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April 15, 2022

Happy Friday, and welcome to “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic and expensive Republican primary for Senate. This out-of-control primary is making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat. 

As the Republican Senate primary continues to sink lower and lower, these GOP candidates are injecting even more nasty personal attacks, more chaos and more money into this race. We’re here to help you keep track of all of it.

“Ohio’s crowded Republican Senate primary is one of the most incendiary and expensive in the country.” –Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser, 4/15/22

There was a lot of chaos this week, so here’s what you may have missed:

NOT A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN. In response to a report that Trump is considering endorsing J.D. Vance, the other Ohio GOP candidates and their allies have sprung into attack mode –  creating even more nasty infighting. A group of GOP activists sent a letter to Trump begging him to reconsider. The letter revisits Vance’s extensive anti-Trump comments – calling Trump “another opioid,” “noxious,” and saying his policy proposals range from “immoral to absurd” – while also opening up a new line of attack: “Importantly, JD Vance is not a registered Republican. To have someone who has not voted in a Republican primary carrying the mantel for the party is troubling.” Wherever Trump goes, there’s only going to be more nasty infighting and chaos to follow! 

TERRIBLE TAX RECORDS. After comments surfaced of Gibbons saying the middle class doesn’t pay enough in taxes (easy for a millionaire like Gibbons to say!), Gibbons put out an ad attacking Vance and Timken for supporting tax hikes, saying, “J.D. Vance called for higher taxes and Jane Timken bankrolled tax-raising politicians.” When there’s mudslinging, no one comes out clean. And every day, the out-of-touch GOP millionaires running for U.S. Senate do their best to make this primary as nasty as possible. 

HANDPICKED BY MITCH MCCONNELL. On “Always Right With Bob Frantz,” Mike Gibbons went after Silicon Valley Vance for being handpicked to run for U.S. Senate by Mitch McConnell. Granted in 2018, Vance would have still been a D.C. resident and would have had to give up his cushy Big Tech lifestyle to take on a popular sitting senator and risk being revealed for the phony he is. The knives are out! 

FORGET ALL THEIR NONSENSE. Matt Dolan, presumably feeling left out of all the infighting happening without him, made one last bid for relevance by lambasting the entire field. In a new ad, Dolan says, “My opponents are focused on name-calling instead of results. They attack and insult each other. Even had a near fistfight. So forget all their nonsense.” Apparently RINO Matt is taking a page from the Michelle Obama “When they go low, we go high” playbook.

Thanks for reading along – that’s all for the Buckeye Brawl this week. If you have questions, my email is [email protected]. Have a great weekend! 

For Immediate Release:

Friday, April 14, 2022

Columbus, OH — Following Donald Trump’s endorsement of J.D. Vance, Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Michael Beyer released the following statement:

“With one of the nastiest and most expensive Senate races in the country already at fever pitch this week, Trump’s endorsement will only pour gasoline on this intraparty brawl and make it even harder for Republicans to coalesce around whatever out-of-touch millionaire hobbles out of this chaotic primary.”

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For Immediate Release:
Thursday, April 14, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party continues DeWine Watch 2022, as Mike DeWine still has to decide whether to attend Donald Trump’s rally next week in Delaware or not. On the one hand, DeWine is deeply underwater with Republican voters, which makes skipping the rally politically unfeasible. On the other hand, Trump is certainly no fan of DeWine, and even encouraged a primary challenger last year.

DeWine skipped a Trump rally last year, and has yet to announce whether he’ll be at next week’s rally, even though his primary challenger has already confirmed his attendance.

“Mike DeWine is stuck between a rock and a hard place with Donald Trump’s visit to Ohio next week. The question for DeWine is simple: Will he debase himself by showing up to support a guy who called for a primary challenge against him or will a convenient ‘scheduling conflict’ further weaken his support among Republicans?” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

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For Immediate Release:
Thursday, April 14, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a GOP-gerrymandered state legislative map for the fourth time. Despite a fair map presented by independent mapmakers, Republicans on the redistricting commission chose to ram through a similar version of an earlier map that was already rejected because of Republican attempts to gerrymander.

“As Ohio Democrats tour the state to talk about the cost of GOP corruption, there’s no clearer example than Republican gerrymandering that is already costing Ohio millions. Working families have paid too high a price already, it’s time for Republicans to stop squeezing the wallets of Ohioans, do their damn jobs and pass fair maps,” said Chair Walters.

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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.

As the gubernatorial race heats up, Republicans are in disarray with Mike DeWine’s popularity dropping by the day, facing attacks both inside and outside of the Republican Party and having to answer for the largest public corruption scandal in state history. It’s hard to keep up with all of the corruption and mess surrounding Mike DeWine and the GOP gubernatorial primary, so here are some stories you may have missed:

DEWINE DID NOT TAKE THE LEAD. If you’re looking for a leader on redistricting (or anything other than corruption, really), Mike DeWine is not the answer. This week, the Cincinnati Enquirer outlined previous comments from DeWine promising to take the lead on redistricting and how his actions haven’t reflected those promises. Instead of leading, DeWine has caved to legislative leaders time and time again, voting or signing into law each set of GOP-gerrymandered maps that has come before him. It’s clear DeWine is too weak to take the lead and will always put his own political interests over the needs of hard-working Ohioans.

DEWINE WAS WARNED. It turns out that even Mike DeWine’s closest advisors thought appointing shady Sam Randazzo was a bad idea. Cleveland.com broke a story on Sunday showing a former DeWine campaign staffer, attorney J.B. Hadden, expressed concerns about appointing Randazzo shortly after DeWine took office, saying DeWine would regret the appointment. Those concerns were also shared with those in DeWine’s closest orbit, including former chief of staff Laurel Dawson. Of course, DeWine refused to listen, appointed Randazzo anyway and even after an FBI raid of Randazzo’s home, still said he did “very, very good work,” while saying he did not know about FirstEnergy’s payments to Randazzo. This latest example of failed leadership shows just how far DeWine will go to ignore what is right and only help those special interests with deep pockets who can help him and his family members.

I DON’T KNOW HIM.  Mike DeWine’s latest campaign ad shows a very different Mike DeWine than any of us have come to recognize. A commentary from Ohio Capital Journal skewered the ad, calling it “laughably bogus” and anointed DeWine “an unflinching champion of self-serving politics and party,” while questioning policy after policy made by DeWine that has hurt hard-working Ohioans the most.

Thanks for catching up with us, that’s all the Mike Check we’ve got for this week. If you have questions my email is [email protected]. Have a great week!

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