Ohio’s Wild Primary Comes to a Close

Donald Trump’s endorsement and late bumps in the polls turned the race upside down in its final weeks.

By
45

Two days before Ohio’s Senate primary, former President Donald Trump had the stage at a rally in Greenwood, Nebraska. He took a moment to run through his picks not just in the Cornhusker State—he’s supporting businessman Charles Herbster in the gubernatorial contest—but in other important contests around the country.

“You know, we’ve endorsed Dr. Oz,” a reference to celebrity surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz’s bid for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat.

Then he moved to Ohio. And appeared to confuse who he’d endorsed: “We’ve endorsed—J.P., right? J.D. Mandel, and he’s doing great. They’re all doing good. They’re all doing good. And let’s see what happens.”

Trump seemed to be confusing venture capitalist and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance with former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel. In fairness to Trump, the candidates might well blend together after the months they have spent courting his favor. 

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
45
By
Comments (45)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Too bad Dolan lost.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Rajeev

    It's too bad Tim Ryan will likely lose to whoever wins this primary. He's the type of senator Ohio used to elect regardless of party. Glenn, Metzenbaum, Dewine, Voinovich, Brown and Portman have been the last 6 senators (3 Democrat, 3 Republican) and all were both qualified and dignified and none were extreme.

    Those days are long gone. Mandel & Vance have lead the most disgusting primary that has been a continual race to the bottom. It's hard to imagine anyone debasing themselves as much as these two have and getting rewarded for it by a seat in the Upper Chamber.

    Collapse
  3. Avatar photo
    Ohio Gas Hog

    For what it's worth, I voted today for Dolan.....

    Collapse
  4. Connor.Alex

    This race has been a frustrating race to the bottom. The ads are truly disgusting, where love of Trump is a good thing and an association with Romney is somehow a bad thing.

    As a Guardians fan, I really hate the Dolans, but I'm going to have to vote for one today because he's by far the least offensive candidate in the race. If it's Vance or Mandel as the nominee I'll have to vote for Ryan. Ugh.

    Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    JohnF

    So the winner of this primary election (who will become the favorite in the general) is likely to only get 1/4 to 1/3 of the votes of 1/2 of the voters?

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Rajeev

      People in general hate runoffs because it's another election but they make sense in crowded fields. Rather than needing 50% states would be wise to make a threshold based on number of candidates polling above 2%. So if there 4 viable candidates, a threshold of 35-40% would make sense and decrease it as more viable candidates enter.

      Collapse
      1. Seth

        I really like the approach of a nonpartisan primary to narrow the field, followed by a general election that requires a majority winner. This is most practical using ranked-choice voting in the general, but can be done with a third round, or other instant-runoff voting methods (approval, Condorcet, etc).

        Alaska will be using this in their statewide elections this year, and I'm hopefully optimistic it offers a better path than the increasingly-terrible partisan primary method we are seeing so often now.

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          C C Writer

          And if the parties don't like it, serves them right.

          Collapse
          1. Seth

            I'm by no means a party-pooper (sorry for the bad pun: I should probably leave them to Jay Janney), but I think our current structure with partisan primaries brings out the worst of the two-party system. I think we either need to go back to party leaders selecting their candidates, or nonpartisan primaries. Either one would be an improvement over what we have now.

            This is a pretty great discussion of the topic: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/americas-hidden-duopoly-2/

            Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      C C Writer

      Starts to make a smoke-filled room look better.

      Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    JohnF

    𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑦𝑒-𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔-𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝐵𝑢𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 $65.67 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑐𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜.
    As a suggestion for future articles, it would be great if The Dispatch could do a deep-dive into the effectiveness of this spending. Are people still watching these TV ads? (I record most shows I watch these days so I can fast-forward through the commercials). If so, do they actually change minds? Or just reinforce someone's already established opinion?
    The political industry is raising and spending a tremendous amount of money each year. It would be interesting to learn if there really is a return on this investment.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Rajeev

      I think there is a saturation point with money in these larger races. Some senate and governor races have so much funding that there is only so much you can spend effectively. Democrat senate candidates were flush with cash they never expected in 2020. Places like Georgia where Warnock has to reach so many areas that can be expensive might be the exception. Sara Gideon having 75 million in Maine senate race probably had its limits.

      I imagine analytics and data mining are more effective ways to spend money than traditional advertising. But as we've seen in MLB or other entities that have embraced analytics, they can only do so much when the raw talent isn't there.

      Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      C C Writer

      Another thing to factor in is whether intrusion into their homes by campaigns turns people off. (Spoiler: It does.)

      In particular, the idea that my phone is a medium belonging to politicians which they are entitled to commandeer at will, and not an instrument I own and should control access to, is not a trivial point. It is an indicator of whether that politician accepts the principle of limited government power or believes the end justifies the means and doesn't even see why we would have a problem with it.

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        JohnF

        Yep, I feel the same way, particularly with my cellphone.

        Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    My Cleveland sister said yesterday she is going to pull a Dem primary ballot because she wants to make sure there's a normal candidate on the ballot in the general. My brother in law is probably going to pull a GOP ballot. If he does, I assume he'll go for Dolan. They are moderate disgusted-with-Trump Republicans who both voted Biden because for Trump not to get reelected was their top priority. I don't have any argument with anyone's choice of strategy if they judge it serves a reasonable objective.

    Collapse
  8. Kyle C

    I'll be voting for Dolan today.

    Collapse
  9. Avatar photo
    Phil H

    I voted for Dolan today. I decided the day he announced his candidacy. Every other major candidate tainted themselves by seeking Trump's endorsement.
    The latest poll that showed Dolan trailing Vance by only 4 points was very encouraging.

    Collapse
  10. Avatar photo
    Dana Garvey

    As an Ohioan (and yes I did vote this morning) It will be a relief, albeit a temporary one, from the horrible, sycophantic "I'm just like Trump" ads, and their opposite "Candidate X isn't really like Trump at ALL" . If we outlawed the word FIGHT from political ads in Ohio, TV ads would disappear. Candidate Y is a "fighting fighter who will fight those who won't fight by fighting harder than anyone else fights by fighting hard!" These goofballs make it sound like every subcommittee meeting or caucus gathering is going to be a blood soaked fight club, where the victor will stand over his rival's unconscious and supine corpse declaring "I've guaranteed funding for the overpass on I-75 just north of Wapakoneta!" then let loose a deranged primal scream of victory. What a clown show.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Ben Connelly

      An Ohioan with the last name Garvey - any relation to Declan?

      Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Joe Delanis

      I love the Wapak reference! Just reading it gives me a hankering for J. Marie's...

      For readers outside of the Wapak/West Central Ohio region, if you're ever traveling on I-75 and want to stop in for a meal, I cannot recommend J. Marie's highly enough. You might not expect a small local restaurant in the downtown of an 8,000-ish population county seat, in the middle of corn country, to serve something like fig-compote-topped ham sandwiches or strawberry creme brulee, but they did. And those dishes were delicious!

      Collapse
    3. Avatar photo
      JAB

      It seems like they have forgotten that the first rule of Fight Club...

      Collapse
Load More