“Definition Of A Fraud,” “Too Many RINOs,” And A Millionaire Family Feud: How Republicans Spent The Week Attacking Their #OHSEN Candidates
September 24, 2021
September 24, 2021
Happy Friday and welcome to another 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:
WHAT IF… DOLAN’S ENTRANCE WAS AN ATTACK ON THE ENTIRE FIELD? This crowded primary got even more crowded with the entrance of millionaire Matt Dolan into the GOP Senate primary. In his announcement video, Matt Dolan asks questions that slam the entire field. His video asks, “what if our next Senator didn’t pander about reducing government… but already did it?” Another question Dolan’s announcement video asks is what if Ohio’s next Senator “didn’t offer empty talk about boosting skilled trade…?” Who is Dolan referring to here – J.D. Vance, Josh Mandel, Jane Timken, Mike Gibbons, or Bernie Moreno? Or is he referring to all of them?
MANDEL MOCKS TIMKEN AND VANCE AMID GONZALEZ RETIREMENT. Josh Mandel decided to remind everyone of what Timken and Vance did after Anthony Gonzalez voted to impeach Trump. Josh Mandel skewered Timken, saying she was “pro-impeachment” and “having a candlelight vigil for her bud Anthony Gonzalez.” He mocked Timken, by sarcastically impersonating her, tweeting, “Um, do I need to change my pro-impeachment stance now? Or should I poll it first?”And he lambasted J.D. Vance, claiming Vance had been “completely silent on Gonzalez’s vote to impeach Trump.”
BUT TIMKEN ALLIES SAY JOSH MANDEL IS “THE DEFINITION OF A FRAUD.” Responding to Mandel’s tweet mocking Timken, Timken ally Bernard Kerik flew to her defense, tweeting, “Josh Mandel is the definition of a fraud.” Timken Communications Director Mandi Merritt boosted Kerik’s tweet. Timken ally Kerik wasn’t finished attacking Josh Mandel though, tweeting, “You [Mandel] were anti-Trump then, and faking it today. You need to stop.” Yikes, these candidates can’t stop lambasting each other over who is the Trumpiest candidate.
VANCE SHADES TIMKEN OVER CHINA? In an interview with Spectrum News, J.D. Vance was asked what makes him different from the rest of the crowded Republican Senate field and seems to take a dig at Timken, saying, “So you know, we have for the past 30 years and this has unfortunately been a bipartisan decision, shipped a large amount of our manufacturing base off to China.” As a reminder, Timken’s family steel company grew operations in China while they cut jobs in Ohio.
A “NEVER TRUMPER” FORMER CNN EMPLOYEE. Following a report from CNN, Josh Mandel took the opportunity to go after J.D. Vance, saying “JD Vance’s former employer CNN is attacking me. CNN and J.D. Vance are Never-Trumpers of the worst kind.”
TRUMP DENIGRATES DOLAN ON DAY ONE. Not even a day into his Senate campaign, Dolan found himself on the receiving end of a scathing Trump statement. Trump scorched Dolan for his family’s baseball team changing their name and said, “In any event, I know of at least one person in the race who I won’t be endorsing. The Republican Party has too many RINOs!” Mike Gibbons joined in, slamming Dolan in a tweet, saying, “President Trump is 100% right. Go Tribe!”
MORENO STARTS MILLIONAIRE FAMILY FEUD. Following Trump’s lead, millionaire Bernie Moreno decided to add more salt to Dolan’s wound. Moreno revealed that he offered $1 billion to Matt Dolan’s family in order to prevent the name change of the family’s baseball team. Moreno echoed Trump, saying the name change was a “classic example of the kind of cancel culture woke-ism that’s affecting our nation.” Welcome to the nastiest Senate primary in the country, Matt!
WHO HAS REALLY CREATED JOBS IN THIS FIELD OF MILLIONAIRES? Bernie Moreno swiped at the entire Republican field’s record on job creation, saying, “I’m the only candidate in this race who has a successful track record of creating jobs and putting Ohioans first.” Mike Gibbons Senior Advisor Michael Biundo wasn’t having it and simply replied, “Fact: LOL.” Moreno responded, “Political consultant and Twitter troll: where are most of your client’s employees? Chicago or Cleveland? Maybe you should have asked that question.” I’ll let this terrible GIF response speak for itself.
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!