Have They No Shame?
July 5, 2021
Columbus, OH — Just when you think things can’t get worse for GOP Senate candidates in Ohio, they find new and creative ways to sink lower, turn off voters in Ohio and embarrass our state on a national stage. This week, Republican candidates were widely mocked and criticized for their desperate attempts to try and get Trump’s attention at the expense of Ohio voters.
And now, with the entrance of J.D. Vance into the race, an already chaotic primary is only going to get more desperate, messy and embarrassing from here.
“Every week, these GOP candidates sink lower and lower in a desperate attempt to serve their own interests rather than the interests of the Ohio voter. They’re no longer just embarrassing themselves, they’re embarrassing our state and Ohio voters deserve better,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.
Read more below:
Seth Richardson, 6/27/2021
“The Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Ohio have been falling over themselves to cozy up to former President Donald Trump for months. On Saturday, they finally got their wish to do so in public, though without the payoff they likely dreamed of. Yet, in the end, Gibbons, Timken, former Treasurer Josh Mandel and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno barely got a passing mention near the end of Trump’s speech. Cincinnati venture capitalist J.D. Vance – a former critic of Trump’s who has since shifted his views and is expected to announce his entry into the race this week – didn’t get a mention.”
WVXU: Commentary: Ohio GOP Senate Candidates Can’t Get The Time Of Day From Trump
Howard Wilkinson, 6/30/2021
“The fact is that neither Trump nor the people who came to the fairgrounds had any real interest in the Senate candidates – despite Timken’s campaign flying a plane over the fairgrounds with the message ‘Ohio is Trump Country’ and her campaign website address, and Gibbons holding a tailgate party at the entrance to the fairgrounds. Nobody cared.”
Sandusky Register: Message for GOP: Stop groveling
Editorial Board, 6/29/2021
“Our candidates should stop this fawning; they should stop embarrassing our state this way. They should stop serving his interests and start serving ours.”
NBC News: Ohio GOP Senate candidates escalate competition for Trump’s favor
Henry Gomez, 6/29/2021
“Though all of the GOP hopefuls have gone out of their way to cozy up to Trump, their claims of loyalty are complicated. Mandel and Timken initially supported others in the 2016 primaries. More recently, Timken defended Gonzalez’s impeachment vote before flip-flopping. Moreno called Trump a ‘maniac’ and ‘lunatic’ early in 2016.
“Vance was also on record criticizing Trump that year and voted for independent Evan McMullin. Gibbons served as a Trump finance co-chair in 2016 but until his 2018 Senate run was not a public-facing politico. In an interview with Jewish Insider last month, Gibbons presented himself as a ‘Trump supporter’ without the ‘cult of personality.’”
J.D. Vance
Jason Williams, 6/30/2021
“There’s a self-righteous vibe emanating from the Vance camp that he’s somehow uniquely qualified to serve in the Senate because he wrote a popular book about Appalachians and regularly goes on Fox News. But Vance’s past comments raise questions about his commitment to Ohio.”
New York Times: J.D. Vance, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author, Is Running for Senate in Ohio
Jeremy Peters, 7/1/2021
“The arc of Mr. Vance’s short time as a quasi-political figure has followed the prevailing mood among Republican office holders since Mr. Trump won in 2016. At first, he was deeply critical of the former president, calling him ‘noxious’ and saying he worried Mr. Trump was ‘leading the white working class to a very dark place.’
“But today Mr. Vance is a prolific tweeter and occasional Fox News guest who has adopted Trumpian culture war language, denouncing ‘wokeness’ and calling for more restrictive immigration policies.
“His Republican opponents have already started dusting off his old anti-Trump statements as a way of suggesting that he is insincere and has lost touch with working-class Ohio.”
Politico: J.D. Vance joins already chaotic Ohio Senate primary
James Arkin, 7/1/2021
“Vance’s long-anticipated entrance amps up what is already a competitive and nasty primary battle that includes a handful of well-funded candidates and no decisive frontrunner.”
CNN: Hillbilly Elegy author enters large, pro-Trump GOP field for Ohio Senate seat
Michael Warren, Dan Merica and Alex Rogers, 7/1/2021
‘“There has never been a Republican primary for statewide office in Ohio this wide open and this chaotic,’ said one Republican strategist familiar with Ohio.”
‘“Their chaos is our opportunity,’ said Liz Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party.”