Catching Our Eye News Roundup, July 27, 2026

Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.

Please subscribe to our free daily newsletter to get all the Ohio news you need to know right to your inbox every weekday morning.

If you already subscribe, please share with your family and friends so they know about the Ohio Capital Journal too: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/subscribe/

Catching Our Eye

• Ohio House. Signal Ohio’s Andrew Tobias reports, “Cincinnati-area Republican’s abrupt exit from Ohio House race leaves GOP scrambling.”

Hamilton County Republicans are scrambling to find a replacement candidate for one of Ohio’s more competitive state legislative districts after the party’s nominee for the November ballot abruptly quit this week.

Elizabeth Maier surprised Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday when she announced on her campaign website that she was ending her campaign for Ohio’s 27th House District.

• Americans left and right see a rigged game. CNN’s Aaron Blake writes, “Americans — including many Republicans — are losing faith in capitalism, polling shows.”

President Donald Trump has indicated that his main strategy for the 2026 midterm elections is to call Democrats “socialists” and even “communists” at every turn. And there is evidence that democratic socialism is gaining somewhat more of a foothold in recent Democratic primaries.

But the larger story in American politics right now might be less the rise of socialism than the decline of faith in capitalism and economic fairness.

And new polling reinforces that even the right is growing more disillusioned.

• Cruelty for the sake of cruelty. TiffinOhio.net’s Bob Ballard writes, “Trump’s cruel deportation campaign will devastate Springfield, Ohio and endanger its Haitian neighbors.”

Cruelty is the cheapest thing a government can produce. It needs no budget, no legislation, no argument that survives ten seconds of contact with evidence. It needs a date on a calendar and somebody else’s neighbors.

Springfield’s date (was) Friday.

That is when Temporary Protected Status runs out and somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 people in a Clark County city of fewer than 60,000 stop being lawfully present and start being cargo.