No experience? No problem for Ramaswamy in Ohio, and other opinions you read the most

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19-04-2025

(In this column, Opinion Editor Kevin Aldridge briefly recaps the most-read letters to the editor and guest columns on Cincinnati.com this week in case you missed them. You can read all these opinions in their entirety by clicking on the links.)
It's a pretty safe bet that three years ago, most Ohioans had never even heard the name Vivek Ramaswamy. The 2003 graduate of St. Xavier High School in suburban Cincinnati burst onto the political scene during the 2024 Republican presidential primary in a long-shot bid to unseat Donald Trump as the frontrunner. Now, Ramaswamy, a billionaire businessman, appears to be in the driver's seat to win the Republican nomination for Ohio governor.
How did Ramaswamy manage such a meteoric rise and leapfrog over an established GOP candidate like Attorney General Dave Yost? That's exactly what Mack Mariani, a political science professor at Xavier University, tries to explain in this week's most-read op-ed.
Yost should be sitting pretty right now because of his experience and standing in the Ohio Republican Party. But old-school credentials don't cut it anymore in today's GOP. Ramaswamy appears to be riding the wave of Trump's endorsement and paving a new path to the governor's mansion that doesn't involve first cutting your teeth at lower levels of government.
"Today, a long record of experience in politics is no longer a necessity to win at the highest levels, and in some cases, it may even be a hindrance," Mariani wrote.
He goes on to explain the changing dynamics this way: "First, political parties have less influence over the nomination process than they did in the past. Second, primary voters are more ideologically committed and less committed to the party. Third, the campaign finance system makes it possible for wealthy candidates to bypass establishment support through self-financing, nationwide fundraising networks, and advertising campaigns funded by outside groups."
More: Ramaswamy: Sanctuary cities like Cincinnati 'shameful' for backing violating rule of law
These and other headwinds explain why Yost is being swept aside by his party and is unlikely to get the nod for the 2026 Ohio gubernatorial election.
What are your thoughts on how the governor's race is shaping up, particularly on the Republican side? Is it too soon to write Yost off, or is Trump's endorsement of Ramaswamy too much to overcome in a state that the president has dominated? Does Ramaswamy's inexperience concern you? Tell us what you like and don't like about the candidates for Ohio governor. Send me a letter to the editor or an op-ed.
Far from the most important story this week, Vice President JD Vance's fumbling of the Ohio State Buckeyes' national championship trophy during the football team's visit to the White House on April 14 was certainly a talker. The trophy came apart in Vance's hands as he tried to lift it for the photo shoot, with the base dropping to the ground. It was an awkward and embarrassing moment for the VP and Ohio State graduate - one I decided to weigh in on with levity by comparing Vance's drop to some other really bad fumbles in Ohio's sports history.
While my column was the second-most-read opinion this week, not every reader seemed to be able to take a joke.
"Nothing like piling on - especially when you're WRONG," wrote one reader, who wanted to debate me on whether what happened to Vance could actually be considered a drop. "Your lack of journalistic ethics is shameful."
"Is there no real news to report or comment on?" another reader wrote. "Your article does not meet your own standards of informed commentary expressed without scorn or mockery. So many column inches wasted on nothing."
Vance seemed to take the incident in stride, even joking about it himself on X: "I didn't want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it."
And there you have it. One of our primary jobs as journalists is to cover "breaking" news.
Thom Brennaman's been on the hot seat ever since he said a homophobic slur over a hot mic during a broadcast of a Reds game nearly five years ago. His return to the airwaves on radio station, 700 WLW, has been the talk of the town the past couple of weeks.
While many, including Brennaman himself, are probably exhausted with the story, one of the more popular opinions this week on Cincinnati.com belonged to Scott Proctor of Northside. Proctor, a gay man and regular listener of WLW, said he's giving Brennaman a second chance and that anyone still complaining about his hiring "needs to get over it."
"I've been called plenty of names in my almost 60 years, and you have to consider the source," Proctor said. "I must repeat: The LGBTQ community is not the primary audience for WLW, so this whole thing is overblown."
You can read his full commentary here.
More: Everyone deserves a second chance, but Thom Brennaman still has work to do | Opinion
Many of you wrote to me after I solicited your views in this column last week. A few skeptics remained, but the majority of you who wrote in agreed that Brennaman should get another chance to prove himself.
Bert Luken of Erlanger said, "I am fully supportive of giving Thom Brennaman another chance. I am appalled at the lack of civility shown by people who believe that Mr. Brennaman should be punished unmercifully."
Scott Clear of Forest Park said the decision is a simple one for him. "Jesus said, 'He who has not sinned, let him cast the first stone.' There's no other way to say it. Right from the word of Our Savior."
I'll give Michael Rives of Dry Ridge the last word on this subject for now. Here's hoping Brennaman doesn't give us a reason to revisit it anytime soon.
"Thom Brennaman is a good person and definitely deserves our hometown support. His unfortunate situation has happened to other broadcast legends who were not as severely punished," Rives wrote. "But Thom has worked very hard to turn his life and situation around. I wholeheartedly support (his return) to the airwaves and fully appreciate WLW's bringing him into the morning drive lineup."
With Cincinnati City Council's big vote on the proposed rezoning of Hyde Park Square coming up next week, letter and op-ed writers were coming out of the woodwork this week to argue their positions on the development. So far, we've had a former Cincinnati mayor and vice mayor weigh in with opposing perspectives, as well as local developers and a host of residents. The one thing they all agree on is that council's decision will transform Hyde Park and have a ripple effect on the city's 51 other neighborhoods.
More: Where they stand: Cincinnati City Council on controversial Hyde Park Square rezoning
However, one op-ed this week stood out from all the rest. Kevin Zilch of Hyde Park has spent 13 of the past 14 years living in the neighborhood and wonders if a quote often attributed to Mark Twain about Cincinnati being "20 years behind the times" is more true than residents would like to admit.
"For all of our charm and tradition, Cincinnati has a long history of resisting change. We hesitate. We debate. And while we stall, other cities surge ahead," Zilch wrote in his op-ed. "The proposed redevelopment of Hyde Park Square is our latest test."
Zilch believes this $150 million project, which opponents say is too big and could make an already challenging traffic situation worse, offers an overdue opportunity to breathe new life into the Square. His biggest concern?
"The longer we wait, the more we risk watching Hyde Park slip further into irrelevance − not because it lacks potential, but because we lack the courage to pursue it."
What do you think City Council should do: approve the project, or listen to residents who say they don't want it in its current form? I'd like to publish as many of your thoughts as possible before council renders its decision, so send me those letters and columns ASAP.
Lastly, in case you missed them, here's a chance to catch up on a couple more of the most-read opinions this week:
Letter: Trump should sell Indiana to balance our budget. Nobody would notice.
Letter: It takes guts to fix a broken economy and Trump has them.
As always, you can join the conversation on these and other topics by sending your thoughts to [e-mail]. Letters of up to 200 words may be submitted and must include name, address, community and daytime phone number. Op-eds are submitted the same way, except they should be 500-600 words and also include a one-sentence bio and headshot. Submissions may be edited for space and clarity.
If you need some tips on how to write an op-ed, click here.
Opinion and Engagement Editor Kevin S. Aldridge can be reached at [e-mail]. On X: @kevaldrid.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ramaswamy is a shoo-in for Ohio governor; Vance drops trophy | Opinion