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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) Multiple Democratic state legislative candidates are suing Ohios top election official to get their names on the ballot.

In the latest ripple effect of Ohios redistricting battle, the six hopefuls five of whom are from central Ohio say Secretary of State Frank LaRose erroneously instructed boards of elections to reject their petitions, according to a complaint filed Tuesday with the Ohio Supreme Court.

The argument stems from when was the filing deadline for Ohios second primary election, set for Aug. 2. If the court rejects the plaintiffs arguments, Democrats may not have any official candidates in the Democratic-leaning Senate District 25 and House Districts 11 and 39.

Under Ohio law, aspiring officeholders must file a petition for candidacy 90 days before the date of a primary election.That means, for candidates running in the May 3 primary, the filing deadline was Feb. 2.

But if counting backward 90 days from Aug. 2, the filing deadline was May 4.

In a directive Saturday, LaRose ordered county election officials to recertify or reject by Friday any candidates who filed after Feb. 2 for the May 3 primary.

But given the Republican-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commissions months-long fight with the Ohio Supreme Court that led the state to hold two primary elections, plaintiffs contend that they werent required to file for office until May 4.

Despite the state court striking down the commissions third set of legislative maps that favored Republicans, a federal three-judge panel ordered LaRose to use the maps anyway, citing the need to be ready for Aug. 2.

LaRose, however, argued that the federal ruling did not change the Feb. 2 filing deadline.

All candidates in the suit met the deadlines that plaintiffs argue LaRose should follow, according to their individual declarations of candidacy.

Write-in candidates have 72 days before the start of a primary election to submit a petition for candidacy, according to Ohio Revised Code. Leronda Jackson and Elizabeth Thien are also part of the suit, saying they met their deadline by filing on May 16 and 23, respectively.

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Republican secretary of state sued over rejecting Democrats ballot petitions - NBC4 WCMH-TV

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Political strategists from both sides of the aisle are sounding off about what issues they think voters will care most about as they head to the polls for this year's midterm elections.

A number of those strategists spoke with Fox News Digital to give their predictions about which direction voters might swing in an election cycle that historically sees the party not in power, the Republicans in this case, make significant gains in Congress and other races.

Despite differences in opinion as to how the hot-button issues of abortion and gun control would sway voters, the one thing they all agreed on was that the economic challenges plaguing the country would take center stage when it came to which party Americans would ultimately support.

Democratic strategist James Carville pointed to the country's economic woes as the main indicator for how the midterms could go. (Munoz for ICSS Livepic/Getty Images)

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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville poured water on the idea that concern over guns would make a significant impact in the elections and pointed to the country's economic woes as the main indicator for how the midterms could go.

"Historically it hasn't been a dominant issue," he said, referencing the impact guns could have on election results, but noted it could have a specific effect on some Democratic voters concerned about other "cultural" issues like the environment and abortion.

Carville admitted that the outlook for Democrats in the midterms was "not going in a very good direction," but that they could potentially "cut their losses short" if voters did decide to turn out over fears that a Supreme court decision ending Roe v. Wade would lead to future decisions they might oppose.

Earlier in the spring, voters' concerns centered largely on the Biden administration's handling of the numerous economic challenges facing Americans, including a near 40-year-high inflation rate and record-high gas prices. However, the discussion on the political landscape surrounding the midterms was upended in May with the leaking of a Supreme Court draft memo suggesting the nation's highest court might be set to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

The leaked draft memo was followed by the shooting deaths of 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, as well as the shooting last week at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers.

Pro-life demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, May 16, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

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Each of those events sparked intense political rhetoric from Democrats over future access to abortions, as well as potential gun control legislation, that began making its way into conversations surrounding the elections.

Carville ultimately predicted Democrats' performance would depend on the economy, specifically pointing to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and income growth.

He argued "Democrats might do better" if those two indicators improved, but that for now it was "like watching two horses race back and forth."

"The big problem for this White House and the Democratic Party, is they've created so many other problems that are competing with abortion or guns among voters, and it's going to be hard to put those aside," said former Trump administration adviser Kellyanne Conway, specifically mentioning high gas prices, supply chain issues, and the shortage of baby formula affecting families with newborns.

Conway argued that Democrats were trying to capitalize on issues like abortions and guns, two topics she discussed at length in her new memoir, "Here's the Deal," but that they were "competing with themselves for voters" because of their handling of the economic challenges affecting Americans.

She added that Democrats were making "significant miscalculations" by thinking that voters only cared about certain issues, but noted that the recent shooting tragedies and concern over Roe v. Wade could still drive more people to the polls.

People use voting machines to fill out their ballots in the Georgia primary at the Metropolitan Library on May 24, 2022, in Atlanta. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor Kevin Walling talked about the importance of issues like guns and abortion, but repeated the same argument made by Carville and Conway that voters' intentions would come down to the "bread and butter issues."

"It's still going to be inflation as the core focus, I think, of voters going to the polls," he said.

Walling stated that Roe v. Wade and guns could come into play in some races across the country where those issues stand out specifically for certain constituents, but that "it really is going to be the economy."

He added that "the million-dollar question" was which party would come out on top in November, but that he was "bullish" about Democrats' chances despite their economic challenges.

President Biden clears his throat as he announces new steps requiring government to buy more made-in-America goods on March 4, 2022. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

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Voters' concerns about the economy have also been evident when it comes to President Biden's approval rating.

According to a poll published last month by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Research, only 18% of respondents said Bidens policies had helped more than they had hurt the economy, while 51% said his policies had hurt more than they had helped.

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Democratic, Republican strategists agree economy will trounce guns, abortion as 'number one issue' in midterms - Fox News

A coalition of Texas unions and members of Congress is calling on the Biden administration to ensure workers rights are protected in the buildout of offshore wind infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a letter sent out Thursday morning, Democratic Reps. Al Green, Lloyd Doggett, Sylvia Garcia, Marc Veasey, Veronica Escobar, Vicente Gonzalez, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Joaquin Castro, who all represent districts in Texas, called on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to ensure that Gulf-based wind power projects are built by union labor.

The representatives noted that due to organizing obstacles at the state level, union membership among workers is about one-third the national rate in Texas.

In the letter, the members called on BOEM to ensure that leasing terms for wind projects in the Gulf include a requirement for a project labor agreement (PLA), or a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement between construction unions and contractors.

The members also called for the use of a community workforce agreement, a PLA with a goal of hiring low-income workers for construction projects.

The letter follows a public comment submitted in February by the Texas Climate Jobs Project, a coalition of labor unions in the Lone Star State that aims to bridge the gap between addressing climate change and the needs of workers. The group cites what it says is endemic wage theft in the construction business in Texas, and called on BOEM to incorporate local working conditions into its environmental analysis.

What were asking for is when they do issue those leases, that those leases have requirements in there for job quality, for the ability of workers to come together and community benefits so that even as we build this renewable capacity, were making sure that working people, and people who have historically been disadvantaged by the way energy has been produced in Texas, have a real seat at the table, Rick Levy, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, said in an interview with The Hill Wednesday.

Levy described offshore wind as the ideal project to assuage what he said was unease among parts of organized labor about renewable energys effect on jobs.

The reason we got involved in this project was to make sure that number one, it happens, and number two, when it does happen, that we make sure that these are good jobs and that people have a voice in these jobs and that the jobs really benefit the whole community, he said.

The Biden administration has set a broader goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity deployed by 2030, but has yet to formally announce lease sales in the Gulf. Last June, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the department would explore opportunities for renewable development in the area.

Updated at 9:27 a.m.

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Texas Democrats, unions call on Interior to protect workers rights in offshore wind leasing - The Hill

Academics associated with the University of Chicago, including Mr. Posner and Mr. Bork, built a case for sharply limiting antitrust enforcement during the 1970s. Their ideas began to take hold even before they were put on the bench. The Supreme Court issued one of its first rulings limiting the scope of antitrust enforcement in a 1977 case, Continental T.V. v. GTE Sylvania. Justice Lewis Powell Jr., who wrote the decision, left a scribbled record of his intellectual debts in the margin of a case memo. It read, Posner, Baxter, Bork.

Baxter was William Baxter, a Stanford law professor whom Mr. Reagan installed as the head of the antitrust division at the Justice Department. Mr. Posner and Mr. Bork ended up on appeals courts, where they became influential interpreters of antitrust law. Other important Reagan picks included Frank Easterbrook, a law professor at the University of Chicago; Douglas Ginsburg, a Harvard Law professor with a distaste for regulation; and, a few years later, Justice Scalia, whose opposition to antitrust enforcement is perhaps best illustrated by a case he did not decide. Shortly after his unexpected death in 2016, Dow Chemical said it would pay $835 million to settle an antitrust case that had been about to come before the court. With Mr. Scalia gone, Dow could no longer rely on a favorable outcome.

On the bench, these men and their allies replaced a broad effort to check corporate power with a narrow focus on consumer welfare. Pretty much anything that didnt raise prices was OK. The courts also made it increasingly difficult for the government to win. Perhaps the last merger raised prices, but who could be sure about this one?

In 2017, Mr. Posner, addressing an antitrust conference at the University of Chicago, puckishly asked the audience, Antitrust is dead, isnt it?

The conservative jurists received important support from centrist and liberal justices who took a jaded view of the broad goals of the nations antitrust laws and saw enforcement efforts as inconsistent and even counterproductive.

What they left standing has proved woefully inadequate. The rise of corporate concentration is harming consumers, suppliers, employees and democracy itself.

Restocking the courts is only a part of the solution, and it is a long-term project. Antitrust cases brought by the Biden administration will be adjudicated mostly by judges appointed by Mr. Bidens predecessors. Eighteen federal judges named by Mr. Reagan are still serving.

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Opinion | When Picking Judges, Democrats Need to Stop Ignoring Economics - The New York Times

Whether President Biden will seek reelection next year is one of the most discussed topics inside and outside the Beltway.

Biden has said he plans to run for a second term, privately telling former President Obama and other Democrats of his intentions.

The presidents allies say he is still the only one who can defeat a challenger like former President Trump or Gov. Ron DeSantis, of Florida.

But there are doubts he will follow through on his plans because of his age Biden would be 81 in November 2024 and because of the brutal political headwinds he and his party are now facing. Bidens approval ratings have sunk to the mid-30s in some polls.

If Biden chooses not to run for reelection, who else would be in contention?

Heres a look at the five Democrats best positioned to win the nomination.

Vice President Harris

Harris tops our rankings, as she would instantly be the leading contender to win the Democratic nomination for president if Biden decided to end his political career with one term.

She has the visibility at the White House, and the name recognition, and could give Democrats another chance at breaking the vaunted glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to be elected president.

But Harris is not a sure bet to win the nomination. She has been tripped up by a rash of negative headlines since she assumed the role of vice president and her poll numbers have taken a hit.

A Los Angeles Times analysis of national polls this month showed Harris underwater with a 40 percent approval rating.

She has fallen short of expectations, said one Democratic strategist.

Should Biden decide not to run, I dont think she has a lock on the nomination and shell have some viable competitors in 2024, the strategist added.

Some Democrats point out that while her 2020 presidential campaign started strong, it petered out when she ran into fundraising trouble and was unsuccessful in communicating a message for why she was the best candidate in a crowded field.

Pete Buttigieg

Bidens Transportation secretary surprised the Democratic establishment and political observers in 2020 with his come-out-of-nowhere campaign.

The former mayor of South Bend, Ind., a virtual stranger to Democrats, managed to win the Iowa caucuses, defeating a field of better-known candidates. He then came close to winning the New Hampshire primary.

Buttigieg has continued to make a name for himself, touring the country to tout Bidens infrastructure projects and visiting key swing states including Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Ohio.

Democratic strategists say he would be well positioned for a 2024 run. Still, even as a Cabinet secretary, some still wonder if he has enough political chops to make the leap to the Oval Office.

Elizabeth Warren

Warren maintains strong support from progressives and recently revved up the base when in the days following the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, she went to the Supreme Court and joined protesters.

Videos of her railing against the potential decision went viral.

She also wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which she instructed on how Democrats could avoid disaster in the upcoming midterm elections.

Warren has said she has no plans to run for president.

Im not running for president in 2024, Im running for Senate, she said last month on NBCs Meet the Press. President Biden is running for reelection in 2024 and Im supporting him.

But if Biden doesnt run, Warren would instantly vault into contention and her plans would likely change.

Bernie Sanders

FewDemocrats think Sanders will run for president again.

But last month, the senator put himself back into the conversation when his aides circulated a memo revealing that he wasnt saying no to a third presidential bid.

Sen. Sanders has not ruled out another run for president, so we advise that you answer any questions about 2024, with that in mind, read the memo from Faiz Shakir, the Sanders adviser who served as his 2020 campaign manager.

Sanders, who is seen as the patriarch of the progressive movement, has also penned an opinion piece for Fox News calling for Medicare for All. But like Biden, Sanderss age hes 80 years old could cause potential problems for him should he choose to run again.

Amy Klobuchar

The Minnesota senator didnt perform too well in the 2020 presidential election, but if Biden doesnt run, Klobuchar could benefit, receiving support from moderate Democrats.

When she traveled to New Hampshire earlier this year to give a keynote address to state Democrats, political observers couldnt help but think she was quietly building the groundwork for a potential 2024 run.

It was one of the very first signs that some folks had started to eye the next election, one strategist said. Because few people think Biden is going to run again.

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Ranking the five Democrats most likely to win party nod if Biden doesnt run - The Hill