwether for things to come. ohio and michigan where we have team fox coverage. mike tobin is live in michigan but we start with kristin fisher in columbus, ohio watching a big race in congressional district 12. who knew? this race is being watched very closely. the last special election before the mid-terms. it is also a race that should not be close and yet the
the past by drawing poor candidates from republicans who weren t able to beat her despite the fact that the state is moving a little bit to the right. and she and her party are moving a lot farther to the left. josh hawley, the attorney general, he has won statewide election. that s important. he looks like he is probably in good shape to win the republican nomination. that will make it a much tougher race for her for claire mccaskill. bill: democrats need to win moderate voters in these races in these districts where republican hold seats. that s their entire key. shall i go to the elephant? that s owe, congressional district 12. back in 2016 this is an easy win for the president. nobody saw it that way. he won ohio by eight points. in congressional district 12, charlie, he won that district by 11 points. close to 12 points.
underdog, democrat danny o connor, is within striking distance of becoming the first democrat to represent ohio s 12th district in nearly four decades. i caught up with him an hour ago after he voted and asked if he was surprised that the race is this tight. we ve been focused on just sprinting, talking to voters about important issues. you should never count out folks with grassroots support and hungry for change and hungry for new leadership in washington his opponent republican troy balderson is hoping a last-minute push from president trump will help him squeak out a win. he recorded a phone message to voters yesterday and today said on twitter, quote, ohio, vote today for troy balderson for congress. his opponent controlled by nancy pelosi is weak on crime, the border, military, vets, your second amendment and will end your tax cuts. troy will be a great
it is very interesting, karl. you have had a republican in this district for the last 35 years. the numbers really favor republicans. i ll show you on the board drilling down here from 2016. the president won the state by eight points. that is a landslide in ohio politics these days. you probably agree with that. on this district itself if you go into congressional district 12 he won the district by 11 points. some of the polls are suggesting it s too close to call. let s figure out why we think that is the case. but here is the race tomorrow. o connor is the democrat. balderson is the republican. it stretches the northern part of columbus ohio, suburbs, delaware county, you have some rural areas in morrow and richland, a lot of farmland and rural areas. you look at the demographics here. for this district on the screen, it s predominantly white. 85%, clear that off.
clinton. trump won the state by eight points in ohio. that s a landslide, right? you would admit that. the special election, congressional district 12, trump won the district by 11 points. really comfortable republican territory. it has been. the august 7th race tomorrow danny o connor the democrat against troy balderson the republican. columbus, ohio. portions of seven counties. northern franklin, a lot of suburbs into delaware county, richland and these are rural areas out further away from columbus, ohio. what do you think is giving in this district now, governor? there is no question that 2016 showed us that modern elections in our country are unpredictable and i think this one is as unpredictable as any. now the special elections in recent times have shaken