“Showboaters,” “Trump Warrior,” And “Political Celebrities”: How Republicans Spent The Week Attacking Their #OHSEN Candidates
November 12, 2021
November 12, 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.
Here’s what you may have missed:
SHOWBOATERS AND SHOW HORSES. Presumably upset that she hasn’t moved up in the polls, Jane Timken decided to attack the entire field of GOP Senate candidates in an interview with Hugh Hewitt this week. She said, “We’ve got a lot of showboaters and show horses in this race. I’m a workhorse…” We presume that’s a shot at Vance and Mandel – who have based their campaigns around retweets, soundbites, outrage, and very little actual substance.
FINGER IN THE WIND. In his opening remarks at the GOP Senate forum last night, Gibbons said he’s running for Senate because he didn’t want to trust the future of this country to (at the 25-minute mark) “career politicians, party insiders, or people who people who put their finger in the air to find out what their…” and then he was cut off. We wish he would have had time to finish the sentence but we’re sure he’s talking about Mandel, Vance, and Timken.
DUCKING DEBATES AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES. Mandel and his campaign went after Vance and Timken for ducking last night’s forum. His spokesperson said “after being exposed as a self-proclaimed Never-Trumper,” Vance was now “refusing to stand on stage and answer questions from voters about being anti-Trump and calling Trump supporters ‘racist.’ Now JD Vance is unwilling to disclose his personal finances and potential conflicts of interest. What is JD Vance trying to hide from Ohio voters?” At the forum last night, Mandel used his closing statement to attack Timken and Vance saying (at the 1-hour 32 minute mark), “Our friends Never Trumper J.D. Vance and pro-impeachment Jane Timken, they’re afraid to face the people.” As a Silicon Valley millionaire, we know Vance hates nothing more than being in Ohio.
TRUMP WARRIOR? I THINK NOT. On Hugh Hewitt’s show, Timken said, “We’ve got a lot of other people in this race who pretend they’re the Trump warrior…” It’s similar to a tactic she took in an interview with Sean Spicer (wow, haven’t thought about him in a minute) when she said, “I am the only one that is the real Trump, MAGA candidate.” She went on to say, “I’m not some Johnny come lately to the America first, Trump agenda.” That’s a shot at Vance and Mandel. After Josh Mandel questioned Timken’s loyalty to Trump, Timken allies fired back at Mandel saying he “sat on the sidelines throughout the toughest times of Trump’s presidency” and that “like the career politician he is, Mandel only spoke out when it benefited himself – during another run for office.” This week, Mandel attacked Vance’s event crowd sizes suggesting that they were so small because he’s a Never Trumper. Arguing over who loves Trump more isn’t going away any time soon.
POLITICAL INSIDERS AND CELEBRITIES. Moreno took a shot at the whole field saying that they consist of “political insiders and “political celebrities” in an interview with Hugh Hewitt this week. That’s a shot at Mandel, Timken, and calling Vance a celebrity is generous but sure (maybe D-List). We hate to break this news to Bernie Moreno but as a political megadonor for years, he doesn’t get to say he’s an outsider. The ultimate political insider is a millionaire like Bernie Moreno who uses their money to curry favor with politicians. Nice try!
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!