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Columbus, OH — The Ohio Republican Senate primary is one of the most expensive races in the country. The crowded primary is “unprecedented,” “expected to break records,” and “one of the costliest elections in America.” 

An expensive primary with five well-funded candidates could mean a long, protracted primary fight that forces candidates to extreme positions and hobbles the eventual Republican nominee. Without any records to be proud of, the out-of-touch millionaires have already descended into personal and nasty attacks that will spotlight each of the candidates’ individual weaknesses that could carry over into the general election. 

Here’s what they’re saying: 

• Review Times: “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.”
• David Niven, Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati: “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.”
• Fox News: “The showdown is fast becoming the most expensive and ugly GOP Senate contest in next year’s midterms.”
• Wall Street Journal: “Each has the means to assemble a fully loaded war chest for the primary battle. In interviews, all five said they expected to raise—from individual contributions or their own bank accounts—the $10 million that political operatives estimate a successful primary contest would cost…That would give them all the ability to pitch to the two million Republican voters in the state’s 12 media markets. A primary with so many well-funded candidates would be unprecedented, political operatives said.”
• Cleveland.com: “Thanks to a rare mix of factors – an open seat, several independently wealthy candidates funding their campaigns and one billionaire super donor — Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate primary stands out as one of the costliest elections in America.”
• NBC News: “Nearly all of the ad spending has been on the Republican side, thanks to a crowded Republican primary to replace Portman.”
• Axios: “The race is expected to be one of the most expensive in the country, during a midterm cycle that will likely break election spending records.” 
• Roll Call: “The open Senate race in Ohio has attracted the most self-funders so far, with five Republicans putting in their own money to bolster their campaigns.”
• Politico: “Former President Donald Trump has yet to issue an endorsement in the race, which has featured messy attacks and high-dollar outside super PAC spending.”

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  December 20, 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:

RECUSAL WOES. Pat DeWine is once again picking and choosing when he wants to rule on cases involving his dad or not, playing politics with the highest court in Ohio. Last week, Pat DeWine, refused to hear arguments or rule on a case closing last week involving the state’s “Vax-A-Million” COVID vaccine lottery. The reason? His father was one of the defendants. Yet, hearing a case involving your dad and other Republicans blatantly shoving political power towards themselves through gerrymandered district maps is perfectly “ethical?” Ok, Pat.

DODGING DEWINE. Mike DeWine is 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 Friday morning DeWine demanded reporters 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.

Thanks for catching up with us, that’s all the Mike Check we’ve got for this week. We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday season! If you have questions my email is [email protected]. Have a great week!

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Columbus, OH — According to a new Salon report, U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance has heavily criticized Walmart for undermining American jobs while being personally invested in the company. 

Vance went after Walmart for using “slave labor” but according to Vance’s personal financial disclosure, he owns between $50,000 and $100,000 in Walmart stock. Vance also participated in a “fireside chat” with a Walmart executive in 2017. This adds to a long list of saying one thing and doing another from Vance, from criticizing Big Tech while deriving a “great deal” of his income from Big Tech-related ventures to promising to address Ohio’s opioid crisis but creating a nonprofit that was nothing more than a vanity project to boost his own political ambitions and enrich his political cronies. 

“With his continued investment in a company that outsourced jobs to China, Silicon Valley Vance shows his top priority is looking out for his own bottom line, not Ohio workers. Ohioans know the last thing they need is another out-of-touch millionaire who only looks out for his own financial interest, not theirs,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Salon: Ohio candidate J.D. Vance calls out Walmart for “slave labor” — and heavily invests in its stock

Igor Derysh 

December 17, 2021 

• Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance has accused Walmart of using “slave labor” to make cheap products that undermine American jobs. But his latest personal financial disclosure shows he owns at least $50,000 in Walmart stock.
• Vance, who made a fortune as a venture capitalist before writing the best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy,” submitted his personal financial disclosure last month after missing the original filing deadline. It indicates that he owns between $50,000 and $100,000 in Walmart stock. (Such disclosure forms list ranges, rather than precise amounts.)
• Vance also participated in a 2017 “fireside chat” with Walmart executive Daniel Eckert to discuss business issues as well as the “populist movement” that “propelled Donald Trump into the presidency.”
• Now that he is seeking the Republican nomination for an open Ohio Senate seat — and hoping to land former President Donald Trump’s endorsement — Vance has taken to criticizing the company and its reliance on China, which has become a popular GOP target.
• During an event in Dover, Ohio, in October, Vance blamed politicians from both parties for shipping “a lot of our manufacturing base off to China.”
• “The thought was we get a lot of cheap stuff in return,” he said. “They make it more cheaply because they were relying on slave labor. So maybe you go to Walmart and things don’t cost as much. But in the process, a lot of middle-class people lost those good jobs that enabled them to support them.”
• Vance reiterated his belief that Walmart relies on slave labor in an interview with conservative commentator Buck Sexton, accusing the company of using diversity and inclusion programs to distract from the issue.
• “Who cares if you are employing Chinese slaves? Who cares if you are benefiting from the Communist Chinese Party’s slave labor?” he said. “So long as you are properly woke, so long as you teach diversity, equity and inclusion at your workplace, you won’t face any scrutiny, you won’t face any consequences.”
• Walmart has faced allegations that it uses slave labor for years. The company says it has taken steps to address forced labor and ensure compliance with its responsible sourcing policies.
• During an appearance in Youngstown last month, Vance argued that a “bunch of idiot leaders” decided to ship middle-class American jobs to China and “countries that hate us” in return for “a lot of cheap plastic garbage at Walmart.”
• This has been a theme of his Ohio campaign since he announced his candidacy in July, arguing in an op-ed that American leaders had made the indefensible choice that Americans should “be able to buy cheaper consumer goods at Walmart instead of having access to a good job.”
• On that issue, he has a point. An analysis by the progressive Economic Policy Institute found that Walmart’s outsourcing to companies in China may have eliminated 400,000 jobs between 2001 and 2013. But in none of his campaign speeches or appearances has Vance disclosed that he is an investor in the company he accuses of killing American jobs and relying on “slave labor.” A spokesman for Vance did not respond to questions from Salon.
• Vance has also drawn accusations of hypocrisy over his campaign against Big Tech, which he has accused of censoring conservatives, since he has spent years investing in tech startups at his venture capital firm Narya and before that at Mithril Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, a Facebook board member.
• On the campaign trail, Vance has also tied himself in knots trying to reposition himself as a pro-Trump Republican after repeatedly bashing the former president over the past several years before deciding to run for office himself. Vance in 2016 said he could not “stomach Trump” and said his policy proposals “range from immoral to absurd.” He now says he has had a change of heart and has ventured on something of an apology tour, even tagging along with Thiel — a major Trump donor who has sunk $10 million in Vance’s campaign — on a trip to Mar-a-Lago seeking an audience with Trump.
• Vance’s campaign is also backed by the billionaire investors Robert and Rebekah Mercer, who helped fund Trump’s 2016 campaign and financially backed many of the players involved in stoking Trump’s election lies and the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

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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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