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For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement thanking Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes for her service to Ohio after she announced she will be stepping down as minority leader at the end of this year.

“Leader Sykes has been a steadfast champion for working Ohioans, always standing firm on the side of Ohioans amid some of the toughest challenges our state has faced. While Republican politicians continue to leave Ohioans behind, the House Democratic caucus under Leader Sykes has always put the needs of Ohio’s working families first. We’re grateful for her service to our state, and look forward to continuing our work with Leader Sykes to move our state forward,” said Chair Walters.

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Columbus, OH — According to a new column from WVXU’s Howard Wilkinson, Ohio’s GOP Senate primary has “descended into meanness and pettiness and just plain craziness unlike anything ever seen in Ohio Republican politics.” 

Wilkinson goes on to call the crowded race a “Dumpster fire of a Senate primary” and compares it to the Springfield tire fire in The Simpsons, a “smoking mountain of burning car tires smack in the middle of town that nobody can find a way to extinguish.” This follows a report last week from Fox News arguing “the showdown is fast becoming the most expensive and ugly GOP Senate contest in next year’s midterms.” 

WVXU: Analysis: GOP Senate primary may be Ohio’s ugliest ever

Howard Wilkinson 

December 8, 2021 

• This Republican U.S. Senate primary is something like the running gag in The Simpsons about the Springfield tire fire – a smoking mountain of burning car tires smack in the middle of town that nobody can find a way to extinguish.
• It just burns on and on, stinking up the town and driving the good townsfolk of Springfield insane.
• Yes, just like the Ohio GOP Senate primary, which has descended into meanness and pettiness and just plain craziness unlike anything ever seen in Ohio Republican politics.
• It’s all because five of the principal candidates – former state treasurer Josh Mandel, former Ohio GOP chairwoman Jane Timken, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, investment banker Mike Gibbons and car dealer Bernie Moreno – have spent most of the year crawling on their hands and knees to curry the favor of their Fearless Leader, Donald Trump.
• Donald Trump, who won Ohio’s electoral votes by 8 percentage points in both 2016 and 2020, is the object of their desire because these candidates seem to believe with every fiber of their beings that, come next May, GOP primary voters will blindly follow whichever candidate they believe to be the Trumpiest.
• “Republican politics in Ohio has taken a very abrupt right turn,” said David Niven, associate professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati. “Ohio has gone with reasonable, respectable Republicans to angry, mean-spirited candidates in the blink of an eye. It’s remarkable.”
• Ohio, Niven said, has had a long tradition of electing Republicans who were conservative, to be sure, but who could never be mistaken for extremist – people like George Voinovich, Rob Portman, Mike DeWine and John Kasich.
• You could never imagine one of the aforementioned Republicans saying the kind of things that Mandel – who seems to be the leader of the pack in inflammatory rhetoric – does, including saying that he refuses to call President Biden “president” because Donald Trump was really elected and the whole election was a fraud.
• Or how about this nugget Mandel dropped on Ohioans after President Biden issued a vaccine mandate for federal employees back in September:
• “Do not comply with the tyranny,” Mandel tweeted, in a rather ominous tone. “When the Gestapo show up at your door, you know what to do.”
• Andrew Weinstein, chair of the Democratic Lawyers Council, said that statement by Mandel amounted to “inciting violence and invoking a Nazi organization.”
• Strange as such rhetoric is, it is not the strangest thing going on in this Dumpster fire of a Senate primary.
• The strangest thing is the amount of money being spent to tear down Vance, formerly of Middletown and now a wealthy author and venture capitalist, whose campaign has benefited from a Super PAC funded by an even more successful venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, who backed Trump’s campaign.
• The Club for Growth, a conservative organization funded in large part by billionaires, has endorsed Mandel and has spent nearly $1 million so far in TV ads that do not mention Mandel but go after Vance with video of statements of he made in 2016 which were not exactly reverential toward Trump.
• “I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy,” Vance says in one of the video clips. “I never liked him. As somebody who doesn’t like Trump, I might have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton.”
• Another clip: “I didn’t vote for Trump because I can’t stomach him. I think that he is noxious.”
• And there are a few bits from Twitter where the 2016-Vance calls Trump “reprehensible” and “an idiot.”
• Gibbons, who seems to enjoy filming TV ads on football fields, has spent $500,000 on a TV ad bashing Vance for the same statements, asking the question, “Who’s cheering for the wrong team?”
• The 2021-Vance loudly proclaims that he was a Trump fan in the 2020 campaign because he could see how much Trump meant to the working poor that Vance wrote about in Hillbilly Elegy.
• If all of this money is being spent to curry favor with Trump and win his endorsement – well, it’s not working.
• Trump, believe it or not, has been all over the Club for Growth’s back, complaining that the ads that feature Vance trashing Trump in 2016 are hurting his standing among Ohio voters, who voted for him twice in presidential elections.
• He can’t stand hearing anyone say anything negative about him. No way, no how.
• Typical Trump: It’s all about me.
• Of course, Trump hasn’t endorsed anybody in this race. He may never. He’s already got the one thing he wanted out of Ohio in 2022 – he helped force out northeast Ohio congressman Anthony Gonzalez, one of 10 GOP House members to vote to impeach Trump back in January.
• But somebody’s got to win this messed-up primary and whoever that may be is going to have to run statewide – where there are plenty of ‘Never Trump’ voters and Republicans who won’t transfer their love for Trump to someone else.
• “One of these Republicans is going to have to run statewide and that is an entirely different matter than running in a Republican primary, especially in a primary where loyalty to Trump is all the candidates talk about,” Niven said. “It will be a tough race.”
• In the end, all the crawling and begging for Trump’s approval the GOP Senate candidates are doing could only end up getting them scraped knees.

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For Immediate Release:

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Columbus, OH —  In case you missed it, Republicans Bob Cupp and Matt Huffman have hired lawyers connected to a case a federal court called one of the “largest racial gerrymanders ever encountered” to defend their unconstitutional, gerrymandered maps after map drawers admitted they were directed by Republican lawmakers not to take race or demographics into consideration when drawing the maps that disproportionately hurt Black and brown voters.

Last week, two Youngstown residents filed a lawsuit accusing the Republican majority Ohio Redistricting Commission of drawing maps that violate the Voting Rights Act and that discriminate against Black Ohioans.

Huffman and Cupp’s new lawyers are so extreme that even their own party has rejected them in the past. When President Donald Trump nominated Farr in 2017 to serve as a federal judge in North Carolina, the Republican-controlled Senate declined to confirm Farr citing his past work as counsel to the 1984 and 1990 reelection campaigns for the late North Carolina Republican, U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms in which the Department of Justice found Farr part of an attempt to “intimidate and threaten Black voters” in the state through mailers suggesting they were ineligible to vote.

“It’s not a mistake. I’m sure they looked at their resumes and said, ‘Wow, we need them,’” said Bob Hall, former director of voter rights advocacy group Democracy North Carolina, in the Ohio Capital Journal report.

“The two lawyers Bob Cupp and Matt Huffman hired to represent them tell you everything you need to know about who these two politicians are looking out for, and it’s clearly not Ohio voters. Cupp and Huffman know their maps are unfair and unconstitutional and they’re desperate to use any means necessary to screw over Ohioans to suit their own political interests and the needs of their special interest friends,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

You can read more from the Ohio Capital Journal here and below:

• Defending themselves against accusations of gerrymandering, the Ohio House speaker and Senate president hired a team of lawyers with a history defending North Carolina against what a federal court called one of the “largest racial gerrymanders ever encountered.”
• Two lawyers they chose, Thomas Farr and Phillip Strach, are well-known in legal circles for defending North Carolina’s 2011 redistricting proposal and the state’s sweeping voter restriction law passed in 2013. After years of litigation, both were overturned by the courts, which found they were designed to dilute and disenfranchise Black voting power.
• “It’s not a mistake. I’m sure they looked at their resumes and said, ‘Wow, we need them,’” said Bob Hall, former director of voter rights advocacy group Democracy North Carolina, of the hiring. 
• Both Farr and Strach also defended North Carolina against a challenge to a 2013 North Carolina law that required voters to present state-issued identification at the polls, limited early voting, rolled back “souls to the polls” Sunday voting, ended same-day voter registration and more. A panel on the 4th Circuit of Appeals overturned the law on constitutional grounds. The judges wrote that the law targeted Black voters “with almost surgical precision” and purports to solve voter fraud and other “problems that did not exist.” The U.S. Supreme Court declined to resurrect the law on an appeal.
• After hearing arguments on the North Carolina redistricting plan drawn and enacted in 2011, a three-judge federal court panel in 2017 stated the maps were “among the largest racial gerrymanders ever encountered by a federal court” that amount to a “widespread, serious, and longstanding” constitutional violation. In a similar lawsuit regarding the composition of two majority-Black congressional districts, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the maps, deeming them unlawful racial gerrymanders.
• A third lawyer representing Cupp and Huffman, John Branch, reportedly represented Republican Mark Harris in a state investigation after Harris’ campaign operative was criminally accused and later convicted of ballot fraud in a 2018 North Carolina congressional election.

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  December 6, 2021

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:

DECEMBER 18, 2018. Last week, additional texts released through court records show Sam Randazzo texted with top-level FirstEnergy executives laying out the cost of the bribe he was about to receive on the same night those executives had dinner with Mike DeWine, raising further questions about what DeWine knew and when about the largest public corruption scandal in state history. Read more below:   

DEAR JON.  DeWine wasn’t the only one listed in court documents related to the HB 6 scandal, his Lt. Governor Jon Husted was also named as likely having “knowledge of the underlying factual allegations” of the HB6 scandal. It’s almost as if these guys have something to hide and don’t want to share it with Ohio voters for some reason.  

NOT WINNING ANY POPULARITY CONTESTS. An unruly session of the Ohio GOP Executive Committee had to be ended early last week after Republicans vocally opposed to Mike DeWine took over the meeting. Members of the committee were calling on the party to push through a number of anti-DeWine measures, including calling for a refund of party money donated to Mike DeWine. It’s the latest drama among Republicans who are increasingly refusing to support their own sitting governor, a bad sign for Mike DeWine as he tries desperately to placate his Republican base amid a nasty primary campaign.  

AND…ACTION? The Republican gubernatorial primary just got a whole lot messier with Jim Renacci’s announcement of movie producer Joe Knopp (?) as his running mate. Knopp, a political unknown, introduced himself to Ohio voters by going straight on the attack against Mike DeWine, attacks that will do DeWine no favors with the Republican base that is increasingly turning away from him. 

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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Columbus, OH — According to a new report from Fox News, the Republican U.S. Senate primary has gotten increasingly brutal in an effort to score Trump’s endorsement. 

The report says “the showdown is fast becoming the most expensive and ugly GOP Senate contest in next year’s midterms.” The latest attack ad to add fuel to the fire comes from Mike Gibbons against J.D. Vance, showcasing clips of Vance’s past anti-Trump statements. Vance isn’t the only candidate to receive incoming fire, with USA Freedom Fund creating opposition research websites against both Vance and Timken. 

“All of the GOP Senate candidates are locked in a race to the bottom reaching new lows each day with millions to spend and five months to go. Instead of talking about lowering costs for working families or how to create good-paying jobs that help us compete with China, the out-of-touch millionaires are using their money to chase their own self-serving ambition,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.  

Fox News: The frenzy to land Trump’s endorsement fuels an increasingly nasty GOP senate primary battle in Ohio

Paul Steinhauser

December 2, 2021 

• Amid a full court press to showcase their support and loyalty to Donald Trump in hopes of securing the former president’s endorsement, an already contentious battle between the leading contenders for the GOP Senate nomination in Ohio is turning increasingly brutal.
• “Who’s cheering for the wrong team? J.D. Vance,” charges the announcer in a new TV ad by rival Republican candidate Mike Gibbons. “Vance called President Trump an ‘idiot’ and ‘reprehensible,’” 
• The commercial is the latest round of incoming fire in the GOP primary in the 2022 race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman in a state that Trump won by eight points in both his 2016 White House victory and his 2020 reelection defeat. The showdown is fast becoming the most expensive and ugly GOP Senate contest in next year’s midterms.
• Gibbons, a Cleveland entrepreneur, real estate developer and investment banker who ran in 2018 for the Senate in Ohio, is spending more than half a million dollars to run the ad statewide on broadcast and cable TV.
• The spot includes old clips of Vance from 2016 saying “I’m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him” and “I might have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton.” 
• Gibbons then claims that “J.D. Vance is not on our team,” spotlights that “President Trump fought for you. I’ll do the same.”
• Vance, the venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” jumped into the primary with plenty of attention and fanfare over the summer. Vance enjoys the support of an outside super PAC fueled with a massive $10 million contribution from his old boss, billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
• The Gibbons ad is the second to blast Vance for his past criticism of Trump, who remains neutral to date in the Ohio primary.
• The fiscally conservative outside group Club for Growth, which is often aligned with the former president, spent big bucks to go up with a spot earlier this autumn using old clips of Vance calling Trump an “Idiot,” among other choice words. Fox News confirmed a Politico report that the Club for Growth, which is backing Mandel in the Ohio primary, took some heat from Trump over their commercial.
• Mandel, Gibbons, and Vance are part of a crowded 11- candidate Republican primary field that also includes former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken, Cleveland-based businessman and luxury auto dealership giant Bernie Moreno, and Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan, whose family owns Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians. Longtime Rep. Mike Turner, who represents the state’s 10th Congressional District, has taken steps toward launching a GOP campaign.
• Vance isn’t the only candidate to come under attack. The conservative outside group USA Freedom created opposition research websites on both Vance and Timken.
• And Mandel, an Iraq War veteran who’s Jewish, appeared to be criticized over his religion. Mark Pukita, a long-shot for the GOP nomination, went up with a radio ad jabbing at Mandel for promoting Christian values and holding events in churches even though he’s Jewish.
• Moreno came to Mandel’s defense at a recent forum, saying “Josh, nobody should question your faith…. That’s not right. We’re better than that, guys.”
• Mandel’s been as aggressive as most of his rivals in showcasing his loyalty Trump, going as far as supporting the former president’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen.”
• “I believe the election was stolen from Donald J. Trump,” Mandel argued at an October forum.
• The sniping between the candidates dates back all the way to February when Mandel and Timken – the first two major contenders to enter the race – started trying to outdo one another in spotlighting their Trump credentials.
• A month later, Trump quizzed Mandel, Timken, Gibbons and Moreno about their support in a private meeting with the four candidates ahead of a fundraiser at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida. 
• The Democratic Senate primary – in comparison to the GOP slugfest – has been a sedate affair.
• The Ohio Democratic Party has been feasting on the GOP discord, recently starting a weekly newsletter titled “Buckeye Brawl” to highlight “just how nasty, chaotic and expensive this Republican Senate primary has become.”
• Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Michael Beyer, in a statement to Fox News, predicted that “whatever country club millionaire emerges from this clown car Republican primary will be deeply damaged by the unpopular positions they’ve been forced to take in order to stand out in this crowded primary.” 

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