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Columbus, OH — It’s been less than a week since J.D. Vance entered Ohio’s “crowded and nasty” GOP Senate primary and he’s already facing a barrage of brutal headlines. Vance spent the first days of his campaign on a desperate apology tour in an attempt to “disown” old anti-Trump tweets after facing “criticism that he flip-flopped on his support for Donald Trump.”

Vance’s grovelling is par for the course in the messy primary where Republican candidates have been stumbling all over themselves in desperate attempts to secure Donald Trump’s support rather than the support of Ohio voters. His primary rivals have been “quick to highlight their opponent’s past” and in a sign of more attacks to come, Vance warned that the other GOP candidates have “baggage of their own” related to Trump and other issues.

Take a look at what Ohioans are reading about Vance’s desperate attempts to rewrite history:

• Columbus Dispatch: ‘He proved me wrong’: Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance defends past comments on Trump “Other Republican candidates who are eager to secure Trump’s endorsement have been quick to highlight their opponent’s past.”
• WVXU: Analysis: Can J.D. Vance Take – And Pack – A Punch In Senate Race? “‘I don’t think J.D. Vance can take a punch.’”
• Vanity Fair: Sad: J.D. Vance Desperately Tries to Disown Anti-Trump Tweets “After J.D. Vance’s past criticism of Donald Trump began threatening his standing among conservatives last week, the Hillbilly Elegy author turned GOP Senate hopeful took to the former president’s favorite network to beg for forgiveness.”
• Washington Examiner: JD Vance apologizes for criticism of Trump, says he regrets ‘being wrong’
• The Hill: The Memo: ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author binds himself to Trump after past criticism “Those comments have not been enough to quell the storm, however. Tuesday brought new attention to Vance’s record on Trump. There was a Vance column from USA Today in early 2016, in which he wrote that ‘Trump’s actual policy proposals, such as they are, range from immoral to absurd.’”
• Salon: J.D. Vance apologizes for calling Trump “reprehensible” and vowing not to vote for him
• CNN: Senate hopeful J.D. Vance apologizes for criticizing Trump as ‘reprehensible’ in deleted tweets “The knives were out for Vance. […] Last week, Ohio Republicans received anonymous text messages blasting Vance as a ‘Never Trumper.’ [c…] But national conservative movement…has already begun to weaponize Vance’s past statements against him. The Club for Growth’s political action committee, which endorsed Mandel in March, released a statement last week going after Vance.”
• Vice: Sycophant Elegy: JD Vance Grovels to Fox News for Ever Criticizing Trump
• The Guardian: Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance sorry for since-deleted anti-Trump tweets
• POLITICO: J.D. Vance says he regrets since-deleted tweets criticizing Trump “J.D. Vance, the bestselling author and a Republican Senate hopeful, said on Monday that he regretted his since-deleted Twitter posts that criticized Donald Trump, amid accusations of flip-flopping as he vies for a seat in Ohio.”
• The Hill: JD Vance says he regrets past criticism of Trump
• Axios: J.D. Vance addresses deleted tweets slamming Trump: “I regret being wrong” “The venture capitalist and now-vocal Trump supporter has been accused of hypocrisy and ‘flip-flopping’ after CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski last week shared screenshots of the 2016 tweets in which Vance said the then-presidential candidate’s comments on ‘Immigrants, Muslims, etc.’ were ‘reprehensible.’”
• Vice: JD Vance Is Deleting All His Anti-Trump Tweets
• HuffPost: JD Vance’s Ohio Senate Campaign Gets Off To Awkward Start “CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski noted the many tweets Vance has deleted ― like one where he called former President Donald Trump ‘reprehensible’ ― so that Ohio Republicans won’t see them.”

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Columbus, OH — Following more major allegations in a recently-released book by Neil Clark, Mike DeWine owes Ohioans a lot more information on his connections to the largest public corruption scheme in state history. From campaign donations to top-level staff connected to the scandal, DeWine can’t shake his links to the scandal.

DeWine and his team have repeatedly declined to comment on the scandal, including as recently as Friday when his press secretary offered no comment to questions about Clark’s accusations. Today, DeWine offered an insufficient, one-sentence answer when asked about the allegations and has repeatedly refused to say what he knew about the scandal and when.

Here are five questions about DeWine’s connections to the HB 6 scandal that Ohio voters deserve answers to:

1. Were DeWine, Jon Husted or any of DeWine’s top advisors involved in discussions about the HB 6 campaign, including conversations about campaign donations connected to the scheme?
2. Why did DeWine move forward on the appointment of Sam Rendazzo to lead the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio despite concerns raised to Husted and DeWine’s then-chief of staff about Rendazzo’s connections to FirstEnergy?
3. What was discussed at meetings between DeWine, Husted and FirstEnergy executives at an October 2018 Republican fundraiser and a separate sitdown dinner in December 2018?
4. Why did DeWine turn to FirstEnergy to solicit campaign contributions to his daughter’s Greene County prosecutor’s race?
5. Why have DeWine and his team consistently shied away from — or outright refused to answer — questions regarding the scandal?

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Columbus, OH — Just when you think things can’t get worse for GOP Senate candidates in Ohio, they find new and creative ways to sink lower, turn off voters in Ohio and embarrass our state on a national stage. This week, Republican candidates were widely mocked and criticized for their desperate attempts to try and get Trump’s attention at the expense of Ohio voters.

And now, with the entrance of J.D. Vance into the race, an already chaotic primary is only going to get more desperate, messy and embarrassing from here.

“Every week, these GOP candidates sink lower and lower in a desperate attempt to serve their own interests rather than the interests of the Ohio voter. They’re no longer just embarrassing themselves, they’re embarrassing our state and Ohio voters deserve better,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read more below:

Cleveland.com: Donald Trump holds Lorain County rally, but offers little encouragement to 2022 statewide candidates

Seth Richardson, 6/27/2021

“The Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Ohio have been falling over themselves to cozy up to former President Donald Trump for months. On Saturday, they finally got their wish to do so in public, though without the payoff they likely dreamed of. Yet, in the end, Gibbons, Timken, former Treasurer Josh Mandel and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno barely got a passing mention near the end of Trump’s speech. Cincinnati venture capitalist J.D. Vance – a former critic of Trump’s who has since shifted his views and is expected to announce his entry into the race this week – didn’t get a mention.” 

WVXU: Commentary: Ohio GOP Senate Candidates Can’t Get The Time Of Day From Trump

Howard Wilkinson, 6/30/2021

“The fact is that neither Trump nor the people who came to the fairgrounds had any real interest in the Senate candidates – despite Timken’s campaign flying a plane over the fairgrounds with the message ‘Ohio is Trump Country’ and her campaign website address, and Gibbons holding a tailgate party at the entrance to the fairgrounds. Nobody cared.” 

Sandusky Register: Message for GOP: Stop groveling

Editorial Board, 6/29/2021

“Our candidates should stop this fawning; they should stop embarrassing our state this way. They should stop serving his interests and start serving ours.”

NBC News: Ohio GOP Senate candidates escalate competition for Trump’s favor

Henry Gomez, 6/29/2021

“Though all of the GOP hopefuls have gone out of their way to cozy up to Trump, their claims of loyalty are complicated. Mandel and Timken initially supported others in the 2016 primaries. More recently, Timken defended Gonzalez’s impeachment vote before flip-flopping. Moreno called Trump a ‘maniac’ and ‘lunatic’ early in 2016.

“Vance was also on record criticizing Trump that year and voted for independent Evan McMullin. Gibbons served as a Trump finance co-chair in 2016 but until his 2018 Senate run was not a public-facing politico. In an interview with Jewish Insider last month, Gibbons presented himself as a ‘Trump supporter’ without the ‘cult of personality.’”

J.D. Vance

Cincinnati.com: Jason Williams: As J.D. Vance launches U.S. Senate campaign, does ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author still feel ‘out of place’ in Ohio?

Jason Williams, 6/30/2021

“There’s a self-righteous vibe emanating from the Vance camp that he’s somehow uniquely qualified to serve in the Senate because he wrote a popular book about Appalachians and regularly goes on Fox News. But Vance’s past comments raise questions about his commitment to Ohio.”  

New York Times: J.D. Vance, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author, Is Running for Senate in Ohio

Jeremy Peters, 7/1/2021

“The arc of Mr. Vance’s short time as a quasi-political figure has followed the prevailing mood among Republican office holders since Mr. Trump won in 2016. At first, he was deeply critical of the former president, calling him ‘noxious’ and saying he worried Mr. Trump was ‘leading the white working class to a very dark place.’

“But today Mr. Vance is a prolific tweeter and occasional Fox News guest who has adopted Trumpian culture war language, denouncing ‘wokeness’ and calling for more restrictive immigration policies.

“His Republican opponents have already started dusting off his old anti-Trump statements as a way of suggesting that he is insincere and has lost touch with working-class Ohio.”

Politico: J.D. Vance joins already chaotic Ohio Senate primary

James Arkin, 7/1/2021

“Vance’s long-anticipated entrance amps up what is already a competitive and nasty primary battle that includes a handful of well-funded candidates and no decisive frontrunner.”

CNN: Hillbilly Elegy author enters large, pro-Trump GOP field for Ohio Senate seat

Michael Warren, Dan Merica and Alex Rogers, 7/1/2021

‘“There has never been a Republican primary for statewide office in Ohio this wide open and this chaotic,’ said one Republican strategist familiar with Ohio.”

‘“Their chaos is our opportunity,’ said Liz Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party.”  

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Columbus, OH — With the financial backing of Big Tech, J.D. Vance launched his bid for U.S. Senate today, laughingly attempting to rail against the tech billionaires and coastal elites that are steering his campaign, including scandal-ridden Cambridge Analytica co-founder Robert Mercer. Vance is once again trying to use Ohio to further his own interests as he gets set for a campaign that’s sure to be full of hypocrisy and desperate attempts to convince voters he feels their pain.

“J.D. Vance has exploited Ohio for years, and now with the help of his Big Tech backers, he’s taking his sideshow on the road as he tries again to rewrite history. But Vance, the ultimate populist pretender, won’t fool Ohioans who have seen him take advantage of our state for years in order to line his own pockets and the pockets of his billionaire pals,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Vance’s entrance into the race only serves to make a messy Republican primary even messier, as Vance has already faced attacks from his fellow GOP candidates over his past criticisms of Trump. Republican candidates have been stumbling all over themselves in desperate attempts to secure Donald Trump’s support rather than the support of Ohio voters, and Vance will surely be no different. Funded by big-tech billionaires, he’s sure to follow the GOP field to the bottom, launching attacks and spewing vitriol that Ohioans are already tired of hearing.

We’re a year out from the primary and Brent Larkin’s predictions have already come true: “it will be a nasty affair filled with wild accusations, crazed conspiracy theories and enough nauseating and disqualifying embraces of Donald Trump’s lies to make millions of rational Ohioans reach for a barf bag.” 

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Columbus, OH — Today, Cleveland.com previewed a bombshell book by former lobbyist Neil Clark, who was indicted in connection to the HB 6 scandal, that reportedly further connects Mike DeWine and Jon Husted to the corruption scheme. According to the reports, Clark’s book goes into detail about how involved DeWine and Husted were in the coordination of the HB 6 efforts, the way they allegedly worked to secure campaign donations from groups tied to the scandal and highlights the multiple connections the Republicans had to the scandal through their top-level staffers.  

From Cleveland.com: “‘We spent a long time talking about Husted and DeWine and the multiple [nonprofits and businesses] that each of them had access to,’ Clark wrote about the meeting with federal agents. ‘I gave them the names of fund-raisers and major vendors.’” 

As more and more information comes out about the largest corruption scandal in state history, DeWine and Husted find themselves increasingly linked to the alleged scheme that increased the cost of Ohioans’ energy bills in exchange for political and personal favors for Republican politicians. 

“The more we learn about the HB 6 scandal, the biggest corruption scandal in state history, the more we learn about the ways Mike DeWine and Jon Husted have connections to the scheme. DeWine and Husted can’t continue to ‘no comment’ their way out of this scandal. Ohio voters deserve answers and accountability from their top elected officials,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.  

Read more HERE and below: 

• Lobbyist Neil Clark told the FBI that no company “has ever owned as many politicians” as FirstEnergy Corp., adding that its top officials meddled in strategy involving House Bill 6, Clark’s new book says.
• It says he also described how Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, longtime proponents of FirstEnergy, used money from political nonprofits to fill their campaign coffers and shield the donors.
• “I gave [federal agents] enough to fill their gaps and prove my knowledge,” Clark wrote about his meeting with authorities on July 28, 2020, just days after his arrest on a federal racketeering charge. “After 3½ hours, we took a break. I could tell they were happy.”
• Clark questioned how DeWine, the state’s top elected official, could be spared scrutiny in the scandal when so many of his top staffers supported or had worked for FirstEnergy.
• The day after the arrests, DeWine said he supported the policy laid out in the bailout, saying it’s needed to preserve jobs at the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants and keep carbon-free sources of energy. He, however, called the way it was delivered “forever tainted.”
• Even before DeWine stumped for House Bill 6 and later signed it, reporters wrote about the relationship between his office and FirstEnergy.
• “We spent a long time talking about Husted and DeWine and the multiple [nonprofits and businesses] that each of them had access to,” Clark wrote about the meeting with federal agents. “I gave them the names of fund-raisers and major vendors.”
• Clark cited Sam Randazzo as an example of those with close ties to FirstEnergy and DeWine. Clark called Randazzo “the author of HB 6.” Records provided to the FBI in response to a subpoena confirm that, showing Randazzo was involved in writing portions of the bill.
• DeWine chose Randazzo, a utilities lawyer, in 2019 to lead the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. He resigned after federal agents searched his home in November.
• A day after the raid, DeWine appeared to support Randazzo: “I hired him. I think he’s a good person. If there’s evidence to the contrary, then we’ll act accordingly.”
• FirstEnergy has reported that it paid $4 million to an entity tied to a person “appointed to a full-time role as an Ohio government official directly involved in regulating” FirstEnergy in Ohio. In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company did not name the person, but published reports and public records link the payment to Randazzo.

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