As Troy Balderson prepares to take the stage with Donald Trump, Danny O’Connor is crisscrossing the district, talking to voters about the issues that matter most to them like access to quality affordable health care, good paying jobs, and retirement security. Unlike Balderson, O’Connor has made clear that he will always prioritize Ohio’s working families over Trump’s partisan agenda. Trump won this district by more than 11 points, and GOP special interests have spent nearly $4 million to protect it, but Ohio voters aren’t fooled by the Republicans’ last-minute scramble to elect more of the same failed leadership. See for yourself:

Balderson has made it clear that he will support Trump’s agenda no matter the cost to Ohio’s working families.

Columbus Dispatch: Balderson can’t say when he’s disagreed with Trump

Even long-time Republican voters in Central Ohio are rejecting Trump’s dangerous agenda.

NBC4i: “Kalmar says she was a registered Republican in Delaware County until recently when she left the party because of Trump… She says, right now, she cannot vote for a candidate that is supported by or supports, in turn, the President. ‘I think this election is really important to send a message that he’s not the type of direction that I think is best for our community or our country,’ said Kalmar.”

Reuters: “Becky von Zastrow often votes Republican in her affluent central Ohio suburb – but her dissatisfaction with U.S. President Donald Trump has convinced her to back the Democrat in a special-election test for both parties next month.”

And they’re tired of Balderson’s false attacks and mistruths.

Columbus Dispatch: “Balderson ad vows not to cut Social Security and Medicare – but…”

Columbus Dispatch: “State Sen. Troy Balderson has launched a new ad vowing he’d ‘never do anything to cut Social Security and Medicare’ despite telling the Dispatch editorial board last month that he was open to raising the eligibility age for both groups.”

Washington Post: “Attack ads, especially ‘Mediscare’ ones, are inherently misleading. But this ad takes the cake. In a desperate effort to level the playing field — or a deliberate effort to muddy the waters — this ad accuses O’Connor of a nonexistent ‘plan’ and fails to account for the fact that Republicans in Congress want to reduce Medicare spending even more… Four Pinocchios.”

Local Republican leaders are concerned about the value of Trump’s visit days before the special election.

Washington Post: “Publicly, Balderson’s campaign has embraced Trump’s support. But some Ohio Republicans have voiced skepticism over whether a Trump rally might do more harm than good, especially because the president will be visiting a more affluent, higher-educated, suburban part of the district where Republicans’ support for him has waffled.”

Washington Post: “‘The best-case scenario is that the presence of the president reminds not only Republicans but center-right voters that there’s a special election on Tuesday,’ said Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party and a longtime supporter of Kasich. ‘Of course, we have no control — as seemingly no one else does — to what [Trump] may say, so ‘Get Out the Vote’ . . . probably won’t be the headline.’”

And let’s not forget, the fact that this race is even close shows that the GOP is in serious trouble.

The Atlantic: The GOP Is in Triage Mode in Ohio

The Atlantic: “Yet on the eve of a special House election, the GOP is frantically performing emergency triage in an Ohio district that normally would be in the bloom of health. The party is justifiably terrified of suffering another electoral humiliation—a nail-biting win, or an upset loss that mirrors what happened in a red Pennsylvania district five months ago—because bad news on Tuesday night would fuel Republican fears of a blue wave in the November midterms.”

Herb Asher, political science professor at the Ohio State: “If the GOP were to lose this race, who would they blame or what would they blame? It would have to be a reflection on the Republican brand.”

Ohio’s 12th district hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress in nearly 40 years, but enthusiasm for O’Connor has pulled the race within a single-digit.

Washington Post: “Monmouth’s polling has found far more enthusiasm for voting from Democrats.”

Politico: “According to the Monmouth poll, roughly two-thirds of Democratic voters, 66 percent, express a high level of interest in the race, compared with 55 percent of Republicans.”