In Springfield, Ohio, Trump must settle the MAGA vs Chamber of Commerce war
At a rally in Ohio last week, President Donald Trump told his supporters that, "Even if you hate John Husted, even if you hate Vivek Ramaswamy, you have to go vote for them." It was a blunt assessment of the GOP’s respective candidates for Senate and governor, but one that Trump, who wins Ohio elections like Tom Brady won Super Bowls, knows is vitally important.
Trump would laugh off the remark, saying that nobody really hates the GOP candidates. But he was making an essential point, especially in Ohio, which is the front line of the war between the traditional GOP and Trump’s MAGA base, much of it centered on the question of immigration.
To hear from the Chamber of Commerce side, I spoke with Jim Lagos, who has lived his entire 75 years in Springfield, owns several buildings downtown, and has been a central figure in the attempts to revitalize the city’s downtown district.
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"You have to pull the trigger," Jim told me of efforts to bring the very pretty, but very empty downtown back to life. "My father always used to tell me 'Christopher Columbus took a risk.'"
Jim, as is customary for civic leaders, had nice things to say about Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, both of whom he has met. But he is all in for Husted and even more so for Ramasamy, who he hopes will slash regulations to speed up the recovery of towns like Springfield.
"We have temporary cuts on taxes for small business in Ohio," Jim said. "But they need to be extended. Big companies got a permanent break, because they are smart enough to donate to both parties."
Over the past three decades, Jim has rehabilitated several historic buildings in Springfield and succeeded in filling most of the space with occupants.
"Sometimes, when business is struggling, you have to carry them for a while until it gets better," he said.
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The issue that most bitterly divides the business leaders in Springfield from the MAGA base of Trump voters in the area is immigration, and in particular, the wave of 15,000 Haitian refugees who arrived between 2020 and 2025, overwhelming schools, housing stock, and even the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, according to locals.
Jim admits that the messaging, including the idea that Haitian migrants are better workers who don’t do drugs and want overtime, not only missed the mark, but downright offended many local native residents.
Ramaswamy has, in the past veered toward a similar sentiment, which Frank, who works construction in the area, took some issue with.
"I don’t like his idea that immigrants are, like, making us better from competition, I’d rather put Americans first," Frank said.
According to Walter Curt, an investigative journalist who lives in Springfield, "When Trump came to office the first time, a bunch of factories got built in the area, and as soon as Biden got in, he staffed them with Haitians, effectively," through tax breaks to temp companies and business owners.
Importantly, while Curt does hold current Ohio governor and well known loather of President Trump, Mike DeWine, culpable for the Haitian situation, he does not blame the Haitians themselves, or Husted or Ramaswamy.
"The entire country of Haiti would be in his front yard [Ohio] if it was up to DeWine," Curt said. "If anybody believes Vivek is of the same mind, I haven’t seen any evidence of that."
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Further complicating the immigration issue in Springfield is the fact that there is a largely Hispanic immigrant population well integrated into and assimilated with the broader community, something one does not see with the Haitian refugees.
Victoria and Ambrosio opened Food Fusion, a large eatery with great food, a year ago, and they employ a mix of native born Springfielders as well as immigrants from Mexico, a dynamic you also see with the clientele.
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What these first-time restaurant owners want from government is more transparency about regulations.
"You don’t know everything that comes with it," Victoria told me. "As far as taxes, you have to know this, you have have to know that, and not just the rules and regulations of liquor licenses. There’s really no help for small business owners."
Trump is correct that the vast majority of Republican voters in Ohio don’t hate Husted or Ramaswamy. Many downright love them. But in a close midterm race, the GOP needs those who don’t.
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The battle between MAGA and the Chamber for the soul of the GOP is not just an Ohio story. it will be the story of the next two years as Republicans seek a new standard bearer.