How Midwest roots shaped Ron DeSantis' political values and perspective

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — In 1960, political scandal erupted at the Board of Elections in Mahoning County, Ohio.“One of the great changes in Ohio politics,” said William Binning, a former Mahoning County GOP chair and longtime political scientist at YSU.” The May 1960 primary in Mahoning County was a fiasco, that much was sure.Brown’s shakeup had pushed out the board’s two top officials — including deputy clerk Jack Sulligan, then the Democratic Party chairman in Mahoning County — while promoting Rogers, who had spent eight years as an assistant, to the chief clerk position.

“This guy was deep into the conduct and the integrity of elections in Ohio, Phil was,” Binning said.“There was a group of Goldwaterites who were a thorn in the side of the party at the time,” said Binning, referring to acolytes of Barry Goldwater, the failed ultraconservative presidential candidate in 1964.