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Columbus, OH — A new report from Cleveland.com gets every Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate on record trashing the bipartisan infrastructure deal that the senator they’re all vying to replace — Senator Rob Portman — helped to negotiate. The continued infighting among Republicans shows how messy this primary will continue to be as each candidate tries to out-Trump each other in a race to the bottom, leaving Ohio voters and their interests behind. These candidates will go so far as to oppose the legislation, supported by a majority of Americans, that would create good-paying jobs right here in Ohio just to appease Donald Trump and advance their own political agenda. 

“Each of these Republican candidates is only concerned about one job — their own. These candidates would rather play politics than support an infrastructure deal that will create jobs for working Ohioans, invest in Ohio communities and keep our state moving forward. It’s just the latest example of why these Republican politicians can’t be trusted to look out for anyone’s interests but their own,” said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

The bipartisan infrastructure deal would grow Ohio’s businesses by investing in roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband and help us compete with countries like China.

Read more from Cleveland.com HERE and below:

• The leading candidates in Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary all have issued statements trashing the bipartisan infrastructure bill that Portman spent months negotiating and which passed the Senate Tuesday in a 69-30 vote, including support from 19 Republicans. 
• They instead sided with Trump, who had been openly urging Republicans to vote against the bill, warning that Democrats would use it to their advantage at election time.
• Polling has shown the bill to be popular with the American public, with Quinnipiac University finding last week that 65% of respondents supported it, although 54% of Republicans said they opposed it.
• He [Portman] said the bill will bring Ohio $9.8 billion for federal-aid highway assistance, including $483 million of formula funds for bridge replacements, as well as funding for mass transit and broadband internet.
• Portman issued a statement Tuesday with Republican and Democratic senators who led negotiations on the bill describing the legislation in grandiose terms, calling it a “historic victory for the American people” that will “modernize and upgrade our roads, bridges, ports, and other key infrastructure assets.”

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Columbus, OH — Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters released the following statement today following landmark passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the U.S. Senate. President Biden and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown helped negotiate the package, which will create jobs in Ohio and provide critical investments for infrastructure projects around the state:

“While every Ohio Republican running for U.S. Senate opposes this historic plan to create more jobs right here in Ohio, Senator Brown worked to deliver one of the boldest infrastructure plans in our lifetime that will invest in our roads, bridges, clean water, and high-speed internet. The plan will grow our economy and support our local communities while ensuring that no one making less than $400,000 a year will pay more taxes. Yet, Ohio Republicans oppose this plan because they only care about their wealthy corporate special interest donors instead of what is best for working families in Ohio.”

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Toledo Blade Editorial Board today reminded Ohio leaders of their responsibility to listen to the will of Ohio voters and use redistricting to create maps that accurately reflect the political makeup of the state, not ones that serve the political interests of the Republican Party. The Blade editorial points out that Ohio has some of the worst gerrymandered districts in the country, which ‘has very real consequences,’ as radical GOP politicians use the rigged system to push through harmful legislation on issues ranging from healthcare to education to voting rights.

“Ohio voters deserve and have demanded legislative maps that reflect the genuine political diversity in this state. The stakes are high for the new redistricting commission. The deadlines are tight and there will be much scrutiny of their work, but leaders drawing the newest political boundaries must step up and deliver better legislative maps for the state,” writes the Blade.

Ohio has consistently ranked at the top of any list of most gerrymandered states in the nation. And while the Ohio GOP would be more than happy to keep it that way, in both 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to clean up the process and make the districts more reflective of the makeup of Ohio voters.

Ohio’s status as one of the worst gerrymandered states has real consequences for Ohio voters. Despite nearly matching statewide Republican vote totals in 2018, Democrats didn’t win anywhere near a proportional number of seats because of gerrymandered maps. This means that Republicans were able to push through radical legislation almost at-will, without consequences, as Democrats remained in the super minority. And we’ve seen Republicans use this to their advantage to go against the will of Ohio voters on a number of issues, from consistently chipping away at Ohioans’ voting rights to putting public health at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s why the results of the 2021 redistricting commission are so important and why any efforts by Ohio Republicans to move forward on a strictly partisan basis are unacceptable.

Read more from the Blade HERE and below:

• Ohioans have had enough of gerrymandering. We know that because in 2015 and 2018 voters overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments to reform the way the states draws districts both for U.S. Congressional seats as well as seats in the General Assembly.
• That commission is tasked with drawing districts that are compact — not shaped like cartoon creatures — and that do not favor one political party or another. The map, for which the commission must hold public hearings, also must avoid splitting municipalities and counties among districts and must respect minority voting rights.

• Gerrymandering has not only given Ohio nutty-shaped legislative districts, it has intensified polarization and made the state’s representative government less representative. When parties torture the boundaries of districts to make them as politically homogenous as possible, they create a system that favors the most fringe candidates from whichever party is dominant in that district.
• Ohio voters deserve and have demanded legislative maps that reflect the genuine political diversity in this state. The stakes are high for the new redistricting commission. The deadlines are tight and there will be much scrutiny of their work, but leaders drawing the newest political boundaries must step up and deliver better legislative maps for the state.

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A new report from CNN highlights that every Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate is opposed to the bipartisan infrastructure deal — even though Ohio’s own Senator Rob Portman served as a lead negotiator of the deal. The bipartisan infrastructure deal would grow Ohio’s businesses by investing in roads, bridges, public transit, and broadband. 

“While Democrats are working to create jobs and fix Ohio’s infrastructure by investing in our roads, bridges, clean water, and high-speed internet, every Republican running for Senate opposes this plan — even though it’s backed by Senator Portman. These GOP candidates are only looking out for themselves and their wealthy special interest donors, and they don’t care about getting Ohioans back to work, bringing jobs back from overseas, and helping us compete with countries like China that threaten our economy,” said Michael Beyer, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Read more HERE and below:

• The bevy of Ohio Republicans looking to replace the retiring senator in 2022 have a sharply different view. They are roundly criticizing the agreement…aligning themselves squarely with former President Donald Trump who has called on the GOP to oppose the sweeping proposal. 
• In intraparty contests throughout the country, Republican candidates are lining up against the bipartisan deal — and lining up with Trump — reflecting not only the heightened partisanship in American politics but also how primaries incentivize candidates to demonstrate purity to their base voters.
• But Trump has made his position clear, calling the legislation a “loser” for the U.S. — without explaining his rationale. “Don’t do it Republicans — Patriots will never forget! If this deal happens, lots of primaries will be coming your way!” he said in a statement.
• None of the top Ohio GOP candidates — Mandel, a former Ohio Treasurer, former Ohio Republican Party chairwoman Jane Timken, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance and businessmen Bernie Moreno and Mike Gibbons — support the deal.

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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement as the Ohio Redistricting Commission convenes for the first time today.

“Ohio voters have twice overwhelmingly called for redistricting reform and fair representation, because they understand that the issues they care about — jobs, wages, voting rights, and investment in local communities — are on the line. As the Commission convenes today, it must abide by the wishes of Ohioans who have called for change. Any partisan maneuvering that ignores the will of the voters, leaves their interests behind and produces maps similar to the ones we have now is unacceptable,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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