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For Immediate Release:
Friday, April 1, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Frank LaRose showed Ohio his true partisan colors. In case you missed it, Marty Schladen from the Ohio Capital Journal reports that LaRose is the first statewide Republican to support the impeachment of Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor for doing her job and upholding the Ohio Constitution. LaRose is looking for anyone to blame but himself for the election chaos he’s created by voting for several iterations of GOP-gerrymandered maps that could cost Ohioans tens of millions of dollars in the weeks and months ahead. 

This is yet another example of Frank LaRose’s willingness to do or say anything because he wants to run for Senate in two years. Rather than go after the chief justice and the rule of law, he should do his job and pass fair maps.

“The secretary of state’s sharp partisan tone is a stark departure from the bipartisan one LaRose struck when he initially ran for office in 2018. At the time, he told The Columbus Dispatch that he wanted to ‘bring a sense of civility and bipartisanship to how we conduct elections,’” writes Marty Schladen for the Ohio Capital Journal.

Read more from the Ohio Capital Journal HERE and below:

• Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Friday said he “certainly wouldn’t oppose it” if the legislature impeached Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor over her joining in rulings rejecting GOP-generated maps for Congress and the legislature, according to a recording of a breakfast meeting with Union County Republicans.
• Such calls to effectively end the career of a judge because her rulings didn’t go the GOP’s way have been too extreme for at least one other Republican on the commission — Gov. Mike DeWine.
• “This is an extraordinary measure to take,” he said when the idea was floated earlier this month. “I think we don’t want to go down that pathway, because we disagree with a decision by a court, because we disagree with a decision by an individual judge or justice. Not a good idea.”
• He was referring to repeated rulings in which O’Connor sided with the court’s Democrats in saying that maps passed by the Republican majority on the redistricting commission were illegally gerrymandered.
• In recent statewide elections, voters have supported Republicans by roughly a 54-46 margin. But the maps produced by Republicans favor the party to have much greater representation in the legislature and Congress.
• They violate constitutional amendments overwhelmingly passed by Ohio voters requiring that the partisan makeup of the state legislature and congressional delegation resemble the general partisan makeup of the state, O’Connor has ruled.
• LaRose didn’t explain how O’Connor misinterpreted the law, much less how such a misinterpretation would violate a justice’s oath of office.
• The secretary of state’s sharp partisan tone is a stark departure from the bipartisan one LaRose struck when he initially ran for office in 2018.
• At the time, he told The Columbus Dispatch that he wanted to “bring a sense of civility and bipartisanship to how we conduct elections.”

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April 1, 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.

“‘Who knows what the shitshow this week will be,’ said one Ohio-based Republican strategist, referring to the state’s Senate primary.” –The Hill, 3/29/22 

We know you’ve seen the sparring from Monday’s debate, but here’s what you may have missed:

UNFIT TO SERVE. It’s not just Gibbons and Mandel fighting it out on the airwaves. Now the pro-Mandel super PAC, USA Freedom Fund, has joined the fray to the tune of $1.5 million, attacking Gibbons as “disgraceful” for saying Josh “never spent a day in the private sector.” The ad says that “Mike Gibbons should be ashamed of himself. He owes Josh Mandel and everyone else that served the United States military a direct apology.” Yeesh, that’s got to hurt!

TESTOSTERONE CHECK. On the Scott Sands Show yesterday, Jane Timken, who has decided these past couple of weeks that she is in fact the adult in the room after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV ads about her opponents’ genitalia, said that “this isn’t WWE, this is a race for 1 in 100, the person to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate, and they [Mandel and Gibbons] can’t control themselves and their temper and their testosterone.” Not that Kellyanne Conway would take advice from us, but if you’re looking for a check that won’t bounce in a couple of months, you might want to find a new candidate to grift off of. 

VERY SENSITIVE. Mike Gibbons, who found himself on the verge of a fistfight at a forum several weeks ago, decided to continue to pour fuel on this fire and say that Josh Mandel is being “very sensitive” about his military service on the Ruthless podcast yesterday. Gibbons joked, “I could say Josh, I don’t like your tie. And he’d go ‘I’m a Marine and I served two tours in Iraq and you can’t say that to me.’” Who’s the sensitive one, again? 

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! 

Columbus, OH — Two new reports in Cleveland.com and The Hill are the latest to highlight just how ugly the GOP U.S. Senate primary has become. The race has become so nasty that the tenor of the race became its own debate question on Monday.

Read the reports below: 

Cleveland.com: Republican Senate hopefuls say they expect ugly primary race to continue at debate

Seth Richardson

March 28, 2022

• Given a chance to address the ugly tenor of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, the candidates on Monday offered little reflection on the state of the race.
• Toward the end of Monday’s debate organized by the Ohio Debate Commission at Central State University in Wilberforce, moderator Karen Kasler of the Statehouse News Bureau asked the seven candidates on stage — Cleveland businessman Mike Gibbons, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timken, Chagrin Falls state Sen. Matt Dolan, author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance, former Treasurer Josh Mandel, Columbus-area businessman Mark Pukita and Delaware County businessman Neil Patel — if the ugly state of the race was appropriate for the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman.
• The answer, generally, from the candidates? That’s politics.
• “I think some of the accusations have been kind of ridiculous,” said Vance, who has been targeted for his deep history of criticizing Trump, including saying he would consider voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
• The Republican Senate contest has largely been defined by the candidates trying to outdo one another via controversial statements, with policy mostly taking a backseat in their everyday campaigning. Instead, they’ve focused on convincing voters they are the candidate most closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, who has not endorsed in the race.
• That includes some circus-level antics, such as a debate two weeks ago that devolved into chest-bumping and epithets thrown on stage by Gibbons and Mandel.

The Hill: GOP headaches grow as infighting roils Senate primaries

Julia Manchester 

March 29, 2022 

• Republican frustrations are growing as multiple GOP Senate primaries have descended into infighting, threatening the party’s chances of retaking the upper chamber in November.
• In recent weeks, Senate primaries in Missouri and Ohio have turned volatile. 
• Meanwhile, in Ohio, a candidate forum nearly came to blows when former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and businessman Mike Gibbons got into each other’s faces over work experience. 
• The turbulence has raised concerns that the winners of these primaries could come out bruised, giving Democrats an advantage in the general election.
• “Who knows what the shitshow this week will be,” said one Ohio-based Republican strategist, referring to the state’s Senate primary.  
•  The fallout in that race comes after Gibbons accused Mandel of “never having worked in the private sector.” That led Mandel to walk over to a standing Gibbons and shout in his face: “Two tours in Iraq, don’t tell me I haven’t worked!” 
• Over the weekend, Mandel released an ad featuring a Gold Star mother, whose son was killed in Iraq, criticizing Gibbons.  
• Meanwhile, former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken has accused Gibbons of sexism, citing comments in which he said she had “barely worked” before she became chair of the Stark County Republican Party.  
• “Friday and Monday night’s antics, the only person who really won was Tim Ryan,” Timken told reporters, referring to the Democratic congressman running for Senate. “What happens if Mike Gibbons is the nominee? The Democrats will gladly pour 50 million dollars into the race to defeat him and he has given them much fodder.” 
• The Gibbons campaign hit back in a statement to The Hill, suggesting that Gibbons was being attacked because of his lead in the polls. 
• Regardless, Democrats say the contentious primaries are playing into their hands, providing a contrasting image going into the general election.
• “What we have is Democratic candidates and incumbents who are talking to voters about lowering costs, about the issues that voters care about, while the Republican side is having this slug fest,” one Democratic strategist told The Hill. “The longer this infighting happens, the more bruised their candidates will be on the other side.”

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For Immediate Release:

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Columbus, OH — While Ohioans heard this week from candidates of both parties in the #OHSen primary and are set to hear from the Democratic candidates in #OHGov race tonight, one key debate is missing, and it’s because Mike DeWine is too scared to debate.

Threatened by the likes of Jim Renacci and Joe Blystone, and consistently underwater in support from his own party, DeWine ducked out of today’s Republican #OHGov debate, once again showing he’s not the leader Ohio deserves.

“Leaders lead. Period. If Mike DeWine were confident in his re-election position and the stances he’s taken, he’d be proud to stand up there on the stage and debate. Instead, he’s cowering from accountability, once again showing our state how weak he really is,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Below is a list of questions hard-working Ohioans are still waiting for answers on from Mike DeWine, questions that could have been covered during today’s debate:

• Why won’t DeWine pass fair maps?

• What did Mike DeWine know about the largest public corruption scandal in state history and when?
• Why did DeWine appoint Sam Randazzo, someone with close ties to the energy industry, to lead the organization charged with overseeing energy regulations in Ohio, despite concerns raised by experts?
• Does Mike DeWine still believe Randazzo did a ‘good job’ despite the multimillion-dollar bribe he took from FirstEnergy?
• Does DeWine think it’s okay that his son hasn’t recused himself from the redistricting cases, despite the fact his dad is a key defendant?
• When will DeWine live up to his promise to ‘do something’ to keep Ohioans safe from gun violence?
• Why does DeWine continue to take credit for the American Rescue Plan even though he opposed it?

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Wilberforce, OH — Today, the leading GOP Senate candidates participated in a debate sponsored by the Ohio Debate Commission. In response, Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Michael Beyer released the following statement:  

“All of the out-of-touch millionaires embarrassed themselves tonight as they injected more nasty attacks into their chaotic and out-of-control primary.”  

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