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Late last night, the already out-of-control Republican Senate primary took a dangerous turn when Josh Mandel tweeted pictures of him at a gun store with the caption ‘hunting RINOs with my buds in Delaware County.’ Mandel’s latest tweet — which he later tried to walk back after criticism — is just the latest in a series of dangerous tweets in which his rhetoric against his fellow Republicans becomes much more incendiary, a trend that other candidates in the race have adopted.

“Josh Mandel is willing to do anything to score political points, including make jokes about hunting fellow Republicans. As Josh and the rest of the Republican field sinks lower and lower, all of them are demonstrating to Ohio voters how unqualified they are to serve as U.S. Senator. Void of any substantial ideas for how to make life better for Ohioans, they’re sinking to new lows just to try and seem relevant,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Josh has repeatedly called Gov. Mike DeWine a ‘RINO,’ a Republican In Name Only, and has also used terms like ‘traitor,’ when talking about Rep. Anthony Gonzalez. Mandel’s tweet also comes just months after Republican rhetoric incited a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol that led to five deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Other candidates in the race have followed Mandel down the rabbit hole of attacking their fellow Republicans. As a reminder, there’s still more than a year before the 2022 primary election, so Ohio voters will have to endure several more months of Republicans ignoring them to go after one another.

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Today, Ohio Democratic Party Vice Chair Andre Washington released the following statement after a Minnesota jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on three counts in the death of George Floyd.

“Today’s verdict isn’t the end of our efforts, it’s a starting point. For too many Ohioans, justice, equality and fairness feel out of reach. We must put the pain we all felt watching this trial into action, and recommit to a fairer, more just Ohio for all.”

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Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters released the following statement after a Minnesota jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on three counts in the death of George Floyd.

“While the jury reached the right decision, no verdict will change the fact that George Floyd should still be alive today. We all have much more work to do in the fight for racial justice and for a fairer legal and criminal justice system. Our hearts are with Mr. Floyd’s family and loved ones, as well as with Ohioans who have been hurting as we watched this trial unfold.”

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Caught in the act, Republicans in Columbus are trying to walk back draft legislation that would implement some of the most extreme attacks on voting rights in the country. Regardless of public posturing, we know some form of new anti-voter legislation is coming, and it’s important to remember: for Columbus Republicans, the radical Georgia election bill is just their starting point.

“Ohio Republicans created the anti-voter playbook for states like Georgia to copy. For years, Republicans in Columbus have attacked Ohioans’ voting rights by implementing some of the most extreme measures in the country. And now that other states are taking notes, GOP lawmakers refuse to be outdone. Once again, we know Ohio will be on the forefront of the fight to protect voting rights and our work to protect Ohioans’ right to vote is more important than ever,” said Malik Hubbard, Executive Director of the Ohio Democratic Party.

While the Georgia election law was widely panned as a radical effort to attack voting rights, many of those provisions are already the law of the land in Ohio. For example:

• Georgia’s voting law reduces the absentee voting period from 49 days to 29 days prior to the election. Ohio’s absentee voting period is already limited to less than one month prior to Election Day.
• Georgia lawmakers placed severe limits on dropboxes, but still allows for more than one dropbox per county. Frank LaRose has prohibited counties from installing more than one dropbox per county.
• The Georgia voting law gets rid of signature match requirements, Ohio still rejects ballots due to the questionable and subjective practice of signature matching.
• Georgia is now requiring voters to submit a driver’s license number or other ID number to cast an absentee ballot, joining Ohio as only one of four states that require voters to do so.

In addition, Columbus Republicans eliminated Golden Week in 2014, a week in which voters could register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time. And LaRose continues to purge a huge number of voters from the voting rolls, even after major errors in the system were discovered.

As a reminder, all of these provisions are solutions in search of a problem as even Republican Jon Husted admitted, as he reported that only 153 “irregularities” were found during Ohio’s 2016 election out of 5.6 million ballots cast. That represents .00002% of ballots cast.

This week in #OHSen, we saw a fundraising scandal, outsourced campaign footage from Russia and Ukraine and intra-party sniping over donations to a fellow Ohio Republican. And with more phony populists reportedly set to enter the race, the already messy Republican Senate primary is sure to get messier from here.

Here’s a recap of Ohio Republicans’ rough week:

Josh Mandel Gotta Josh Mandel

• Josh Mandel is so extreme and unappealing as a candidate that even loyal donors of his own party don’t want to associate with him. Axios reported over the weekend that Mandel was kicked out of a Republican National Committee event in Florida after showing up uninvited. While Mandel portrays himself as ‘anti-establishment,’ he’s so desperate to win the approval of Republican mega-donors, he’s willing to try and crash their parties — and get kicked out in the process. Read more HERE.
• Days after he was kicked out of the GOP fundraising event, Josh then turned to the donor base he knows best — donors with shady records surrounded by criminal allegations. The Toledo Blade reported that Mandel is hosting a fundraiser with Jeff Anstead, whose company faces a multi-million dollar fine for reportedly defrauding a federal program that helps Americans afford telephone and internet service. Read more HERE.

Mike Gibbons Outsources the American Dream

• Republican Senate candidate Mike Gibbons kicked off his campaign this week promising to run a different kind of campaign. Apparently, that includes using stock footage from Russia and Ukraine in his announcement video while trying to claim he’s fighting for the American dream. While Ohio offers several idyllic backdrops — Russia, Ohio is a good option — Gibbons chose to outsource campaign footage, which raises questions about what else Gibbons would be willing to outsource out of Ohio. Read more HERE.

Jane Timken Lies about Kasich Donation

• Despite telling a radio show host that she ‘never donated or supported his (Kasich’s) presidential campaign,’ campaign finance reports reveal that Jane Timken and her husband both donated the maximum amount to Kasich 2016 presidential campaign. This set off a firestorm among Republican Senate candidates, as they eviscerated Timken for…donating to another Ohio Republican. Read more HERE.

Bernie Moreno Tries to Backtrack Trump Criticisms

• Henry Gomez of NBC News reports that Republican candidate Bernie Moreno once called Trump a ‘lunatic’ and ‘maniac.’ The reporting comes as Moreno tries to outflank the other Republican candidates trying to claim the Trump mantle, each seemingly more interested in Trump’s endorsement than the endorsement of the voters of Ohio. The story inevitably led to more intra-party sniping, with Moreno’s camp attempting to throw Jane Timken’s campaign under the bus in response to questions from reporters. Read more HERE.

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