Ohio voters went to the polls in some of the highest numbers in 20 years as they weighed in on a primary election marred by recent violence, tough advertising and growing concern about candidate behavior.
Democrat Hillary Clinton settled all fears that Ohio could be another Michigan, where Bernie Sanders edged her by 1 point. She beat the Vermont senator by a comfortable 13 percentage points.
But the big victory was in the Republican race.
With polls showing Donald Trump in the lead in the Buckeye State as little as a week ago, Ohio voters appear to have changed their minds — if not their parties — to push their governor, John Kasich, ahead for a stunning upset that caused a seismic shift in the 2016 election.
Kasich may have deprived Trump of a clear victory before the Republican National Convention, opening the door to a brokered decision by party leaders.
The unofficial total showed Kasich ahead of Trump by about 8 percentage points, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a distant third.
With 90 percent of the precincts reporting, more than 3.1 million ballots were likely to be counted, or 42 percent of registered voters, for the second-highest in a presidential primary in at least 20 years.
In 2008, when Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama, and John McCain was in a five-way race, 3.6 million Ohioans voted, or 46 percent of registered voters.
Kasich and perhaps Clinton may have been helped in recent days by controversy over violence at Trump rallies, television ads attacking Trump for his denigrating comments about women, and growing support for traditional party candidates.
Kasich won no other states, but Clinton also won handily in Florida and North Carolina.
Party-switching
There was anecdotal evidence, in Northeast Ohio at least, that many Democrats requested Republican ballots to either help or stop Donald Trump.
In Coventry Township in Summit County, a poll worker at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers building on South Main Street confirmed that a higher-than-expected number of voters switched from one party to another. She declined to say which party was picking up the voters.
WKSU-FM reported that a Bernie Sanders supporter had instead voted for Ted Cruz in the Republican primary to stop Trump.
In Mahoning County, MSNBC talked with poll workers who were stunned by the number of people voting in the GOP primary in an area that is overwhelmingly and staunchly Democrat.