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Columbus, OH — As summer comes to a close, we’re looking back at how Ohio’s Republican Senate candidates spent their time making this primary even nastier, more chaotic, and more expensive — and making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat. 

“GOP Senate candidates spent this summer injecting even more nasty personal attacks, more chaos, and more money into this out-of-control primary, all at the expense of Ohio voters and the issues they care about. No matter which millionaire politician emerges from this crowded primary field, the damage from these messy summer months will last well into the general election,” said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

NASTY: 

• Mandel regularly took swipes at Vance over social media, sharing clips where Mandel claimed Vance was agreeing with Obama and comparing him to anti-Trump former Governor John Kasich. Mandel also tried to tie Timken to Kasich.
• Timken supporters wrote a letter to support her, calling her a “Trump Champion” and attacking Vance, Mandel, and others for their insufficient support for the former president.
• Vance was repeatedly attacked by way of anonymous text messages for being a “never Trumper” before he had even announced his candidacy.
• The rivalry between Vance and Mandel has heated up, with Mandel accusing Vance of taking the money from his non-profit and using it for his political campaign.

CHAOTIC: 

• Vance’s entrance into the race added more chaos to an already unwieldy and crowded primary. 
• Leading candidates continued to trade blows over their history with and allegiance to Donald Trump, and showed no signs of slowing down. 
• Timken came under fire for highlighting a photo of her and Trump under her website’s “endorsements” page. 
• Vance deleted his tweets that were critical of Trump in an attempt to shield himself against criticism.

EXPENSIVE: 

• California tech billionaire Peter Thiel dumped $10 million into a super PAC supporting Vance, who entered the race this summer. Since his entrance into the race, he’s been fundraising in the ritzy Hamptons currying favor from other millionaires.  
• The packed GOP field revealed their “eye-popping” financial disclosures that showed their vast wealth and highlighted there are significant resources for many candidates still to spend. 
• Gibbons is already spending $10 million on TV and radio and has loaned millions of dollars to his campaign. Moreno has argued he raised the most money and is ready to spend it on this costly primary.  
• At least one more wealthy Republican — State Senator Matt Dolan — is expected to enter the race, in a crowded primary with many well-funded candidates sure to make the race more expensive. 

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Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters blasted state legislative ‘maps’ proposed by Ohio Republicans that clearly fly in the face of the Ohio Constitution and what Ohio voters called for twice when they voted for fair districts and fair representation. The GOP maps are even more gerrymandered than the 2011 map, taking our state even further backward in the fight for issues that Ohioans care about, from education to healthcare to the economy. 

Republicans, when presenting their maps, went so far as to admit they didn’t take racial demographics or election results into account, making clear that Republicans care about nothing other than protecting their own political futures. 

“​​The so-called ‘maps’ proposed by the Ohio GOP are a betrayal of Ohio voters and the issues that they care about. These maps are not only unacceptable, they’re offensive to Ohioans who voted overwhelmingly twice for fair representation. Ohioans are tired of politicians choosing their voters rather than the other way around. Ohio Democrats will stand with Ohioans in opposing these sham maps and fighting Republican efforts to once again silence the voices of Ohio voters,” said Chair Walters.  

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Columbus, OH — Today, Theodore Decker of the Columbus Dispatch reminded us all just how far Mike DeWine has fallen in the last year. Facing a messy primary challenge, with another reported challenger set to emerge, DeWine is putting politics over the health and safety of Ohioans, too weak to stand up to his own party and do what’s right for the Ohioans he is supposed to serve.

Decker outlines how DeWine has shifted from listening to health experts like Dr. Amy Acton and doing what’s best for his constituents amid the COVID-19 pandemic to backing down to extreme Republicans within his own party who are putting the health of Ohioans at risk.

“Facing muzzles like this and being up for reelection in 2022, DeWine must have seen the threats of schoolyard bullies scrawled on the wall. He began to back down. The same issues that once would have yielded his unflinching assessment now yield only generalities that foist responsibility onto his constituents,” writes Decker.

“Ohioans expect their Governor to lead in the face of adversity, DeWine has instead wilted away to save his own political hide. If DeWine is too weak to stand up to his own party amid a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, how can he be expected to lead on any other issue that matters to Ohioans? If Mike DeWine doesn’t want to make the tough calls, he doesn’t deserve the job,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more from the Columbus Dispatch HERE and below:

• Facing muzzles like this and being up for reelection in 2022, DeWine must have seen the threats of schoolyard bullies scrawled on the wall.
• He began to back down. The same issues that once would have yielded his unflinching assessment now yield only generalities that foist responsibility onto his constituents.
• That’s what’s known as passing the buck.

• As COVID-19 infections among children soar and hospital systems have undertaken an advertising campaign that begs Ohioans to get vaccinated, we are left with tepid sentiments from the governor, like this one about the recent trend of taking a horse dewormer unapproved for treatment of COVID-19.
• You can almost see him eyeing the exits.

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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party blasted Republicans on the GOP-led Ohio Redistricting Commission who have yet to release proposed maps after they ignored the first constitutional deadline last week, in which the Commission was — by law –supposed to have produced maps and held public hearings. With less than one week until the final deadline, Republicans on the Commission still have not produced maps and are rushing the process through without giving Ohioans adequate time to weigh in on the proposed maps that will affect every issue important to voters — from healthcare to education to the economy.

“Ohioans twice voted overwhelmingly to reform redistricting to give voters a say in the process that has too often been politicized by the Ohio GOP. This Republican-led Commission has one week to adopt a fair map that reflects the preferences of the voters of Ohio. We expect this Commission to fulfill that core duty, even though they ignored other constitutional requirements at earlier stages in the process. Ohioans voted for transparency and accountability, not more one-sided political games that leave Ohioans in the dark,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch today detailed newly-released documents tying yet another major corruption scandal directly to Ohio Republicans. Campaign finance records detailed in the report show that high-level officials connected to the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) made donations to Republican officials who were in a position to help the charter school, which defrauded taxpayers by lying about enrollment numbers and has since failed to pay back the taxpayer money it owes the state.

Ohio Republicans, including Mike DeWine, Jon Husted, Frank LaRose, Dave Yost, Keith Faber and Josh Mandel, all took massive donations from ECOT founder Bill Lager.

“All of the contributions went to Republican party accounts and nearly all of the candidates backed by ECOT were Republicans. And roughly $1.4 million of the candidate contributions went to legislative candidates. Lager and his associates ramped up political giving over the years and strategically donated to politicos who were positioned to help or hurt the online school,” reports Laura Bischoff for the Columbus Dispatch.

The latest ECOT revelations come as we continue to find out more information about the GOP-led public corruption scandal, the largest in state history, in which high-level Republicans took multi-million dollar bribes to raise the cost of energy bills for hardworking Ohioans.

“Every day, we seem to get more and more information about another major ongoing scandal connected to Ohio Republicans. It’s clear these politicians are only looking out for themselves and can’t be trusted. After decades of Republican rule that has seen historic corruption and grift, Ohioans deserve leadership that’s looking out for working families, not special interest donors in Columbus,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more from the Columbus Dispatch HERE and below:

• There were days when Bill Lager wrote check after check to political parties and candidate campaigns, sending tens of thousands of dollars out as he built the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow into the Ohio’s largest online charter school.
• Campaign finance records turned over in response to a federal grand jury subpoena issued in February 2019 show that Lager and his associates contributed $1.66 million to candidate committees and another $300,000 to political parties from 2000 to 2019.
• Lager and his associates ramped up political giving over the years and strategically donated to politicos who were positioned to help or hurt the online school. Recipients included legislative leaders and committee chairs, candidates for governor and state auditor, supreme court justices and state school board candidates.
• The donations hit a crescendo in June 2017 when Lager and ECOT Director of Operations Melissa Vasil each contributed $12,000 to Republican Larry Householder’s campaign committee and each contributed $38,000 to the Ohio Republican Party – $100,000 donated in the span of four days.

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