“Guys Who Overcompensate,” “Substance And Show,” And “Washington Wimps”: How Republicans Spent The Week Attacking Their #OHSEN Candidates
February 18, 2022
February 18, 2022
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.
“It’s one of the most crowded and competitive Republican Senate primaries in the 2022 election cycle, and as all but one of the major candidates in Ohio’s GOP showdown spotlight their support for Donald Trump in hopes of earning the former president’s endorsement, the race has turned increasingly combustible.” –Fox News, 2/17/22
Here’s what you may have missed:
OVERCOMPENSATE. Channeling Marco Rubio’s failed 2016 presidential bid, Jane Timken says in a new attack ad, “We all know guys who overcompensate for their inadequacies, and that description fits the guys in the Senate race to a T.” It’s a new line of attack from Timken, whose attacks on her opponents for not being pro-Trump enough (while ignoring how she flip-flopped on January 6th and supported a pro-impeachment congressman) have left her stalled toward the bottom of the pack. Hey, anything to try to compensate for your vastly inadequate campaign though!
CRYPTO FIGHTS. In between trying to convince Ohio voters that he’s “like any normal person,” Silicon Valley Vance went after Josh Mandel for being the type of politician who only says something to get them on TV or elected. I guess Vance has completely forgotten his stunts, including admitting that he only decided to “just suck it up” and support Trump in order to – you guessed it – get himself elected. He laughed at Mandel being the “Bitcoin candidate” and said, “We have to elect politicians who are more interested in substance and not on show.” Proving just how deep in JD’s head Mandel is living, he didn’t stop there, adding, “What’s so funny about the Bitcoin thing is, you know Josh Mandel says he’s the world’s biggest fan of Bitcoin, the only candidate in the race who owns Bitcoin. Josh Mandel loves Bitcoin so much, he owns zero dollars worth of Bitcoin, right? That goes back to substance and show. Somebody talks a lot and somebody who actually knows how it works. I’m the guy who knows how it works.” Finally, we get to see Silicon Valley Vance in his most authentic form: the kind of guy who would take time out of a busy campaign schedule to explain Bitcoin to you unprompted!
WASHINGTON WIMPS. According to the Washington Examiner, Mike Gibbons unleashed a new attack ad against Timken and Vance, calling them both “Washington Wimps.” The ad goes after Vance for his anti-Trump past and Timken for supporting a congressman who voted to impeach Donald Trump. This is Gibbons’ second attack ad against Vance. Last year, he ran an attack ad saying that J.D. Vance is a RINO and plays for the wrong team. As a reminder, Gibbons donated to Carly Fiorina (why?), John Kasich (uh-oh), and Marco Rubio (woof). Nice try, Mike, but it’s phony.
PAGING PORTMAN. Following Trump skeptic Rob Portman’s endorsement of Jane Timken, Vance reacted by saying he wasn’t surprised considering Timken is a moderate like Senator Portman. Ouch! Vance went on to insult Portman and say he’s failed on trade. On Bannon’s War Room, Josh Mandel was asked to react to the endorsement and said that Timken is the “antithesis of MAGA” and the “antithesis of America First.” Meanwhile, Gibbons consultant Mike Biundo tweeted, “@RandPaul is a > endorsement than Portman. He just is. Jane is flailing, desperate, & losing – so she is moving into the Dolan lane out of desperation.” To prove that they’re Definitely Not Mad About It, Gibbons’ campaign also made the wise strategic decision to shop oppo to reporters on Portman (you know, the U.S. senator they’re spending millions to replace who isn’t on the ballot). Seems like a great use of time and resources with less than 3 months to go until the primary!
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!