Uncategorized

September 17, 2021

Happy Friday and welcome to the inaugural edition of “Buckeye Brawl,” a weekly newsletter from the Ohio Democratic Party highlighting the nasty, chaotic, and expensive Republican primary for Senate. The 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. Here’s what you may have missed: 

VANCE UNMASKED. Josh Mandel unmasked J.D. Vance’s past by attacking his old tweets calling for “mak[ing] everyone wear masks.” Mandel tweeted, “JD Vance was for mask mandates before he was against them. The only thing that changed in between was that he decided to run for office.” He also called Vance a “phony RINO” for flip-flopping on masks to further his political career. 

COVID FOR EVERYBODY? In an interview with Spectrum News, Bernie Moreno took a swipe at Mandel, Vance, and Timken, saying, “There are people in my race, and you know who they are, and they get a lot of attention, that want it to be about carelessness let’s spread this virus it’s great, COVID for everybody. Obviously, that’s insanely stupid.”  

VANCE’S SHAM OPIOID NON-PROFIT. Reacting to a Business Insider investigation that Vance founded a sham non-profit to boost his political career, Mike Gibbons’ Senior Advisor Michael Biundo tweeted that Vance is “is about as authentic as a $3.00 bill.” Mandel also attacked Vance on his sham non-profit, saying, “Step 1: Abandon hometown Step 2: Profit off of crapping on hometown and calling people from there racists Step 3: Return from silicon valley to start nonprofit to ‘save’ hometown from opioids Step 4: Take the money from the nonprofit and instead use it for political campaign.”

CELEBRITIES AND TWITTER WARS. Jane Timken side-swiped her keyboard warrior rivals Josh Mandel and J.D. Vance at a campaign event, saying, “I’m not running on celebrity or social media or Twitter wars. This is about the fundamentals and doing what’s right for the country.”    

CHEAP TALK. Mandel retweeted Matthew Tyrmand, who accused Vance of “palling around with the Democratic establishment for years,” referring to Vance traveling around on a bus tour with President Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain to promote his book, Hillbilly Elegy. Tyrmand’s tweet goes on to attack Vance, saying, “Taking their money, bashing Trump voters as racist bigots alongside them, wine & cheese in Aspen, the works. Always watch what people do NOT what they say. Talk is cheap & he has proved that if nothing else.”

THE SILICON VALLEY/HOLLYWOOD CANDIDATE. Mandel bashed Vance’s Big Tech and Hollywood connections in an interview with Ben Shapiro, saying, “I think if the election were held today in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Wall Street or DC, I think JD Vance would run away with it. But if the election was held today in Ohio, he’d get destroyed, because Ohioans are not buying what he’s selling…They see him as a total phony and a total fraud.”   

NOBODY LOOKING OUT FOR “NORMAL PEOPLE.” When asked why he decided to run for Senate, Vance took a veiled swing at the entire Republican field, saying that he was looking out for “normal people” and “didn’t see anybody else in this race who I thought was standing up for people in the way I thought I could.” With the entire field of GOP candidates made up of out-of-touch millionaires (Vance included), it’s true that none of these politicians are looking out for working Ohioans.

WHO’S THE TRUMPIEST OF THEM ALL? Mandel tweeted that it was an “eternal truth” that “J.D. Vance is a Never Trumper.” In an interview with Ben Shapiro, Mandel attacked Timken’s past defense of Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, saying, “One of the other people running against me, Jane Timken. She defended the impeachment against Donald Trump. She called it rational. She was asked how she would go down and she said she didn’t know.” Mike Gibbons Senior Advisor Michael Biundo took a swipe at J.D. Vance, quipping in response to a J.D. Vance tweet about what got him interested in politics, “It wasn’t your hatred of Donald Trump? Hmm.”

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! 

Mike DeWine Thinks Following the Constitution is Too Much Work, Would Rather ‘Get It Over With and Move On’ Instead

Columbus, OH — This week, Republicans Mike DeWine and Frank LaRose once again showed their true colors as they both admitted the gerrymandered ‘maps’ passed by the GOP-controlled Redistricting Commission may be unconstitutional and then turned around and voted for them anyway. Because for DeWine and LaRose, political ambition always comes first, while the needs of the voters and the Constitution they both swore to support always come up short.

Both LaRose and DeWine are scared of primary challengers and know they are hemorrhaging support within their own party. So instead of showing any sort of courage and doing the right thing, they backed down once again to extreme members of their party (read: the Republican legislature) at the expense of the rule of law.

“Political cowardice runs rampant through the Republican Party these days, but Mike DeWine and Frank LaRose seem to be taking it to a whole different level. If these politicians don’t have the courage or the strength to do their jobs and stand up for what’s right, they shouldn’t have the jobs in the first place,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

DeWine’s vote is particularly ironic given that he claims he’s powerless to implement a mask mandate for schools in the face of an ultra-radical Republican legislature. Yet, rather than take any sort of stand for fair representation that would address the extremism in the Republican Party, he backed down once again, saying he’d rather ‘get it over with and move on’ than do his actual job.

LaRose laughingly claimed that ‘unnamed members of the commission’ didn’t work in good faith to pass a bipartisan map, something he must have said while walking past a mirror. The GOP-controlled commission had a responsibility under the Constitution to pass maps that provided fair representation, yet LaRose shirked his responsibility and caved to political pressure once again. Not the kind of leadership Ohioans are looking for from the guy who’s supposed to protect the integrity of elections and voting.

###

Columbus, OH — Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement after Republicans flouted the Constitution, spat in the face of Ohio voters and once again put their own political interests over the needs of our state by passing purely partisan 4-year maps that statehouse Republicans used to choose their voters rather than the other way around.

“These Republican maps are an embarrassingly transparent partisan ploy to once again serve the needs of GOP politicians and special interests at the expense of the needs of Ohio voters. These maps will take our state even further backward in the fight for quality education, equal voting rights and an economy that rewards workers. It’s unacceptable that GOP politicians once again put their party above the will of the voters and the needs of working families in Ohio,” said Chair Walters.

###

Columbus, OH — The Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement as the third round of payments for working families in Ohio goes out today, thanks to the expansion of the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan. Democrats passed the middle-class tax cut in the Rescue Plan as a way to put more money in the pockets of working families as we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Every Ohio Republican in Congress voted against the tax cut.  

“Today, working families in Ohio can once again breathe a sigh of relief as the middle-class tax cut hits their bank accounts, thanks to Democratic leadership. We know that these payments are helping families make ends meet and are an important tool for our economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. While Democrats are fighting for working families, every Republican is opposed to this tax cut, once again showing Ohio voters who’s on their side,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. 

Because of the work of Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ohio’s Democratic congressional delegation, most Ohio families will receive monthly payments of up to $300 until the end of the year and the remainder of the tax credit will be dispersed next year. Eligible parents will receive a $3,000 credit in total for every child aged 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under age 6 (up from $2,000 per dependent child up to age 16 previously).

The tax cut will benefit more than 90 percent of families across the state and provide working families with the resources they need to take care of their kids and their families. Not a single Republican voted for the tax cut, included in the American Rescue Plan along with funding for vaccine distribution and small businesses. 

###

ODP Chair Walters Stood with Rural Ohio Leaders to Discuss Ways Democrats are Delivering for Working Families while Republicans Leave them Behind

Columbus, OH — Last week, the Ohio Democratic Party hosted a ‘Democrats Deliver’ tour in rural communities across the state to outline the ways Democrats are delivering for working families in every corner of Ohio as Republicans oppose these efforts every step of the way. The tour included stops in Fremont, Athens and Steubenville.

Thanks to Ohio Democrats, the American Rescue Plan is helping rural Ohio to recover from the pandemic and rebuild their economies. Every Ohio Republican in Congress and running for Senate would have voted against the American Rescue Plan, which included $1,400 checks for most Ohioans, a massive tax credit to help working families raise their children, and funding millions of dollars for rural health centers.

And while Ohio Republicans have been too busy defending their political careers to care about rural Ohio, Democrats have been laser-focused on delivering much-needed infrastructure investments to improve our roads, bridges, water pipes, and high-speed internet.

Read more coverage of the ‘Democrats Deliver’ tour below:

Fremont News-Messenger: Ohio Democrats tout infrastructure bill, hold forum in Fremont

Daniel Carson

“A proposed federal infrastructure bill could bring millions of dollars to Northwest Ohio for roads, bridges, broadband and a number of local infrastructure needs.

“Democratic city officials and regional labor leaders discussed the bill’s potential ramifications Tuesday in Fremont at a roundtable discussion hosted by Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters.

…

“Walters is traveling throughout the state this week as part of a ‘Democrats Deliver’ tour designed to reach out to communities like Fremont, tout recent Democratic legislative successes in Congress, and hear from residents on how the proposed federal infrastructure bill and other initiatives can help the state’s rural areas.”

…

“Eric Kahle, business manager at Toledo-based Ironworkers Local 55, said he hoped to see a lot of work done on the region’s railways and roads as a result of the infrastructure bill, as well as boosting industries such as warehousing.

‘“That’s where the focus needs to be, on creating sustainable jobs,’ Kahle said.”

Athens Messenger: Ohio Dem Party Chair Elizabeth Walters makes stop in Athens

Alex Hulvalchick

“From the stimulus checks and child tax credit to the American Rescue Plan, Democratic leaders have been working to get money back into the pockets of rural Americans, according to Walters.

…

“Athens City Councilmember Sarah Grace said that by coming to Athens, Walters is keeping the promise of the Democratic Party to not leave rural America behind, saying that ‘Thanks to Democratic leadership, there has been substantial progress for families right here in our community.”’

…

‘“One thing everybody has in common, whether you’re Republican or Democrat, we drive on the roads. We cross the bridges. We get on the internet.’ said Linscott.

“In order to compete with other countries like China, we need to improve our infrastructure, according to Linscott.”

Scioto Valley Guardian: Ohio Dems holding “Deliver” tour in Athens today

“Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters and the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) (held) a press conference at Armory Park in Athens with local leaders, including Athens City Councilmember Sarah Grace and local labor leader Ted Linscott. The press event is part of ODP’s ‘Democrats Deliver’ tour, which will make stops in rural communities across the state to outline the ways Democrats are delivering for working families in every corner of Ohio as Republicans oppose these efforts every step of the way.”

Steubenville-Herald Star: Walters touts infrastructure

Linda Harris

“Ohio Democratic Chair Elizabeth Walters was in Steubenville Friday to tout infrastructure investments aimed at revitalizing communities and creating high-paying jobs, saying the party is ‘laser-focused’ on creating opportunities for working families.

“Walters said the proposed $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill ‘will be the largest infrastructure investment in history.’

…

“The American Rescue Plan, likewise, will pump millions into communities across the state and nation for infrastructure and education upgrades. She pointed out ‘Republicans all across Ohio’ were opposed to it.

…

‘“You didn’t hear them say one word when they were giving back to the rich,’ Jefferson County Commissioner Tom Graham interjected. ‘Now when we’re putting money in the hands (of the working people), they’re talking about the deficit.

“Jefferson County Democratic (Vice) Chairman Eileen Krupinski said Republicans didn’t support the stimulus checks that put $1,400 in the pockets of voters during the pandemic, either, ‘but they’re all taking credit for it.’”

###