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For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters issued the following statement in response to Mike DeWine’s State of The State address. 

“Amid all of the bombast and bluster Ohioans heard from Mike DeWine today, what we failed to hear is any plan for him to do his job and fix the redistricting mess he created. The election chaos we’re seeing in Ohio falls squarely at the feet of Mike DeWine and  Republicans on the redistricting commission who failed time and again to pass fair maps. Ohioans are sick and tired of words, it’s time for action. Today, Ohio Democrats are once again calling on DeWine and his fellow Republicans to do their jobs and pass fair maps,” said Chair Walters.

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For Immediate Release:

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters, Ohio Auditor candidate Taylor Sappington and Ohio Secretary of State candidate Chelsea Clark held a statehouse press conference to lay out how DeWine and his fellow Republicans have failed to do their jobs and pass fair maps, a violation of their oaths of office to protect and defend Ohio’s constitution.

“Now, as Ohio finds itself amid a constitutional crisis, Mike DeWine and his fellow Republicans are solely to blame. So all the bombast and bluster we’ll hear from Mike DeWine today ultimately means nothing. Because when it comes down to it, the state of our state is broken. And that’s because Mike DeWine caved to his fellow Republicans and failed to do his most important job: putting the interests of Ohioans first,” said Chair Walters.

The redistricting commission first met in August 2021. In the seven months since, DeWine and his fellow Republicans have blown past constitutional deadlines, passed five separate sets of GOP-gerrymandered maps and each time ignored the directives of Ohio voters and the Ohio Supreme Court. They are solely to blame for the election chaos that has been created by their failure to do their job.

“Republicans have made clear that the only interests they’re protecting are their own – the will of Ohio voters be damned – as they push through gerrymandered maps that reflect an Ohio Republican Party wishlist more than the political realities of our state. In Nelsonville, we don’t point fingers or run out the clock when things don’t go our way. We wake up every day, put politics aside and do our jobs to deliver for the people we were elected to serve,” said Ohio Auditor candidate Taylor Sappington.

“Despite what DeWine, LaRose and Republicans on the commission would have you believe, it’s not that complicated of a task to complete. If they’d done the right thing from day one and worked with Democrats to pass a fair map, we wouldn’t be in the middle of this election chaos,” said Ohio Secretary of State candidate Chelsea Clark.

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Columbus, OH — A new report from The American Independent caught J.D. Vance flip-flopping on his support for a key gun violence prevention measure. It’s the latest political reinvention for Vance, which the article notes is “the latest in a long series of flip-flops from positions” as he struggles to compete in this crowded and nasty primary.

“The only thing Ohioans can trust about J.D. Vance is that he will sell out Ohioans for whatever political calculation he thinks will best serve him in the moment,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

The American Independent: J.D. Vance backed ‘red flag’ gun laws in 2018. Now he calls them ‘a giant distraction.’

Josh Israel

March 21, 2022

• Republican Ohio Senate hopeful J.D. Vance has spent much of his campaign attacking “gun grabbers” and opposing firearm regulations. But just four years ago, he urged his party to pass the very laws he now rails against.
• The author and venture capitalist appeared at a March 2018 Darke County Republican Party dinner as the featured speaker. According to a local newspaper report on the event, Vance appeared to endorse new laws to disarm those who are an imminent danger to others.
• “We should make it easier to take those guns out of the hands of people who are about to use them to murder large numbers of people,” he argued at the time. “We’ve got to have the right balance between protecting citizens, protecting our schools, and protecting the kids that go to them, but also protecting our really important and fundamental constitutional liberty.”
• Even then-President Donald Trump endorsed the idea in 2019 in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. “We can and will stop this evil contagion,” he promised. “That is why I have called for red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.”
• But since announcing his Senate campaign, Vance has abandoned his support for any new gun safety legislation.
• Last July, Vance wrote an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch warning that President Joe Biden and an “unholy alliance” was coming for Americans’ guns and other liberties. “Violence in our country is much more about density than guns,” he asserted. “That’s why the Biden Administration’s dull attempts to curb gun violence don’t work and they threaten the very foundation of the rights we are afforded as free, American citizens.”
• Vance’s campaign issues page contains similar language. “Joe Biden and anti-democracy multinational companies are trying to find new ways to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. They’re making it harder to buy firearms and ammunition, and imposing new, unconstitutional regulations on American citizens,” Vance’s campaign website reads. “I will fight the gun grabbers, whether they’re federal bureaucrats enacting regulations or multinational companies punishing people for exercising their rights.”
• Vance’s reversal on this is but the latest in a long series of flip-flops from positions the “Hillbilly Elegy” author took before he decided to run for political office.
• In 2016, he frequently lambasted then-candidate Trump as “xenophobic” and “an idiot”. Last year, he said he regretted criticizing Trump and was “wrong about the guy.”
• Shortly after Trump’s 2017 inauguration, Vance openly acknowledged the role white privilege plays in America, saying there were “obviously still advantages to being white” and “there are still disadvantages to being Black.” As a candidate, Vance now wants people to have the power to file lawsuits against companies that tell anyone to “deconstruct their privilege, or they need to sacrifice or repent of their whiteness.”
• He also once backed mask mandates to curb the coronavirus pandemic but went on to question why kids should have to wear masks. “I don’t know why we should mask our children under any circumstance, but especially not when Biden/Harris refuse to control COVID at our border,” Vance tweeted last August.

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Cleveland, OH — Today the leading GOP Senate candidates participated in a Nexstar debate. In response, Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Michael Beyer released the following statement:  

“All of the out-of-touch millionaires running for U.S. Senate only embarrassed themselves and added more fuel to the fire in their never-ending brawl.” 

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  March 21, 2022 

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:

DO YOUR JOB. Media outlets across Ohio are reporting on the election chaos that has been created by Mike DeWine and Republican members of the redistricting commission who have failed to do their job time and time again and pass fair maps. The redistricting commission first met in August 2021. In the seven months following, DeWine and his fellow Republicans have blown past constitutional deadlines, passed five separate sets of GOP-gerrymandered maps and ignored the directives of Ohio voters and the Ohio Supreme Court in the process. They are solely to blame for the election chaos that has been created by their failure to do their job.

“HOLLOW WORDS.” This weekend, the Columbus Dispatch editorial board took Mike DeWine to task for breaking his promises and putting Ohioans’ lives at risk. The editorial board outlined how DeWine’s cave to the gun lobby will have real consequences for Ohio law enforcement officers and families, putting their safety on the line, all so he can try to stay politically relevant. DeWine is willing to do or say anything to help himself, even if it means breaking his promises and putting Ohioans’ lives in danger in the process.

A HARD PASS. The Ohio Debate Commission now says no debates will be held in the Republican gubernatorial field after Mike DeWine all but said he was too scared to answer questions and face the field primarying him. Meanwhile, Ohioans wait for answers on key issues, including the largest public corruption scandal in state history and DeWine’s refusal to lead and pass fair maps on the redistricting commission.

WHERE’S THE BEEF? At the Ohio Beef Expo this weekend, Joe Blystone accused DeWine of getting in his face, grabbing his shirt and telling Blystone “I’m going to kick your ***” after Blystone allegedly confronted DeWine about ducking the debate. Whether it went down the way Blystone described or not, it’s interesting to see DeWine act tough when surrounded by his security detail, but when it comes to standing up to his own party, he can’t seem to find his spine.

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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