OHGov

McColley: Legislation Banning Child Marriage Needs “Further Exploration”

Columbus, Ohio – Over one week ago, Vivek Ramaswamy’s running mate Rob McColley inexplicably told the Columbus Dispatch that legislation banning child marriage needed “further exploration.” 

“Vivek Ramaswamy’s silence after his running mate said banning child marriage needs ‘further exploration’ is disturbingly on brand for a candidate who mocks sexual abuse survivors, refused to return donations from Epstein associates, and touted endorsements from state lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Protecting children should be something both sides of the aisle can agree on, and Vivek Ramaswamy owes Ohio parents an explanation.”

READ MORE: Ramaswamy’s running mate stalls Ohio child marriage ban.

• A bipartisan bill to end child marriage in Ohio has stalled in the state Senate after Republicans pulled it from a planned committee vote, leaving in place a state law that still allows 17-year-olds to wed under court approval, according to reporting by the Columbus Dispatch. Senate Bill 341 was set for a Judiciary Committee vote last week. After a closed Republican caucus meeting, the bill came off the agenda. It is not back on this week’s schedule either.

• Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, who is running for lieutenant governor on Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s ticket, told the Dispatch that even straightforward issues sometimes warrant more time. “We’ve still got time left in this legislative session,” McColley said.

• McColley’s reluctance to move SB 341 forward comes as the Ramaswamy gubernatorial ticket continues to face scrutiny over its handling of issues involving child safety and sexual abuse.

• During his 2024 presidential run, Ramaswamy’s allied super PAC, the American Exceptionalism PAC, accepted a $100,000 donation from New York hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, who was named in court documents as an associate of Jeffrey Epstein. The PAC pledged to refund the contribution but dissolved without doing so, according to federal filings.

• Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial campaign has also drawn criticism for promoting endorsements from Ohio Republican state lawmakers accused of misconduct involving young people, as TiffinOhio.net previously reported. Those endorsements were briefly removed from Ramaswamy’s website before being restored.

• In April, Ramaswamy faced sharp pushback after telling supporters that his Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, offered no real vision for Ohio “other than to complain about what someone else did to her” — a reference to Acton’s public account of surviving childhood sexual abuse.

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Columbus, Ohio – Cleveland Cavaliers fans are looking for answers after their season came to a disappointing end in the Eastern Conference finals. We should start with billionaire scammer Vivek Ramaswamy.

“Ramaswamy should take his private jet anywhere but Rocket Arena next fall when the Cavs are back,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Instead of ill-timed photo ops in Cleveland, perhaps he can catch a Rockets, Mavericks or Spurs game next season while visiting his Texas business that he moved out of Ohio.” 

What They’re Saying: 

• @ShakeDown1979X: The Cavs are about as successful as your presidential run

• @adamwehib: Bad luck charm

• @Brian_Chovanec: May your gubernatorial campaign be as successful as the Cavaliers were in this series

• @IsaiahRMartin: This dude may be worse than the Ted Cruz curse lol

• @ClaireMPLS: Lol, lmao even 

• @Jared_Shult: This didn’t age well and neither will your campaign

• @TheMaineWonk: Knicks went on an 18-0 run after this photo. Vivek has cursed Ohio

• @RossBarkan: Can’t believe Vivek couldn’t bring it home

• @BelowAverageOPS: Amy Acton, the path has never been clearer

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READ: Vivek Ramaswamy’s bait-and-switch campaign exposes GOP weaknesses: Brent Larkin

• Vivek Ramaswamy is the most unlikeable candidate for governor in the lifetime of anyone reading this column. 

• Now there is new evidence the Ramaswamy campaign is in trouble; that the state where Republicans have won eight of the last nine elections for governor is very much in play. And if Democrat Amy Acton beats him in November, Ramaswamy might accomplish something a Republican hasn’t done in 40 years – take down the entire ticket.

• Consider these numbers from the May 5 primary election in Ohio: Unlike some states, Ohio’s primary elections are open. A voter does not need to be a registered Republican or Democrat to request a specific party ballot at the polling place. At the start of the primary voting process, there were 678,833 registered Democrats in Ohio. But 807,716 Ohioans chose to cast Democratic ballots in the primary. 

• It was because a huge number of independent voters were so disenchanted with the GOP leadership that controls their governments that they asked for a Democratic ballot.

• As encouraging as those crossover voting numbers were for Democrats, the opposite was true in the Republican primary. As voting began, there were 1,292,651 registered Republicans in Ohio, but only 901,338 Ohioans voted in the GOP primary.

• Put another way, the Democratic turnout rate was 119% of previously registered Democratic voters. The Republican rate was only 69.7% among the registered Republicans.

• But Ramaswamy needs to create a phony issue that just might motivate MAGA voters and increase turnout in November. This has nothing to do with eliminating vote fraud. It has everything to do with propping up a horrible candidate for governor.

• The answer is obvious. He’s losing.

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Columbus, Ohio – Another week, another flop from Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign. His latest scam policy rollout on Medicaid fraud didn’t go as planned after reporting revealed his own running mate voted to dissolve Ohio’s Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee. Ramaswamy and McColley didn’t exactly turn their fortunes around when McColley said a bill banning child marriage requires “further exploration.”

Another Medicaid Mistake: After rolling out his latest Medicaid policy scam to distract from having called Medicaid and Medicare “mistakes,” reporting revealed Ramaswamy’s own running mate, State Senate President Rob McColley, voted to dissolve Ohio’s Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee. Even Republican State Representative Jennifer Gross, who was at Ramaswamy’s press conference on Tuesday, said the committee could’ve helped fight fraud.

“Republicans Blaming Republicans”: This week, Ohioans are reading all about how Republicans, who have been in charge of state government for nearly two decades, are now falling over themselves to blame other Republicans at Ramaswamy’s “rage-baiting” press conference. Ramaswamy’s press conference with the politicians who own the corruption in Ohio’s Statehouse made it clear his policies are a scam that would only benefit him and his billionaire friends.

McColley Fails to Protect Ohio Children: Legislation banning child marriage was abruptly pulled from the Ohio Senate planned committee vote, with Rob McColley, Ramaswamy’s running mate, saying it needed “further exploration.” McColley is the President of the Ohio Senate and is responsible for setting the legislative agenda.

This appears to be a pattern for Ramaswamy. He failed to return donations from known Epstein associates, attempted to scrub his website of endorsements from Ohio legislators accused of being sexual predators, and mocked his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, for sharing her story of surviving childhood sexual abuse.

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Ohio Senate President and Ramaswamy LG Rob McColley Refuses to Take Strong Position Against Child Marriage

Columbus, Ohio – Vivek Ramaswamy’s running mate Rob McColley said child marriage needs “further exploration” after legislation banning the practice was abruptly pulled from a planned committee vote. McColley is the President of the Ohio Senate and is responsible for setting the legislative agenda, in addition to leading the Ohio Senate Republicans.

This appears to be a pattern for Ramaswamy. During Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign, he claimed to be the “first and most vocal proponent of releasing all Epstein related documents” and said he would release the client list “without exception.” But in his run for governor he went “silent,” running from reporters, and trying to change the subject, including refusing to return a $100,000 donation to his Super PAC from Epstein associate Glenn Dubin, despite pledging to do so. 

Ramaswamy also proudly touted endorsements from two state lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct and then scrambled to scrub his campaign website after the fact. Ramaswamy touted his endorsements from Rep. Rodney Creech for months after he was accused of climbing in bed with a minor female relative, and Rep. Gary Click, who reminisced about talking to young girls about sex. Click’s endorsement was added back to Ramaswamy’s website within hours of removal. If that wasn’t low enough for Ramaswamy, he truly hit rock bottom when he mocked his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton, for sharing her story of surviving childhood sexual abuse. Ramaswamy said Acton was only “complaining about what someone else did to her.” 

“Vivek Ramaswamy owes Ohioans answers after his running mate said a bill banning child marriage needs further exploration,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “McColley’s failure to protect Ohio’s kids is unsurprising given he’s running alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, who mocks child sexual abuse survivors and refuses to return donations from Epstein co-conspirators. Ramaswamy’s lies, scams and ‘exploring’ something as simple as ending child marriage proves Ohioans can’t believe a word he says when it comes to keeping their families safe.” 

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