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Will Frank LaRose Stand Behind His Fellow Secretary of State Candidates?

Columbus, OH — Frank LaRose loves to talk out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to election security, claiming Ohio elections are secure but also winking and nodding at MAGA Republicans who believe the lies they’ve been told about election stealing. It’s been a tough line for LaRose to walk, having told Cleveland.com “I think it’s irresponsible when Republicans say an election was stolen and don’t have evidence,” after Trump lost in 2020.  

Now, however,  LaRose is now in a leadership role for a committee dedicated to supporting Republican Secretary of State candidates, which includes numerous election deniers. So the question for LaRose is, does he support his fellow Republican Secretary of State candidates and their election lies, or will he actually stand up for election integrity and use his leadership on the committee to condemn his fellow Republicans?  

Here’s a sample of the lies the Republicans in his organization are spewing:  

Arizona Secretary of State Nominee Mark Finchem falsely claimed Trump Won Arizona: 

  • NBC News: Finchem falsely claimed Donald Trump won Arizona in 2020 and then turned around and introduced resolutions to overturn the certification of election results in three Arizona counties.  
  • New York Times: The paper called Finchem “instrumental;” in arranging fake Arizona electors after the 2020 election in order to decertify state results. These actions are now under investigation by the Department of Justice 

Nevada Secretary of State Nominee Jim Marchant insists votes have not been counted for decades:

  • New York Times: Marchant was selected as an “alternate” on the state’s electors and pledged to refuse to certify the election of President Joe Biden. He also admitted he would decertify Dominion Voting Machines and demand all paper ballots be counted by hand. 
  • Associated Press: Marchant rallied supporters throughout his primary by telling them their vote “hasn’t counted for decades.” 

Michigan Secretary of State Nominee Kristina Karamo claimed Trump would be President by 2022 while spreading Q’Anon conspiracies: 

  • MLive Grand Rapids: Karamo posted on Twitter that Donald Trump would be President again by 2022. She later claimed her account was hacked and the Tweet was deleted. 
  • CNN: Karamo baselessly claimed widespread voter fraud in Michigan in 2020 that stole a Trump victory after also claiming she saw fraud firsthand. 
  • The same report from CNN indicates Karamo spoke at a QAnon conference in Las Vegas in 2021. 

“Frank LaRose holds a leadership position at a committee that exists to support Republican Secretary of State candidates, which this year includes numerous election deniers. Will he use his leadership position to condemn their lies, or will he continue to only look out for his own political aspirations instead? If LaRose can’t even call out his fellow Republicans when they lie about elections being stolen, he has no business leading our state’s elections process,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.  

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DeWine Debate Watch: Day 11

Columbus, OH — As debate season starts to ramp up in the closing weeks and days of the election cycle, Mike DeWine has continued to duck committing to debates across Ohio with Mayor Nan Whaley, even as the Mayor has already publicly agreed and challenged DeWine to a number of debates. DeWine also dodged a debate with his primary opponents earlier this year, signaling that he is scared to defend his record to Ohioans, especially since he’s debated political opponents in the past. It’s ‘DeWine Debate Watch’ Day 11, reminding Ohioans that DeWine won’t even try to make his case to them as he seeks re-election to the highest statewide executive office. 

“Mike DeWine clearly knows his record over the last four years of selling out working families in favor of the wealthy and well-connected is not going to be popular with Ohio voters. If DeWine can’t even muster the political courage to tell Ohioans why they should re-elect him, he doesn’t deserve the job and should be held publicly accountable for his cowardice,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Ohioans deserve answers from DeWine on a number of key issues, including his promise to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights, his broken promise to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in Ohio, his connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and his role in the failed redistricting process that produced GOP-gerrymandered maps and cost Ohioans millions of dollars. 

Read more from WVXU-FM here and below: 

WVXU-FM: Commentary: Mike DeWine Appears To Be Running Out The Clock On Debating Nan Whaley 
Howard Wilkinson
September 7, 2022 

  • Why won’t Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine meet his opponent, former Dayton mayor Nan Whaley, in a good old-fashioned, face-to-face, debate?
  • Well, the answer is that, after 46 years running for every significant public office in Ohio, he is flat-out afraid. Knee-knocking scared to death.
  • Terrified of talking about issues that could motivate the Democratic opposition to vote in huge numbers or alienate his Republican base voters, many of whom already look at the governor with a jaundiced eye.
  • “There’s only one reason for Mike DeWine to refuse to debate his opponent,” said David B. Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron. “Fear. Just plain fear. That’s the only possible explanation.”
  • So what’s he scared of? Well, there are a number of subjects the governor would just as soon avoid talking about in this campaign, including:
    • Abortion, and the likelihood that if the Ohio General Assembly passes a bill banning abortion, without exceptions, that he would sign it into law, thus firing up the opposition once again.
    • His administration’s response to the COVID crisis of 2020. DeWine got high marks from some — mostly Democrats — but most of the Trump devotees in his party are still accusing him of trampling on individual rights.
    • Gun control, which became a big problem for DeWine after the August 2019 mass murder in Dayton’s Oregon District. The governor promised action on gun control but abandoned his own agenda at the first sign of opposition from the Republicans in the legislature. Instead, he ended up signing a number of bills that will do nothing but make guns more prevalent.
    • The governor’s links, as reported in the media, to First Energy and the House Bill 6 bribery scandal.
  • I hate to break the news to the DeWine campaign, but “newspaper endorsement screenings” are nothing like “de facto debates,” even if they feature both candidates sitting in a board room together and even if they are live-streamed so that voters can listen in.
  • Trust me on this. I sat in on more of these newspaper endorsement meetings than I care to remember in my 30 years at the Cincinnati Enquirer. They are not free-wheeling discussions of a broad range of issues important to the public; they tend to be limited to whatever parochial interests the newspaper editors have. And the interests of the editors rarely match the interests of voters at large.
  • DeWine, over his 46 years in Ohio politics, has blown hot and cold when it comes to debating opponents. He does it when he thinks it can benefit him; he refuses when he thinks it could hurt him.
  • “It would appear (DeWine) has no intention of debating,” Cohen said. “It’s really remarkable.”
  • “A sitting governor should be able to go in front of the people of his state and make his case,” Cohen said. “If he can’t do that, he should get into another business.”
  • Ohio voters deserve to hear from both DeWine and Whaley. If George Voinovich was still around, I have a feeling he would tell DeWine just that — suck it up and do it.

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DeWine & Husted Change Their Tune on Trump Now That There’s Something In It For Them

Columbus, OH — Mike DeWine and Jon Husted had more Republicans vote against them in the May primary than for them. Republican voters deeply distrust DeWine and now DeWine and Husted need all the help they can get to stumble across the finish line. And even though both have distanced themselves from Donald Trump in the past, they’re both now embracing his endorsement to try to win back MAGA Republicans.  

It’s just the latest example of DeWine and Husted caving to their own party and selling out Ohioans when there’s something in it for them. DeWine and Husted will always put their own interests over the interests of working Ohioans and Ohioans deserve better.

Here’s a sampling of the ways DeWine and Husted have distanced themselves from Trump in the past before fully embracing his endorsement now: 

  • DeWine Declined To Answer Questions About Donald Trump Or Whether He Should Be The Republican Nominee For President In 2024. “‘Should the party nominate Trump again in 2024? ‘I really think we have to resist talking about 2024 until we get 2022 done,’ he said. I tried a different tack, asking the governor whether Trump was a positive presence in American public life at the moment. ‘You’re good,’ he replied, ‘but I’m not going to go there.’” [Atlantic, 4/3/22]

  • DeWine, Husted Skipped Trump Rally In Lorain County. “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted won’t attend former President Donald Trump’s rally in Lorain County this weekend, they said. DeWine has a family conflict and Husted didn’t elaborate on why he won’t be in attendance. In September 2020, Trump supporters booed masks, DeWine’s name and Husted at a rally near Dayton.” [Columbus Dispatch, 6/22/21] 

  • DeWine Said That Trump’s Lies About The 2020 Election “Threatened To Burn Down Our Democracy.” “He (DeWine) said that the president’s refusal to accept the result of the Nov. 3 election ‘has started a fire that has threatened to burn down our Democracy.’ ‘The speech that he gave preceding the march, that he gave to the protesters served only to fan those flames, encouraging the mob behavior that ensued,’ DeWine said. ‘Yesterday’s acts were shameful and all Americans must denounce them, even those Americans who feel — incorrectly — that Donald Trump won.’” [Ohio Capital Journal, 1/8/21]

  • DeWine Called The Hollywood Access Tape “Wrong, Repulsive, And Unacceptable.” “DeWine, a former U.S. senator and a likely candidate for governor in 2018, posted a three-part statement on his Twitter account Saturday that criticized Trump: ‘Donald Trump’s comments are wrong, repulsive, and unacceptable. No one should ever talk about anyone that way.’” [Cleveland.com, 10/11/16]

  • Husted Said He “Can’t Bring [Himself] To Vote” For Trump Or Clinton, Said “Neither Candidate Represents My Values.” “‘At this point I can’t bring myself to vote for either of them,’ he (Husted) told Cleveland.com of Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.” [Cincinnati.com, 10/13/16]

  • Husted Called Trump “Awful.” “‘Words cannot express how disgusted I am with both candidates,’ Husted said in a Monday interview. ‘That’s honestly how I feel. I think they’re both awful. And as just somebody who loves our country, loves public policy, I’m just sad that the way this campaign is being run and covered because it’s not advancing any discussion on solving any real problems.’” [Cleveland.com, 10/11/16]

  • Husted Said That Trump’s Candidacy Reflected People’s Anger And Said That His Tactics Did Not Represent The Kind Of Country He Wanted. “Secretary of State Jon Husted said is not a fan of Donald Trump, but thinks Gov. John Kasich is saying the right things to be a viable general election presidential candidate … ‘I think his tactics don’t speak to the aspirations of what we want for America for everybody.”  [Columbus Dispatch, 9/2/15]

[@JonHusted, Twitter,  3/31/16]

[@JonHusted, Twitter, 7/20/15]

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DeWine Debate Watch: Day 10

Columbus, OH — As debate season starts to ramp up in the closing weeks and days of the election cycle, Mike DeWine has continued to duck committing to debates across Ohio with Mayor Nan Whaley, even as the Mayor has already publicly agreed and challenged DeWine to a number of debates. DeWine also dodged a debate with his primary opponents earlier this year, signaling that he is scared to defend his record to Ohioans, especially since he’s debated political opponents in the past. It’s ‘DeWine Debate Watch’ Day 10, reminding Ohioans that DeWine won’t even try to make his case to them as he seeks re-election to the highest statewide executive office. 

“Mike DeWine clearly knows his record over the last four years of selling out working families in favor of the wealthy and well-connected is not going to be popular with Ohio voters. If DeWine can’t even muster the political courage to tell Ohioans why they should re-elect him, he doesn’t deserve the job and should be held publicly accountable for his cowardice,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Ohioans deserve answers from DeWine on a number of key issues, including his promise to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights, his broken promise to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in Ohio, his connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and his role in the failed redistricting process that produced GOP-gerrymandered maps and cost Ohioans millions of dollars. 

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal here and below: 

Ohio Capital Journal: Gov. Mike DeWine’s Shifting Record On Debating 
Nick Evans
September 6, 2022

  • In about two months Ohioans will decide on their next governor. But so far, Gov. Mike DeWine has refused to debate his Democratic challenger, former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
  • In general, challengers are champing at the bit to get on the debate stage early and often. Incumbents meanwhile, tend to push for a limited debate schedule. DeWine has found himself on both sides of that argument.
  • Thanks to the archives of the Columbus Dispatch, it’s possible to track much of DeWine’s record.
  • Looking at DeWine’s overall record, he’s eagerly sought the debate stage and stubbornly avoided it whenever it has suited him. Sometimes he’s won and sometimes he’s lost, but it doesn’t appear he has paid a political price yet for ducking a debate.
  • If he holds out and refuses to debate Democratic nominee Nan Whaley, it won’t be unheard of, but DeWine will certainly be an outlier.

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DeWine Debate Watch: Day 9

Columbus, OH — As debate season starts to ramp up in the closing weeks and days of the election cycle, Mike DeWine has continued to duck committing to debates across Ohio with Mayor Nan Whaley, even as the Mayor has already publicly agreed and challenged DeWine to a number of debates. DeWine also dodged a debate with his primary opponents earlier this year, signaling that he is scared to defend his record to Ohioans, especially since he’s debated political opponents in the past. It’s ‘DeWine Debate Watch’ Day 9, reminding Ohioans that DeWine won’t even try to make his case to them as he seeks re-election to the highest statewide executive office. 

“Mike DeWine clearly knows his record over the last four years of selling out working families in favor of the wealthy and well-connected is not going to be popular with Ohio voters. If DeWine can’t even muster the political courage to tell Ohioans why they should re-elect him, he doesn’t deserve the job and should be held publicly accountable for his cowardice,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Ohioans deserve answers from DeWine on a number of key issues, including his promise to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights, his broken promise to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in Ohio, his connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and his role in the failed redistricting process that produced GOP-gerrymandered maps and cost Ohioans millions of dollars. 

Read more from the Toledo Blade Editorial Board here and below: 

Toledo Blade Editorial: DeWine’s Debate Decision Will Be Telling 
Editorial Board  
September 5, 2022 

  • Labor Day is the traditional starting point for the all-out political campaigning for the fall general election. But some of the standard campaign activities can’t be taken for granted anymore.
  • The polls apparently tell Mr. DeWine he has more to lose than gain from engaging in the political combat of debate. We understand why he would like to skip adversarial questions about the First Energy scandal; PUCO appointments; abortion law, and gun carry laws.
  • The governor’s claim that joint interactions at newspaper editorial boards, which can be streamed for internet viewing, serve the same function as a televised debate is ridiculous. Even more outlandish is the contention that interaction with voters at county fairs and political stops is somehow equivalent to the give and take with an opponent.
  • But if the governor is reelected behind a wave of money — much of which is generated from interests with business before Ohio—his moral authority will be non-existent.
  • Gov. DeWine’s debate decision will tell us if he wants to lead Ohio or simply win a second term.

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