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Vivek Ramaswamy Waltzed Into Springfield’s ‘Year of Hell’

“If the people running for higher office would ask me, I would tell them the Republicans are already going to vote for you,” a local GOP leader said. “Stop playing to these folks.”

"Greetings from Springfield Ohio" mural
Carolyn Kaster/AP

SPRINGFIELD, OHIO — Donald Trump says he’s coming. Vivek Ramaswamy actually came. But for Republican leaders who are just standardly here, day-to-day life has been upended in a city under political siege.

On Thursday, the mayor activated emergency powers after more reported bomb threats at grocery stores the day before. Safety fears led to the cancellation of a planned political forum that would see local candidates for office face each other and answer questions before the general election. For at least the second time, Gov. Mike DeWine stepped before the cameras and said Trump’s claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield were not true. At a press conference, he and the mayor carefully suggested that a promised visit by Trump would be an unwelcome strain on already stretched local resources.

DeWine took his cause to a broader audience on Friday. In a New York Times op-ed, the Republican governor walked the line between standing by his party’s standard-bearer and calling out the recent rhetoric that has changed the political life of this city.