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Columbus, OH – This Saturday, the Ohio Senate Slugfest is coming to Medina as Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose, and Matt Dolan meet behind closed doors at a country club for their first field-wide primary debate. With an already “bloody,” “messy,” and “bruising” battle underway, there are sure to be even more attacks wagered and jabs thrown at the first slugfest showdown as the field makes it clear they’re not fighting for Ohioans. 

With three days left, here are three things to look out for at the first slugfest showdown:

1. Donald Trump’s influence continues to loom large in the Ohio Senate slugfest.

• Trump has repeatedly praised Bernie Moreno – who also has the endorsement of J.D. Vance, Trump’s handpicked Senator from Ohio. 

• Frank LaRose, who downplayed the Trump endorsement earlier this year, is struggling to thread the needle as he faces attacks from his opponents, Trump’s allies, and Ohio grassroots activists for “twisting himself up” when it comes to the former President. LaRose recently stood by his critical comments about Trump – including that he is “racist,” “disgusting,” and “not a role model for children.”

• Matt Dolan continues to face Trump’s ire after he was recently caught slamming his opponents and saying whoever has the Trump endorsement will eventually lose.

2. With Ohioans voting on a ballot measure that would protect reproductive rights, the Ohio Senate field supports dangerous abortion bans – including bans with no exceptions for rape or incest.

• Bernie Moreno said he is “unequivocally pro-life,” supports a national abortion ban, and does not support exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother.

• Frank LaRose also supports a national abortion ban, opposes exceptions for rape or incest, and is trying to silence and mislead Ohioans by rewriting the November ballot language.

• Matt Dolan celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it “exciting,” and has said defeating the November amendment – which would overturn Ohio’s current dangerous ban – is a “priority.”

3. As the field attacks one another, one thing is crystal clear: no candidate in this field is fighting for Ohioans. Whether it’s Bernie Moreno calling for a government shutdown that would force nearly 53,000 Ohioans to either be furloughed or work without pay, Frank LaRose wasting $600,000 in taxpayer dollars to be closer to his campaign while his office is “plague[d]” by turnover, or Matt Dolan using a “cheap loan” only available to the “super wealthy” to bankroll his campaign – no one in this slugfest is working for Ohioans.

FIND SLUGFEST SHOWDOWN DETAILS HERE

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After Downplaying The Former President’s Endorsement This Year, LaRose “Twisting Himself Up” In Ohio’s “Bloody Primary”

Columbus, OH – A new report by Huffington Post is highlighting how Frank LaRose is desperately “twisting himself up” to appease Donald Trump as he is “locked in a battle” in the Ohio Senate primary. Trump has repeatedly praised LaRose’s primary opponent Bernie Moreno, who is also endorsed by J.D. Vance – Trump’s handpicked Senator from Ohio.

LaRose refused to endorse the former President in 2016, 2020, and the first week of his Senate campaign and was caught downplaying the former President’s endorsement earlier this year at a closed-door Republican gathering. LaRose recently stood by his critical comments about Trump – including that he is “racist,” “disgusting,” and “not a role model for children.”  

Read more: 

Huffington Post: Ohio’s Chief Election Officer Hasn’t (Yet) Embraced The Big Lie. It Might Cost Him A Senate Nod.

Liz Skalka

October 8, 2023

• Ralph King, a grassroots GOP activist and former delegate for Donald Trump, hasn’t committed to a candidate in Ohio’s highly anticipated 2024 contest for a U.S. Senate seat. But there is one he’s already ruled out: Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

• Though LaRose’s office did respond to some of HuffPost’s questions for this article, it did not comment on whether he currently believes that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

• LaRose’s end game is clear to many observers: Last year, Trump’s endorsement lent some MAGA heft to author and then-candidate J.D. Vance, helping him become Ohio’s junior senator despite being anything but a Trump cheerleader before running for office.

• However, LaRose’s detractors don’t see him pulling off the same feat as convincingly. “He’s a chameleon. This guy will literally support anything and everything he needs to,” said King, who is no fan of Vance either.

• In July, King lodged an election complaint against LaRose, alleging he was running his campaign before officially filing with the Federal Election Commission. LaRose’s campaign did not comment on the complaint.

• LaRose didn’t endorse Trump in either of his previous presidential bids, claiming, at least in 2020, that he wanted to appear neutral as Ohio’s chief elections officer. In 2016, LaRose, then a state senator, tapped his background in campaign advance work to help former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran for president that year as one of the original Never Trump Republicans. LaRose, keeping his powder dry, backed Kasich in the primary but went on to help with Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

• “I think Frank’s definitely trying to position himself to be considered” for Trump’s endorsement, the longtime LaRose friend noted, “and in fact twisting himself up a little bit.”

• “We pay you to do a full-time job. Do your full-time job,” Moreno said on a Columbus radio show in late August, suggesting that LaRose should step down. “If they want to run for a different office, they should resign.”

• The Ohio Democratic Party, which has relentlessly targeted Brown’s potential opponents, alluded to the possible negative consequences of LaRose serving as secretary of state while running: “Frank LaRose will do anything to further his political ambitions, no matter how much it hurts — or costs — Ohioans,” spokesperson Reeves Oyster said.

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Columbus, OH –  Whether it’s supporting restrictive abortion bans, attacking each other for using their mega-fortunes to try to buy Ohio’s Senate seat, or wasting taxpayer funds while being “laser-focused” on climbing the political ladder – it’s been another week filled with #OHSEN Republicans fighting for themselves and not Ohioans. 

Here’s what you missed this week in what has already been called one of the “messiest, “most expensive” and “bruising” primary battles in the country. 

AS OHIOANS PREPARE TO VOTE ON PROTECTING REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, THE ENTIRE #OHSEN FIELD SUPPORTS ABORTION BANS

Ohioans will vote on an amendment to protect abortion rights in a month and one thing is clear: the entire #OHSEN field supports dangerous abortion bans that would put them in charge of Ohioans’ private healthcare decisions. 

Here’s what you need to know:

At his campaign launch, Bernie Moreno said he is “unequivocally pro-life.” Moreno supports a national abortion ban and does not support exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. 

Frank LaRose supports a national abortion ban, opposes exceptions for rape or incest, and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade. LaRose has also said he supports Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of top military confirmations – saying Tuberville’s position is “the same position I would support in the Senate.”

Matt Dolan celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it “exciting.” Dolan said defeating the November amendment – which would overturn Ohio’s restrictive abortion law with no exceptions for rape or incest – is a “priority.” 

BERNIE MORENO AND MATT DOLAN EXCHANGE BARBS FOR TRYING TO BUY OHIO’S SENATE SEAT AFTER THEY BOTH TRY TO BUY OHIO’S SENATE SEAT

We figured Bernie Moreno and Matt Dolan would both use their mega millions to try to buy Ohio’s Senate seat, but attacking each other after they both wrote themselves a $3 million check? That’s priceless.

FRANK LAROSE GETS CAUGHT CAMPAIGNING IN TAXPAYER FUNDED OFFICE…

If you thought LaRose couldn’t stoop any lower on his quest to climb the political ladder, you were wrong. This week, after dodging questions for weeks (see below) from Ohioans, media outlets and Ohio lawmakers, a new report from the Ohio Capital Journal caught LaRose campaigning from a taxpayer-funded office – potentially violating Ohio Ethics code. 

WATCH: LAROSE REFUSES TO TELL OHIOANS WHY HE’S WASTING $600,000 OF TAXPAYER MONEY TO BE CLOSER TO HIS CAMPAIGN

THEN… A BOMBSHELL REPORTS SHOWS “TURNOVER PLAGUES” SECRETARY OF STATE’S OFFICE WHILE LAROSE IS “LASER-FOCUSED” ON HIS SENATE CAMPAIGN

After LaRose was in the headlines again for wasting taxpayer funds, a bombshell report detailed how the Secretary of State’s Office is “plague[d]” by turnover as the office is “laser-focused” on supporting LaRose’s campaign for Ohio’s Senate seat. Read more from The Columbus Dispatch:

“Three other former employees say the source of these problems is management laser-focused on electing LaRose as Ohio’s next U.S. senator and unwilling to listen to seasoned election experts. The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau is not naming the ex-staffers because they fear retaliation.” 

“The staffing challenges also created more opportunities for mistakes. In June, the secretary of state’s office sent the wrong ballot language to county boards of elections for August’s Issue 1.”

“It has been the forefront of everything, whether it was how the office is going to be organized, how the next year and a half are going to go,” the third former employee said. “Everything revolved around the Senate run.” 

WHAT OHIOANS ARE READING ABOUT THE #OHSEN SLUGFEST THIS WEEK

The Messenger: Ohio Senate Candidate Matt Dolan Raises $4.1M in Third Quarter, Takes Aim at Rival

Cleveland.com: Ohio’s November vote on abortion rights is overshadowing the U.S. Senate race. Where do the candidates stand?

Ohio Capital Journal: Even before office move is complete, Ohio Sec. of State LaRose appears to blur ethical lines

Columbus Dispatch: As Frank LaRose eyes U.S. Senate, turnover plagues Ohio secretary of state’s office

SLUGFEST COUNTDOWN

165 days left until this Slugfest comes to a head and the infighting just keeps getting worse. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Bernie Moreno on Matt Dolan: “As I say about my other opponent, I had to learn how to play Cowboys and Indians, I guess it was called Cowboys and Guardians in his house.” 

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State Employees Detail Disarray In LaRose’s Secretary of State Office As His Campaign Becomes “Sole Focus”

Columbus, OH – A new bombshell report today is detailing how Frank LaRose’s Secretary of State’s Office – which is funded by taxpayer dollars – is “plague[d]” by turnover as the office is “laser-focused” on supporting his campaign for Ohio’s Senate seat. Throughout the report, state employees detail LaRose’s official office in disarray as high turnover rates continue to lead to  “more opportunities for mistakes” and a “revolving door” where officials were “often not replaced” while LaRose’s campaign is “the office’s sole focus.”

Since launching his Senate campaign, Frank LaRose has been the center of numerous scandals for putting his political ambitions ahead of Ohioans – mostly recently for moving his official office to the same building as his campaign HQ, costing Ohioans $600,000 and potentially violating Ohio Ethics code in the process. A new report today caught LaRose campaigning from the same building housing his Senate campaign. 

LaRose also tied himself to the August election aimed at silencing Ohioans. In the process, LaRose’s office sent the incorrect ballot language out to all 88 county Boards of Elections days before the absentee deadline – a mistake one elections officials anticipated would cost taxpayers “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” 

“This shocking report about turnover and disarray in LaRose’s official office as he campaigns for a promotion just furthers what Ohioans already know: Frank LaRose will do anything to further his political ambitions, no matter how much it hurts – or costs – Ohioans,” said ODP spokesperson Reeves Oyster.

Read more: 

Columbus Dispatch: As Frank LaRose eyes U.S. Senate, turnover plagues Ohio secretary of state’s office

Jessie Balmert and Haley BeMiller

October 4, 2023

• High turnover and low morale have rocked the Ohio secretary of state’s office under Republican Frank LaRose, who has struck an increasingly partisan tone as the state’s election chief amid his bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown next year.

• In recent months, a dozen officials in LaRose’s office who handled elections, communications and other duties have left, taking with them years of experience in running Ohio’s elections. But the staffing problems extend even further, leading to delays and communication problems with local boards of elections. 

• Three other former employees say the source of these problems is management laser-focused on electing LaRose as Ohio’s next U.S. senator and unwilling to listen to seasoned election experts. The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau is not naming the ex-staffers because they fear retaliation.

• LaRose championed the ballot measure, dubbed Issue 1, as local election officials quietly balked at holding an August election less than one year after the Legislature limited most of them.

• As state election officials left, they were often not replaced, leading to more work for the people who remained, former staff said. Without enough staff in the election division, employees from other parts of the office were pressed into service to help with election night reporting or checking petitions for the two November ballot initiatives on reproductive rights and legalizing marijuana.

• The staffing challenges also created more opportunities for mistakes.  In June, the secretary of state’s office sent the wrong ballot language to county boards of elections for August’s Issue 1.

• But the first former employee said it could have been avoided if the office had been properly staffed. “We were always just putting out fires,” the employee said. “You’d get one fire put out and you’d look behind you and there were three more fires.”

• To some former employees, the decision to leave ERIC was a symptom of a larger problem: The secretary of state’s office was becoming increasingly political. 

• LaRose is running in the 2024 Republican Senate primary against Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls. The people who used to work for him said that race increasingly became the office’s sole focus. 

• “It has been the forefront of everything, whether it was how the office is going to be organized, how the next year and a half are going to go,” the third former employee said. “Everything revolved around the Senate run.”

• The politics of the Senate race also spurred the ouster of LaRose’s former spokesman, Rob Nichols, who worked with Ohio Republicans in Columbus for years. LaRose fired Nichols after his disparaging social media posts about former President Donald Trump surfaced on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

• “With an incumbent, the line has always been fuzzy from their official capacity and their running for election,” Birdsong said.

• High turnover at the secretary of state’s office has led to confusion and delays for local election officials, Auglaize County Board of Elections Director Michelle Wilcox said. Without that institutional knowledge at the state level, they have crowdsourced answers across local boards.  “It’s to keep our heads above water,” said Wilcox, who is a Democrat. “We feel like we’re drowning.”

• The result, the third employee said, is a revolving door: “There’s a definite lack of humanity, and there’s a hubris to that place that’s insufferable.”

See also: NEW: Frank LaRose Caught Campaigning At Taxpayer Funded Office Amid Growing Scandal; Frank LaRose Working to Silence, Overrule Ohioans: A Trip Down Memory Lane; Ohio Lawmakers Call On Frank LaRose To Answer for Latest Scandal Costing Ohioans; Frank LaRose “Dove Deep Into [His] Bag of Tricks” to Mislead and Overrule Ohioans… Again; ICYMI: “Ethics Red Flags” Go Up as Frank LaRose’s “Ability to Do that Job Impartially Has Been Called into Question” [Ohio Capital Journal]; What Ohioans are Saying: LaRose “Abusing His Position as Secretary of State to Overrule Us”; LaRose’s Math Not Adding Up as Taxpayers Cover Steep Cost to Move Secretary of State Office to His Campaign HQ; “A Slap in the Face:” Frank LaRose Not Working for Ohioans; As Scandal Grows, LaRose’s “Answers” Just Raise More Questions About Steep Cost to Move Secretary of State Office to His Campaign HQ; Frank LaRose Still Owes Ohioans Answers After Latest Scandal Surfaces;  A New Scandal For Frank LaRose: Taxpayers Foot Steep Bill to Move Secretary of State Office to Campaign HQ

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Questions “Intensify” As Frank LaRose Potentially Violates Ohio Ethics Code By Campaigning on Ohioans’ Dime 

Columbus, OH – After dodging questions for weeks, a new report from the Ohio Capital Journal shows that Frank LaRose last week “recorded a campaign interview that appeared to take place in the building where he is moving his taxpayer-funded state offices.” In addition to costing taxpayers $600,000 – which will take 54 years to recoup – the report shows LaRose may have violated Ohio Ethics code by soliciting a campaign contribution from a taxpayer-funded building.

As Frank LaRose’s latest scandal grows, he continues to face “intensifying” questions after “blurring ethical lines” and deciding to put his political ambitions ahead of Ohioans. Ethics experts are now joining Ohioans, media outlets, and lawmakers in questioning LaRose’s decision and motives:

Mia Lewis of Common Cause Ohio: “You have to keep the campaign and the government work separate. Once those things start to blur, it becomes harder and harder for voters to trust their elected officials… [LaRose] seems to spend an incredible amount of his time putting his thumb on the scale of one issue or another…How are Ohioans supposed to trust you when you have so much trouble putting the voters first?”

“Frank LaRose’s latest scandal is growing and Ohio taxpayers are footing the bill for his scheme to move the Secretary of State office to the same building as his campaign,” said ODP Spokesperson Reeves Oyster. “Ohioans aren’t buying LaRose’s excuses or his phony math as it becomes clearer every day that LaRose will do whatever it takes to advance his political career, regardless of how much it hurts – or costs – Ohioans.”

Read more:

Ohio Capital Journal: Even before office move is complete, Ohio Sec. of State LaRose appears to blur ethical lines

Marty Schladen

October 5, 2023

• Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose last week recorded a campaign interview that appeared to take place in the building where he is moving his taxpayer-funded state offices. LaRose didn’t respond to questions, but the backdrop of the interview seemed to preclude the possibility that it was set in any other building.

• But with LaRose saying that he doesn’t have a headquarters for his U.S. Senate campaign, the interview intensifies questions about whether he plans to seek office out of the same tax-funded space from which he’ll run the election, or from one a few floors away.

• LaRose hasn’t responded to repeated questions from the Capital Journal about the move.

• But it would be improper for him to engage in campaign activities in the downtown Columbus building, said Mia Lewis of Common Cause Ohio, because it’s vital to keep the work of running a fair election walled off from that of trying to win one. “You have to keep the campaign and the government work separate,” she said. “Once those things start to blur, it becomes harder and harder for voters to trust their elected officials.”

• The situation has already raised questions about appearances and propriety.

• LaRose is the state’s top elections administrator at the same time that he seeks one of the state’s top political prizes — a seat in the U.S. Senate. Last month, WCMH Channel 4 reported that LaRose was moving the secretary of state’s office into the same building he registered with the Federal Election Commission for his Senate Campaign.

• LaRose’s campaign lawyers are with the firm BakerHostetler and are located at the top of the building, which is along the scenic Scioto Mile at 200 Civic Center Drive. Meanwhile, the secretary of state’s office will be several floors below when the move is completed as soon as next month.

• Ethics experts said that co-locating the two could at least give the appearance of impropriety, and could at worst tempt LaRose and his staff to campaign for the Senate using taxpayer resources meant to ensure free and fair elections.

• That ignores the $600,000 the move is expected to cost. The rental savings won’t cover that until 2077.

• More significantly, LaRose and his team haven’t responded when asked repeatedly if he’s participated in interviews or other campaign activities in the building — a question that becomes even more pertinent if LaRose doesn’t have a campaign office.

• Then LaRose — who touts his commitment to election integrity — made yet another bid for the endorsement of Trump, who last December called to “terminate” the U.S. Constitution so he could steal a presidential election that he lost in 2020.

• If that bit of politicking wasn’t clear enough, Bannon’s show then displayed a full-screen image of LaRose’s campaign webpage, with its red “DONATE” button at the top left.

• Depending on where LaRose recorded the interview, that action might violate Section 3517.092 of the Ohio Revised Code, which says, “No public employee shall solicit a contribution from any person while the public employee is performing the public employee’s official duties or in those areas of a public building where official business is transacted or conducted.”

• Lewis, of Common Cause, said the fact that it’s even plausible that LaRose might have recorded his interview with Bannon from state-leased space is reason enough to house the state’s election administrator in a building separate from one in which LaRose’s campaign is registered.

• “Good fences make good neighbors,” she said. “You put up barriers to make sure nobody is tempted to take that shortcut. If your office as secretary of state is downtown and you have to drive somewhere else in order to do your campaign work, well there’s a reason for that. That’s to try to make sure you’re not cutting those corners. How easy it’s going to be and how tempting it’s going to be to cut those corners when the office is just upstairs or just downstairs.”

• Even before the office controversy, LaRose had been criticized as being highly political while simultaneously being responsible for neutrally administering Ohio elections.

• Among his controversies, LaRose was a member of a Republican-dominated redistricting commission that ignored seven orders from the Ohio Supreme Court to draw legislative and congressional districts that weren’t so gerrymandered; he led a misleading campaign to make it much harder for voters to initiate amendments to the state Constitution, and he led the Ohio Ballot Board in writing language describing a proposed abortion-rights amendment in loaded ways such as changing the word “fetus” to “unborn child.”

• “This man is our secretary of state,” Lewis said. “He’s supposed to be in charge of elections in Ohio. And yet he seems to spend an incredible amount of his time putting his thumb on the scale of one issue or another — openly campaigning for one result or another.”

• She added, “Now he’s running for office himself and the fact that he doesn’t see that it is unseemly at the very least to be operating as secretary of state while in the same building you’re running your campaign for Senate at the same time. How are Ohioans supposed to trust you when you have so much trouble putting the voters first?”

See also: Frank LaRose’s “Latest Political Controversy” Escalates, Ohioans Agree LaRose Misusing Taxpayer Funds; Frank LaRose Continues Dodging Questions From Ohioans, Media, and Lawmakers on Latest Scandal; Ohio Lawmakers Call On Frank LaRose To Answer for Latest Scandal Costing Ohioans; Frank LaRose’s “Latest Unethical Move Is a Bit More Literal”; ICYMI: “Ethics Red Flags” Go Up as Frank LaRose’s “Ability to Do that Job Impartially Has Been Called into Question” [Ohio Capital Journal]; LaRose’s Math Not Adding Up as Taxpayers Cover Steep Cost to Move Secretary of State Office to His Campaign HQ; As Scandal Grows, LaRose’s “Answers” Just Raise More Questions About Steep Cost to Move Secretary of State Office to His Campaign HQ; Frank LaRose Still Owes Ohioans Answers After Latest Scandal Surfaces;  A New Scandal For Frank LaRose: Taxpayers Foot Steep Bill to Move Secretary of State Office to Campaign HQ

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