Ohio may no longer be the swing state it once was, but experts say it will still be the target of both in-state hate groups and outside agitators as the 2024 presidential election approaches.

Neo-Nazis already appeared about 48 miles west of Columbus to protest in Springfield in August. Given Columbus’ liberal politics in a right-leaning state, central Ohioans should expect to see demonstrations by hate groups locally this fall, said Jeff Tischauser, senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

“Ohio is more or less red, but they still see it as a battleground state,” Tischauser said. “Columbus is a blue city surrounded by red, and it’s an election year.”

Read More: Neo-Nazi group that protested Columbus drag brunch claims to have started an Ohio chapter

The SPLC tracks hate and anti-government groups across the country. Ohio is home to at least 50 such organizations, which the SPLC defines as a group that has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people.

Investigations into violent extremism nationwide have been on the rise in recent years, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress in September 2021. Between 2010 and 2021, the number of domestic terrorism cases the FBI handled grew by 357%, from 1,981 to 9,049, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

While the coming weeks will show just how active some of Ohio’s hate groups may be in the run-up to the election, there is at least one new local organization hoping to push back on hatred and fear this election cycle.

Ohioans Against Extremism was born in part out of the fact that hate groups and neo-Nazis started showing up more at events around the state, said Maria Bruno, the nonprofit’s executive director. Bruno, who previously worked for Equality Ohio, said she and others began to notice there was a need to connect people who may be dealing with extremism more frequently in their communities.

“I’ve seen what was once fringe internet trolling become things that people say on the House floor,” Bruno said. “We’ve seen this normalization of this rhetoric in the political atmosphere, but then simultaneously, we’re just dealing with more day-to-day safety threats that arise.”

Is Ohio still a top state for hate?

The nation’s heartland has long been a hotbed for hate groups, Tischauser told The Dispatch.

At the end of 2023, Ohio was home to 50 such groups with varying ideologies scattered across the state.

They include the Nazi Blood Tribe, which launched an Ohio chapter last year, as well as several white nationalist groups, five chapters of the Proud Boys, a few anti-LGBTQ+ groups, and 21 militias or antigovernment organizations.

Multiple factors may attract members of such groups to Columbus this fall, Tischauser said, including having the Ohio Statehouse as a backdrop. Following the 2020 election, statehouses across the country became the focus of protests as some voters questioned the results of the presidential race, Tischauser said.

Along with that, Columbus’ left-leaning leaders and residents offer members of extremist groups the chance to face their enemies, Tischauser said.

“Even though Ohio will probably vote red, Columbus is a blue city, there’s a huge university there and it allows them the opportunity to confront their perceived opponents during a huge crisis,” he said.

Another reason Ohio has become a home to hate groups is due in part to the state’s location, Tischauser said.

Ohio is centrally located, and Tischauser said that means members of hate groups in other states don’t have to drive too far to attend demonstrations in the Buckeye state. Groups such as Patriot Front and Nazi Blood Tribe are both able to get between 20 and 40 members to protests in Ohio, in part because it’s easy to get to and the election will be an additional motivating factor for them to gather, Tischauser said.

Members of the Nazi Blood Tribe protested outside a drag brunch at Land-Grant Brewing Co. in Columbus’ Franklinton neighborhood in the spring of 2023.

“It’s going to provide an opportunity for these types of groups to get attention,” Tischauser said.

What can Ohioans do to combat extremism?

While the nonprofit Bruno leads will continue to raise awareness about extremism as the election approaches, she said it will also try to turn down the temperature on the politics of the moment.

This presidential election cycle has already been upended multiple times, including after an assassination attempt on the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, earlier this summer in Butler County, Pennsylvania. President Joe Biden also dropped his reelection bid in late July, propelling Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket as the first woman of color to lead a major political party.

“We really want to kind of mobilize voters, and we want to incentivize politicians to keep the decency alive,” Bruno said.

Read More: What is a ‘boogaloo?’ Some protested at the Ohio Statehouse

Bruno hopes the nonprofit she’s leading will help to reconcile a “split between the will of the voters and the conversations we’re having on the ground and … within the Statehouse walls.” If successful, Bruno said such a movement could help voters and their elected leaders see more eye to eye and could also dissuade extremist groups from thinking they have a say in Ohio’s politics.

But Bruno said the organization’s work won’t be done after the election.

Part of its mission, she said, will be to help Ohioans navigate through the “mud fight” that could erupt again if some leaders question the security and results of the presidential election. The difficulty in that will be figuring out how to separate reality from fantasy in what Bruno described as a “really, really saturated political environment.”

“We want to help voters be able to separate what is a rumor from a fake story, or opinion from an actual thing that happened,” Bruno said. “I know that sounds scary and dystopian, but that’s also really just where our political information environment is at the moment.”

mfilby@dispatch.com

@MaxFilby

Residents in Ohio are fuming about the cultural clash between locals and Haitian migrants at city council meetings, demanding the city take action on the issue.

Thousands of Haitians have arrived in Springfield since the COVID-19 pandemic, and residents have been pointing to an uptick in crime, mayhem and car crashes due to the massive influx of new residents. In a town of 58,000 people, about 20,000 Haitians have arrived, according to city officials. 

“I see what’s going on in the streets. And I see you guys sitting up there and, comfy chairs and suits… I really challenge you guys to get out here and do something,” said Anthony Harris, 28. “These Haitians are running into trash cans. They’re running into buildings. They’re flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don’t know how like, y’all can be comfortable with this.” 

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Resident Lisa Hayes, 64, recounted an incident where migrants were bullying her at a supermarket. They blocked her cart and refused to let her pass through the aisle.  

“I don’t know what kind of label you put on this,” she said, perplexed by the incident. “I would like to see them have some common respect.” 

Residents mentioned how migrants are crowding public areas, hitting people with cars – and some said the city needed to start giving driving lessons. 

Resident Diana Daniels blamed cultural clashes for the issues. “Countries… are defined by their culture and their language, not the color. When folks stand up here and describe what is happening to them, they are often painted with the broad brush of racism that has nothing to do with it.”

“Shame on you,” she told city leadership. 

Residents complain about massive influx of Haitian migrants.

At another hearing, a woman named Noel said she doesn’t feel safe in Springfield anymore and that migrants are camping out near her home. 

“I try to help them the best I can to keep them from trying to squat on my property. But it is so unsafe. I have learned they cannot speak English in my front yard, they’re screaming at me, throwing mattresses in my front yard, throwing trash in my front yard,” she said.

“Look at me, I weigh 95 pounds. I couldn’t defend myself if I had to ‘pack up and move.’” 

“It’s killing both of us mentally,” she continued. “I don’t understand what you expect of us as citizens… Who’s protecting me? I want out of this town. I am sorry. Please give me a reason to stay.” 

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“How do you know we aren’t getting criminals, rapists?” a man in a blue Harley-Davidson T-shirt said during a hearing about the migrant issue after a bus crash killed the son of two teachers. 

Another resident called out general failures in leadership. “When am I getting my money back?” he said. 

Ohio is playing host to the governors of both fellow Midwestern states and several Japanese prefectures starting Sunday, the first time the Buckeye state has held the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association annual conference in more than two decades.

From the fifth floor of the Hilton in downtown Columbus, the conference kicked off with remarks from politicians in both English and Japanese. Gov. Ichita Yamamoto, of the Gunma prefecture, wooed the crowd of more than 300 political and business leaders and ambassadors with a cover of Purple Rain by Prince, who was born and raised in Minneapolis.

Other officials in attendance included:

• Gov. Taizo Mikazuki of Shiga, Michigan’s sister state
• Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin
• Gov. Motohiro Ono of Saitama, Ohio’s sister state
• Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana

Seventeen percent of jobs—about 65,000—in Ohio with foreign companies are jobs with Japanese companies. Japanese companies are the second biggest foreign employer in the Buckeye state, just behind German companies, according to Ohio Department of Development data.

Gov. Mike DeWine said he wants that trend to continue. “We have a long relationship with some of these companies. Frankly, we want relationships with other ones as well,” DeWine said Monday after he delivered remarks.

DeWine credited JobsOhio with leading the charge on contracts with Japanese and other foreign companies recently.

“Having JobsOhio, I believe, gives us a competitive advantage, I know, gives us a competitive advantage,” DeWine said. “It enables us to move fast, and I think something that we don’t talk a lot about but is true, is the follow through.”

Through Tuesday afternoon, the conference was set to feature keynote presentations from the state, Honda, Canon Healthcare, and Intel as well as a visit to the Honda Marysville Auto Plant, according to a schedule. The MWJA partnership between the Midwest region and the East Asian country has been around for more than 50 years.