'There were better options': Voters 'iffy' of potential Kamala Harris presidential ticket

Voters in North Central Ohio are still wrapping their minds around this year's presidential election .

The announcement that President Joe Biden had dropped out of the race evoked feelings of concern, frustration and even satisfaction.

With only a few weeks until the first early ballots are cast, Rust Belt electors are curious how Democrats will select a nominee and who that candidate might be .

As of Tuesday afternoon, many signs were pointing toward a ticket led by Vice President Kamala Harris , but that's a movement that may have less traction with rural Ohio voters than many party heads may realize.

'I think there were better options'

Biden's nomination had never been a guarantee in the mind of Josh Davis, a 46-year-old Democrat from Mansfield.

"When we elected him, I thought that he would be only a one-term president anyway," Davis said.

He had hoped for a primary election this spring, but that never happened.

"I think there were better options," Davis said.

His worst fears were realized the night Biden debated former President Donald Trump.

"It was center stage," Davis said. "It was kind of hard not to notice that he clearly is not cognitively there."

At this point, he thinks Harris is the party's best option, but he still wishes voters would have been given a voice earlier.

"I'm probably going to vote for her," Davis said. "I'm definitely not voting for the other guy, so it's either for her or sitting this one out."

'She's almost like a Trump to me'

Harris may not get the vote that Ebony Fields, 39, of Mansfield, had planned to cast for Biden.

"She was iffy," the undecided voter said.

Fields will give her vote to the candidate she feels she can trust, and that may prove to be nobody.

She already knows she doesn't trust Trump.

"He plays so many roles," Fields said. "He got so much going on with his hands, you never know what he's going to do. You don't know if he's on our side. We really don't know."

She felt like she could trust Biden, but now that option's gone and she thinks Harris has a haunting past.

"You never know what nobody's playing," Fields said. "I don't know who she work for. She's almost like a Trump to me, like, you know, is you trying to save us? You trying to help us? We don't know."

'I've never been able to support Kamala'

The election has already been a failure for the progressive movement, says James Marcum, a 27-year-old Democratic Socialist who lives in Mansfield.

"I think Trump is probably going to win," he said. " Everything was kind of written in stone as soon as Trump got shot at ."

Marcum said he was "relieved" when Biden dropped out, but was hoping the Democrats would select someone more like Bernie Sanders to lead the presidential ticket.

Of all the potentials, he said Harris might be his least favorite.

"A lot of people from my side have never really liked Kamala," Marcum said. "She has imprisoned a lot of people. I've never been able to support Kamala."

Still, he plans to vote blue because he doesn't want a Republican to win.

"I mean, at least Kamala is awake," Marcum said. "That's great. I can always appreciate that. But as far as the decision making and everything, the whole party is pretty centrist, and I don't think anything's really looking to change in that regard ."

'The nicest thing the Democrats could have done'

President Biden has a chance now to spend his golden years with family and friends, according to Ken Bodkins, a 78-year-old Republican from Galion.

"I believe that's the nicest thing the Democrats could have done," Bodkins said. "I think his age was getting to him. He don't need this anymore."

The focus should be compassion, not politics, he feels.

As far as elections go, though, Bodkins plans to vote for Trump, a choice that has never fluctuated.

He thinks at least a slight majority of Americans agree.

"Everything looks right now to be swaying towards Republicans," Bodkins said. "The Democrats may sway towards a certain group of people that is getting to be larger in number all the time, but I don't care how they vote as long as they vote."

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: 'There were better options': Voters 'iffy' of potential Kamala Harris presidential ticket