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November 5, 2021

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. 

Here’s what you may have missed:

FLIP-FLOPPING FLIPPER. A new USA Freedom Fund ad was released this week with possibly the worst jingle we’ve ever heard: “J.D.’s a flip, flip, flip-flopping flipper / deleted his [anti-Trump] tweets / but we have the receipts.” The tweets featured are the same ones USA Freedom Fund used on their attack website nochancevance.com. This ad follows one from last week where they claimed Vance “abandoned the Republican Party” and called Trump an “idiot.” USA Freedom Fund is backing Josh Mandel in the race, and given Mandel’s propensity to go on the attack, it’s clear that Vance will have to continue answering questions about his anti-Trump past – and these questions aren’t going away any time soon! 

BORING AND FAKE? In an interview on Breitbart News, J.D. Vance (presumably feeling the heat from the $1 million in ads attacking him for his anti-Trump past) decided to say that what distinguishes him from the rest of the GOP Senate field is that he tries “to not be boring and … not be fake.” He said, “At the end of the day, I think our voters can sniff out when somebody’s  just repeating slogans at them instead of talking to them about real issues. I try to talk to them about real issues.” Hmm, is he talking about Timken, Mandel, Moreno, Gibbons, or Dolan? Who’s to say? But as usual, we do know Vance is inflating his credentials here – he is incredibly boring and fake.

BUNCH OF MILLIONAIRES AND GAZILLIONAIRES. This primary has up to five self-funding candidates (and could be more!) – with many of them multi-millionaires – and that isn’t making Josh Mandel happy. At his election lie rally this week, Mandel said he’s running against “a bunch of millionaires and gazillionaires.” Josh Mandel is also a millionaire, no matter how he may try to hide it. It’s why we’ve been calling this primary a millionaire melee!  

“CLUB FOR CHINESE GROWTH.” In responding to Club for Growth’s attack ad against him, J.D. Vance said on Charlie Kirk’s show the group was the “Club for Chinese Growth.” Vance then discussed how RINOs (like him) did not support Trump’s first run for president. That’s correct, J.D.! This primary is phonies attacking each other for being phonies when everyone’s a phony. It’s hard to keep up. 

SILICON VALLEY AND WALL STREET RINOs. At his election lie rally, Mandel this week said that all of the RINOS running against him for U.S. Senate are financially backed by Silicon Valley and Wall Street. This isn’t the first time Mandel has bashed Vance for his Silicon Valley millionaire past. In September, Mandel bashed Vance’s Big Tech and Hollywood connections in an interview with Ben Shapiro, saying, “I think if the election were held today in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Wall Street or DC, I think J.D. Vance would run away with it. But if the election was held today in Ohio, he’d get destroyed, because Ohioans are not buying what he’s selling…They see him as a total phony and a total fraud.” Vance isn’t alone…Mandel has also made thousands off Big Tech as well. 

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 — It’s been one year since the 2020 election on November 3, and Two-Time Senate Loser Josh Mandel is hoping The Big Lie will be his ticket to the Senate. Mandel has followed Trump’s lead – but he’s been willing to go further than any of the other millionaires to appease Trump. 

Mandel often brags about how he’s dragging the rest of the field down the Big Lie conspiracy rabbit hole. 

• Mandel says he is the only candidate to say the 2020 presidential election was stolen. 
• Mandel says he wants to replace the January 6 commission with a November 3 commission. 
• Mandel says he supports an audit in all 50 states. 

Mandel has only gone to these absurd lengths to get President Trump’s endorsement. Trump told the Wall Street Journal the Big Lie was his biggest issue, saying, “The single biggest issue is the election fraud of 2020.” Trump has invented a new lie surrounding November 3, 2020, saying, “The insurrection took place on November 3, Election Day. January 6 was the Protest!”

“Mandel will do or say anything to earn Trump’s endorsement and does not care about lying about the results of an election. As Mandel gets more desperate for Trump’s blessing, his lies will only get worse and force the rest of the Republican Senate field down a conspiracy rabbit hole they won’t be able to escape,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.   

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Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement on the election results in the Columbus City Council race.

“Continued Democratic leadership will push the City of Columbus to new heights in 2022 and beyond. The Ohio Democratic Party congratulates Nick Bankston and Lourdes Barroso de Padilla on their elections, and President Shannon Hardin on his reelection to Columbus City Council. All three have the backs of hard-working central Ohioans, believing in high-paying jobs, affordable housing and safe neighborhoods. Along with Attorney Klein and Auditor Kilgore, this team will allow Columbus to build back better, and we look forward to working with them to deliver even more results for working Columbus families,” said Chair Walters.

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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement following major Democratic victories across Ohio, thanks to the support of Ohio voters.

“Thanks to the support of Ohio voters, Democrats across the state are ready to get to work fighting for working families in Ohio. From school boards to Congress, Ohioans elected Democrats up-and-down the ballot tonight because we remain laser-focused on the needs of Ohioans, while Republicans only seem to care about themselves and their special interest friends. Heading into 2022, Ohio Democrats have the momentum we need to flip Ohio blue, hold Republicans accountable for betraying Ohioans at every turn and make our state better for all Ohioans, not just the wealthy and well-connected,” said Chair Walters.

Tonight’s victories provide meaningful momentum heading into 2022, as Ohio Democrats get ready to compete for an open U.S. Senate seat and several statewide and local races. Ohio Democrats will continue showing Ohio voters we’re on their side, by drawing a contrast between Democratic efforts to put working families first versus Republican efforts to only look out for themselves and special interests.

Key victories include:

• Shontel Brown, OH-11 Congressional District
• Sharetta Smith, Mayor-elect of Lima
• Wade Kapszukiewicz, Mayor of Toledo
• Tito Brown, Mayor of Youngstown
• Aftab Pureval, Mayor-elect of Cincinnati
• Justin Bibb, Mayor-elect of Cleveland
• City Council and School Board Races across the state

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Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters congratulated Allison Russo on her hard-fought campaign in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District.

“Representative Russo and her team ran a campaign they should all be proud of. From day one, the campaign was focused on the working families of the 15th District and putting their interests front and center. While the outcome was different than we hoped, we’re confident Representative Russo will continue delivering for the people of Ohio and continue her work moving our state forward,” said Chair Walters.

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