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December 17, 2021

Happy Friday, and welcome to “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic and expensive Republican primary for Senate. This out-of-control primary is making conservatives “deeply worried” about the prospects of Republicans losing this seat.

As the Republican Senate primary continues to sink lower and lower, these GOP candidates are injecting even more nasty personal attacks, more chaos and more money into this race. We’re here to help you keep track of all of it.

Two new reports this month showed just how nasty this race has gotten. WVXU’s Howard Wilkinson said this GOP Senate primary may be “Ohio’s ugliest ever.” And Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser said that “the showdown is fast becoming the most expensive and ugly GOP Senate contest.” 

Here’s what you may have missed:

AN UNFORGIVABLE DEMOCRAT. On the Mark Levin Show, Mandel went after J.D. Vance for his political transformation on Trump, saying, “The fact that my opponent J.D. Vance did that and refused to vote for President Trump, it’s just unforgivable.” Mandel then said J.D. Vance should be running on the Democratic ticket. In a race that’s all about Trump (with attack ads airing highlighting Vance’s anti-Trump past), this issue isn’t going away any time soon.

A FAILED, FLAILING RINO. Following Mike Gibbons’ ad saying J.D. Vance is on the wrong team for his anti-Trump past, Vance’s campaign responded in an email to their supporters. The email says, “Another day, another RINO attack against JD Vance. This time, it’s already-failed-candidate, Mike Gibbons…Now, Gibbons is running another flailing campaign where he is failing to gain any traction among Ohio Patriots.” It’s hard to keep track of who’s a RINO in this race because it seems like everyone!

“A BUNCH OF WEALTHY PEOPLE.” Josh Mandel (a millionaire) went after other GOP Senate candidates in an interview with Mark Levin, saying he is running against a bunch of wealthy people. Mandel has a point, the Republican primary does have a large number of self-funding millionaires with “eye-popping” amounts of money in their financial disclosures. In typical Mandel fashion, he forgot to include himself. Mandel is an out-of-touch millionaire who serves on corporate boards, fitting right in with the rest of the field!

MORENO VERSUS HIMSELF. Chris Pack, a consultant for Matt Dolan (why?), went after Bernie Moreno (who?) for changing his position on whether the 2020 election was stolen. Moreno apparently forgot there are tweets out there of him saying “accept the results” and “now is the time for unity.” Pack said, “We’ve seemingly entered the ‘Bernie Moreno vs. himself’ phase” of the Ohio Senate race. Well, everyone in this race is a phony calling each other a phony so why can’t Dolan get in on the fun?

Thanks for reading along – that’s all for the Buckeye Brawl this week. If you have questions, my email is [email protected]. Have a great weekend!

For Immediate Release:

Friday, December 17, 2021

Columbus, OH — In what’s become a pattern for Mike DeWine, he’s once again hiding and dodging any accountability to Ohio voters, this time by trying to dictate to the Ohio press corps what questions they’re allowed to ask. Ahead of a press conference today, DeWine is demanding reporters covering his press conference this morning submit their questions ahead of time, showing how scared he really is to take accountability and answer questions about the real issues impacting Ohio.

It’s only the latest example of DeWine dodging accountability as he’s spent the last year trying to ‘no comment’ his way out of the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history and refusing to tell Ohioans what he knew about the scandal and when.

“Mike DeWine once again thinks he’s above the rules and doesn’t need to bother lowering himself to answering questions about the issues Ohio voters care about. A free press is fundamental to our democracy and for Mike DeWine to try to control what questions reporters ask and when shows how little respect he has for Ohioans and the media asking questions on their behalf, ” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

In case you were wondering, Ohio’s press corps has taken notice:

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  December 13, 2021

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:

THE NAUGHTY LIST. For the second time in under a month, legal documents have raised more questions about Mike DeWine’s connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history. Last Thursday, a new document was released seeking any correspondence between DeWine and dark money groups, raising further questions about what DeWine and his administration knew about the scandal and when.

A CHANGE OF HEART.  Mike DeWine has been busy the last few weeks, traveling the state to claim credit for funding he opposed. All last week, DeWine shamelessly traveled the state to tout funding for Ohio communities that was secured through the legislation achieved only with Democratic support. Legislation which, by the way, DeWine himself has been on record opposing. While we’re glad Mike DeWine has finally figured out how positive the American Rescue Plan is for Ohio, we’d like him to at least give credit where credit is due. Mike DeWine is losing political support by the day and is desperate to remain relevant to Ohio voters, even if it means he has to use victories secured by Democrats to do it.

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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Columbus, OH — According to a new report from the Review Times, the GOP Senate primary is going to be a “record-breaker” and an “arms race” based on the millionaire candidates’ access to huge sums of money. 

This follows a report from Fox News saying “the showdown is fast becoming the most expensive and ugly GOP Senate contest in next year’s midterms.” Last week, WVXU’s Howard Wilkinson argued the GOP Senate primary has “descended into meanness and pettiness and just plain craziness unlike anything ever seen in Ohio Republican politics.”

“With five months and well-stocked war chests, the out-of-touch GOP millionaires running for Senate are doing everything they can to ensure a nasty and expensive primary. They are ignoring hardworking Ohioans as they ramp up their attacks against each other,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Review Times: Money flows fast in race for Senate seat

Denise Grant

December 9, 2021 

• With campaign spending in the race for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022 expected to break records, Ohioans should brace for a bombardment of political advertising — and soon.
• “Part of this is going to be an arms race. There will be money spent because others are spending money. Expect it to be a record-breaking campaign,” said David Niven, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati. “It would be shocking if it wasn’t a record-breaker, given the level of competitiveness. It’s a nationalized race with candidates who have unusual access to money.”
• That “unusual access” to money Niven referenced includes the personal wealth and political connections of Republican candidates like Jane Timken, but also the support of super PACs (political action committees). A PAC can raise money and donate it directly to candidates, but donation levels are capped. Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money during an election season, but are restricted from donating directly to a candidate’s campaign.
• Meanwhile, two Super PACs supporting Republican candidate Josh Mandel launched a $1 million ad campaign attacking J.D. Vance, another registered candidate for the 2022 Republican primary election. The ads take Vance to task for being a “flip-flop flipper” in his support of former President Donald Trump. The ads highlight incidents of Vance calling Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible” and “noxious.”
• But Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” isn’t running empty-handed, either. His super PAC received a $10 million donation from billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder who sits on the board of directors for Facebook. Niven said Vance’s venture capitalist ties could cause the cost of the race to skyrocket.
• “Venture capitalists are used to spending millions on millions of dollars. Those political connections from outside Ohio will open up spigots of money at every level,” he said.

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For Immediate Release:

Friday, December 10, 2021

Columbus, OH — Mike DeWine is losing political support by the day and is desperate to remain relevant to Ohio voters, even if it means he has to use victories secured by Democrats to do it.

All this week, DeWine has shamelessly traveled the state to tout funding for Ohio communities that was secured through the American Rescue Plan that was achieved only with Democratic support and that DeWine himself has been on record opposing. Ohio media is calling DeWine out for his hypocrisy, as he desperately tries to cling onto political relevance in a state where his numbers seem to drop by the day.

“While we’re glad Mike DeWine has finally figured out how positive the American Rescue Plan is for Ohio, we’d like him to at least give credit where credit is due. This funding was only possible because of Democratic leadership, and would not have been signed into law if DeWine had his way. Mike DeWine’s road show this week was an embarrassingly desperate attempt to remain relevant with voters who stopped supporting him long ago, ” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

Read more about what they’re saying about DeWine’s flip flop below:

Cleveland.com: Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Republicans tout spending from Democrats’ federal coronavirus aid law opposed by GOP

Jeremy Pelzer

“Gov. Mike DeWine, who’s facing re-election next year, has spent a lot of time this week publicizing proposals to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on grants for first-responders and water projects.

“But what the Greene County Republican neglects to mention when making these proposals is that the money is coming from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, a coronavirus relief bill passed by Democrats last spring over criticism from Republicans — including DeWine himself.

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“On Monday, DeWine staged a Statehouse press conference to propose giving another $250 million in ARPA money to provide grants to help police and other first responders.

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“DeWine also scheduled several media events around the state on Wednesday to publicize water-project grants funded by ARPA dollars.

“But back in March, shortly after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion federal relief package, DeWine — a former U.S. senator — said he would not have voted for the American Rescue Plan Act as it wasn’t bipartisan.

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“Many Republican lawmakers have also sought to take credit for the benefits brought by the American Rescue Plan Act without mentioning that no Republicans in Congress voted for the bill.”

The Columbus Dispatch Capitol Insider: Democrats call DeWine a hypocrite for touting federal funding he opposed

Darrel Rowland

“Kissing babies on the campaign trail has pretty much fallen by the wayside, but handing out government funds still works. Especially when it’s other people’s money that you didn’t want in the first place.

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“Gov. Mike DeWine is busy traveling Ohio touting large chunks of Washington’s largess — spending that the governor and other Republicans opposed.

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“The Democratic National Committee’s “war room” called out DeWine and two other GOP governors Wednesday for reaping the political reward when they and all Republicans in Congress opposed President Joe Biden’s stimulus funding earlier this year.”

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