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“Wasting Your Money,” “Not Buying It,” “Ducking More Questions” And “Dodgin’ Debates:” The Mess Surrounding Mike DeWine’s Campaign This Week

August 1, 2022

Good Monday afternoon, and welcome back to Mike Check, your weekly source of all the infighting, conspiracy spewing and corruption that’s making headlines in and around the Republican governor’s race and Mike DeWine’s statehouse, courtesy of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Here are some stories you may have missed:

WASTING YOUR MONEY. Tomorrow is Primary Election Day in Ohio once again. It’s an unprecedented second primary election that shouldn’t have to happen and is wasting more than $30 million of your money. And it’s all happening because Mike DeWine refused to grow a spine and stand up to extreme Republicans on the redistricting commission, rubber-stamping GOP-gerrymandered maps time and time again. Instead of following the Constitution, not to mention the wishes of a majority of Ohioans, DeWine actively aided in the blatant Republican gerrymander of Ohio that has led to the expensive and unnecessary second primary election.

NOT BUYING IT. Voters aren’t buying what Mike DeWine is trying to sell them, and it’s showing. As Mike DeWine kicked off door-to-door campaigning last weekend, Ohioans made their voices heard. From abortion to gun violence, DeWine caved to extreme Republicans time and again and signed dangerous legislation that takes our state backward. Voters are saying enough is enough and Ohio deserves better.

DUCKING MORE QUESTIONS. The most anti-choice governor in the country is once again trying to hide his extremism from Ohioans. After scrubbing his website of all anti-abortion language, DeWine told a group of reporters he wants to “let the [abortion] debate play out” when asked about his views on legislation that would make abortion illegal in Ohio. He refused to even answer Cleveland.com when they reached out. This is the same Mike DeWine who just weeks ago proudly told an anti-abortion group he wants to “go as far as we can” to rip away abortion rights in Ohio. Make no mistake: abortion, birth control and reproductive rights are on the ballot this November, and Mike DeWine will only take Ohio backward.

AND DODGIN’ DEBATES. During the same comments to the same group of reporters where Mike DeWine ducked abortion questions, DeWine once again was asked about debating Nan Whaley this fall, and once again he refused a straight answer. So we ask, will DeWine duck the debates? DeWine has already dodged one debate this year, too scared to take on the likes of political heavyweights like Jim Renacci and Joe Blystone. But Ohioans deserve answers on issues ranging from the FirstEnergy bribery scandal to his anti-abortion stances to his refusing to heed concerns from Ohio law enforcement about dangerous gun bills he signed into law. Whaley called on DeWine to debate across the state. DeWine can’t run away scared this time. He must face the voters straight on and face consequences if he doesn’t. Ohio voters deserve nothing less.

Thanks for catching up with us, that’s all the Mike Check we’ve got for this week.  Have a great week!

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Cleveland.com: J.D. Vance Money, Poll Woes

Columbus, OH – A new Cleveland.com cartoon from Jeff Darcy tears into “more recently a San Francisco, California transplant” J.D. Vance for his “nearly broke” campaign and his comments that women should stay in “violent” marriages for the sake of the kids — “lumping Vance in with other struggling, underperforming GOP candidates” like Herschel Walker and Dr. Oz “as reasons Democrats have good chance of not only retaining the Senate, but may expand their margin.”

Cleveland.com: J.D. Vance money, poll woes: Darcy cartoons – Cleveland.com
Jeff Darcy
July 31, 2022

  • Wouldn’t be surprised if J.D. Vance played Friday’s Mega Lotto billion dollar draw. Last quarter fundraising and news reports showed his campaign is nearly broke and in dire need of a Mega Lotto jackpot win or second bailout from California Mega donor Peter Thiel.
  • “The J.D. Vance campaign is broke” -The Daily Beast.
  • “His campaign is totally broke” – Gabby Orr, CNN
  • “JD Vance May Need Another Peter Thiel Bailout” – Bloomberg
  • Peter Thiel is a billionaire tech entrepreneur, co-founder of PayPal. During the primary, Thiel had given the Vance campaign $10 million. He was also an original investor in the venture capital fund managed by Vance, Narya.
  • Since then, venture capital fund manager and Senator wannabe Vance has struggled to generate the smaller bread and butter campaign contributions. At one point he had to provide his campaign with a personal bridge loan of up to $700,000.
  • “Vance showing some low fundraising numbers” – Jonathan Lemire, Politico, MSNBC
  • Last quarter fundraising reports show Vance’s campaign spent more than it took in. He’s down in the polls too, at best Vance is tied with Rep. Tim Ryan in now red state Ohio.
  • National news reports are routinely lumping Vance in with other struggling, underperforming GOP candidates endorsed by Donald Trump, primarily Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania/N.J. and Herschel Walker in Georgia.
  • Contributing to Vance being lumped in with Oz and Walker, was coverage of Vance having said that even violent marriages should be maintained because marriage is “sacred” and for the sake of the kids. Vance had made the comment in September during a presentation at a California Christian high school.
  • Although an Ohio native, who recounted his upbringing in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy”, Vance is more recently a San Francisco, California transplant.
  • The Vance, Oz and Walker races are pointed too as reasons Democrats have good chance of not only retaining the Senate, but may expand their margin so they no longer have to kowtow to Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.
  • Rep. Ryan’s series of TV ads have been so well done and effective, some Ohio voters mistakenly have thought he’s a Republican. Apparently believing he’s a primary opponent of Vance, who won the brutal Republican primary with the late endorsement of Trump after running in 3rd/4th place behind Josh Mandel, Mike Gibbons and Matt Dolan.
  • Vance’s fundraising problems may explain why his campaign has been generally silent, especially in response to Ryan’s damaging ad offensive.
  • Along with Republican strategists, Ohio and national political analyst continue to underestimate Ryan and misread Ohio voters, in large part because the state elected Republican Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio’s Republican General Assembly leadership, Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman, whose seat Vance and Ryan now seek. They’ve continually overlooked that the same state elected and re-elected Sherrod Brown to the U.S. Senate.
  • Before being elected to the U..S. Senate, Ohio elected Brown to state offices and the U.S. House for decades. Brown has long been far more liberal than Ryan. Ryan got his political start working for the late Rep. Jim Traficant, who was Ohio’s original cartoonish Congressman before Jordan.
  • As Ryan’s demonstrating, Traficant also had crossover appeal to Republicans. Regardless of their being either liberal, center or center-right on the Democratic spectrum, Brown, Ryan and Trafficant all shared an ability to speak for working class and rural Ohioans.
  • Fortunately for Vance, Ryan is not a Tuesday primary opponent of his, otherwise on Wednesday, not November, Vance could begin writing his “Hillbilly Campaign Eulogy.”

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July Is Over. Where Are The July Ads J.D. Vance Promised?

Vance: “We’re definitely going to be on TV, I think probably sometime in July.”

Columbus, OH – Amidst bad fundraising and questions from conservative talk radio hosts if Vance is ever even in Ohio, J.D. Vance tried to assure conservative talk radio host Mark Blazor that his campaign would start running TV ads in July. Welcome to August, J.D.!

At the 12:13 mark, Vance told Mark Blazor, “We’re definitely going to be on TV, I think probably sometime in July.” Well, July has come and gone and there are still no TV ads. Sad!

The reason Vance’s campaign isn’t on TV is likely because they are broke and their campaign has neglected to return the phone calls of many Ohio donors. Nearly three months into the general election, Ohio Republicans are still “waiting for Vance to show up,” and frustrated that “he’s not campaigning hard enough.” One GOP source told Daily Beast that “when the fundraising numbers came out, it’s full-on panic now.” Ron Verb, a conservative talk radio host, offered Vance the advice that he “better get off his ass, figure out why he isn’t raising more money, why the Republican Party isn’t behind him raising money.”

This isn’t the only lie J.D. Vance has been caught in lately about his floundering campaign. Recently, J.D. Vance tried to shrug off his poor fundraising non-efforts by saying (falsely) that Rob Portman was outraised 3-to-1 by Ted Strickland. This is false: Portman “walloped” Strickland in fundraising. 

“J.D. Vance will do or say anything to get elected. If J.D. Vance will even lie to the friendliest members of his own party rather than work harder and do better, how can Ohioans trust anything he says or count on him to actually show up for them?” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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What They’re Saying: Lowlights Of Vance’s Awful Week Visiting Ohio

Columbus, OH – This week, J.D. Vance finally visited Ohio – the state he supposedly wants to represent in the U.S. Senate – amidst a week of brutal stories about how terrible of a campaign he is running.

Here’s what they are saying about Vance’s abysmal operation:

Here’s some brutal headlines Vance has faced just this week:

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Instead Of Defending His Comment That Women Should Stay In “Violent” Marriages, J.D. Vance Sent A Fraudulent Grifter From His Sham Opioid Non-Profit

No Wonder J.D. Vance’s Sham Non-Profit Paid Jai Chabria The Big Bucks

Columbus, OH – Despite doubling down on his horrific belief that women should stay in “violent” marriages, J.D. Vance knows his comments are indefensible, which is why he sent a grifter from his sham opioid non-profit to do cleanup duty on Cleveland TV yesterday.

Yesterday morning, J.D. Vance went on the Brandon Boxer Show and said (at 10:11), “And I think it’s disgusting for him to use this smear against me that the point I made is a very simple point, and I completely stand by it. Divorce, I think that our society’s approach to divorce has not been good for kids…That the whole point was the progressives say that we have the divorce because of domestic violence. And my point is, domestic violence is way worse outside of marriages than it is within marriage.” (FALSE.)

Later in the day, rather than take another opportunity to dig his hole even deeper, Vance chose to hide from News 5 Cleveland’s Morgan Trau, sending out campaign adviser Jai Chabria to do cleanup duty in his place. In Chabria’s appearance, he claimed that the media have twisted Vance’s words (despite Vance’s comments being published in full), which contradicts what Vance said hours before that he “completely stand(s) by” his dangerous remarks.

Chabria’s appearance is also a reminder of the unresolved questions that continue to dog Vance surrounding his sham non-profit, which Vance said was meant to help combat the opioid crisis but which only ever served to promote Vance himself. Chabria received over $60,000 in payments in the first year after the organization was founded, far and away the single biggest line item and much more than it ever spent on programs to fight the opioid epidemic. Chabria has also refused to answer whether Vance used his non-profit to conduct political polling – after reporting revealed that around the same time Vance had “commissioned a poll testing his viability in the Republican primaries for governor and Senate.”

It’s no wonder Chabria gets paid the big bucks – he’s lied and grifted alongside Vance for years.

“J.D. Vance can’t defend his comments that women in violent marriages should put themselves in danger, so he hid behind a political crony who used Ohio’s opioid epidemic to enrich himself instead. J.D. Vance is no better than the company he keeps, and he should be ashamed of himself for sending in a fraudulent grifter to speak on his behalf instead of explaining to Ohioans why he thinks women should stay in ‘violent’ marriages,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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