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Toledo Blade

Vance And His Campaign To Counterprogram This Saturday’s OSU-Toledo Game

Columbus, OH – J.D. Vance and his campaign continue to promote their counterprogramming of the Ohio State-University of Toledo game, showing how out-of-touch their campaign really is with Ohioans. Having a campaign event on a fall Saturday night is already a cardinal sin in Ohio – something out-of-state fraud J.D. Vance has forgotten after spending most of his adult life on the coasts. 

As the Toledo Blade’s David Briggs put it, “In Ohio, it’s one thing to talk religion and politics at the dinner table. It’s quite another to mix church and (Ohio) State after dinnertime.” Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said Vance counterprogramming the OSU game “goes against all the rules and conventions.”

It’s no secret Vance really hates spending time in Ohio. He’s already said himself that he feels “out of place” here. His ideal San Franciscan Saturday consists of “tasty brunches, day trips to wine country, art-gallery tours.” And the word is out that Vance prefers to keep a light schedule on the weekends. 

When J.D. Vance hits the rally stage 173 miles northeast of Ohio Stadium this weekend for his  largest Ohio campaign event since his narrow primary win, it’ll be the worst of both worlds: ruining a light weekend for a lazy campaigner while shining a bright spotlight on the authenticity problem that has dogged his campaign from the very start.

Even Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville – and former Auburn coach – panned Vance’s counterprogramming, saying, “I need to call him and tell him he needs to watch what he’s doing.” 

“After moving from Ohio to California and admitting he feels ‘out of place’ in the Buckeye State, J.D. Vance must have forgotten how we spend fall Saturdays here. We encourage all Ohioans to watch the Ohio State-Toledo game with your family and friends and pay out-of-state fraud J.D. Vance’s counterprogramming no mind,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters.

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DeWine Debate Watch: Day 9

Columbus, OH — As debate season starts to ramp up in the closing weeks and days of the election cycle, Mike DeWine has continued to duck committing to debates across Ohio with Mayor Nan Whaley, even as the Mayor has already publicly agreed and challenged DeWine to a number of debates. DeWine also dodged a debate with his primary opponents earlier this year, signaling that he is scared to defend his record to Ohioans, especially since he’s debated political opponents in the past. It’s ‘DeWine Debate Watch’ Day 9, reminding Ohioans that DeWine won’t even try to make his case to them as he seeks re-election to the highest statewide executive office. 

“Mike DeWine clearly knows his record over the last four years of selling out working families in favor of the wealthy and well-connected is not going to be popular with Ohio voters. If DeWine can’t even muster the political courage to tell Ohioans why they should re-elect him, he doesn’t deserve the job and should be held publicly accountable for his cowardice,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Ohioans deserve answers from DeWine on a number of key issues, including his promise to ‘go as far as we can’ to rip away reproductive rights, his broken promise to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence in Ohio, his connections to the largest public corruption scandal in state history and his role in the failed redistricting process that produced GOP-gerrymandered maps and cost Ohioans millions of dollars. 

Read more from the Toledo Blade Editorial Board here and below: 

Toledo Blade Editorial: DeWine’s Debate Decision Will Be Telling 
Editorial Board  
September 5, 2022 

  • Labor Day is the traditional starting point for the all-out political campaigning for the fall general election. But some of the standard campaign activities can’t be taken for granted anymore.
  • The polls apparently tell Mr. DeWine he has more to lose than gain from engaging in the political combat of debate. We understand why he would like to skip adversarial questions about the First Energy scandal; PUCO appointments; abortion law, and gun carry laws.
  • The governor’s claim that joint interactions at newspaper editorial boards, which can be streamed for internet viewing, serve the same function as a televised debate is ridiculous. Even more outlandish is the contention that interaction with voters at county fairs and political stops is somehow equivalent to the give and take with an opponent.
  • But if the governor is reelected behind a wave of money — much of which is generated from interests with business before Ohio—his moral authority will be non-existent.
  • Gov. DeWine’s debate decision will tell us if he wants to lead Ohio or simply win a second term.

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