If Trump asks, Renacci may seek Senate
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci is committed to continuing his quest for the Republican nomination for governor — unless President Donald Trump asks him to consider running for the U.S. Senate.
Renacci has contemplated a run for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Sherrod Brown after Treasurer Josh Mandel exited the race on Friday because of his wife’s ill health.
For now, the congressman from Wadsworth has decided he will continue to battle Attorney General Mike DeWine and Lt.
Gov. Mary Taylor for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the May 8 primary. Taylor removed herself from a potential Senate run Saturday.
“My goal is to be the governor of the state of Ohio,” Renacci said Monday on the “Wills and Snyder Show” on WTAM (1100 AM) in Cleveland. “If the president of the United States reaches out and contacts me and asks to me to jump in that race, I would consider it only at that point.
“I do know the Senate needs more people to help the president move America forward,” Renacci said. “If the president would call, I would consider it because I would need his help at this late part of the game. ... I would clearly consider it only at that time.” Renacci said “lots” of would-be donors and Republican officials had urged him to switch races.
Renacci, who like Trump is portraying himself as a political outsider, has closely aligned himself with the president and his policies while attacking DeWine and Taylor as establishment career politicians.
If Trump did commit to supporting Renacci in the Senate race, the president presumably could help the millionaire businessman raise money for what would be a tough race to unseat Brown.
While Renacci says he is waiting for a nod from Trump, a spokesman for rival GOP candidate Mike Gibbons said that could be slow in coming. Gibbons has contributed $100,000 to Trump-related groups and served as finance co-chairman for Trump’s Ohio campaign, said Chris Schrimpf.
The Cleveland-area investment banker, a firsttime candidate who has pledged to spend $5 million of his personal fortune on his campaign, already is seeking the Republican nomination for Senate. In the past two days he has circulated the names of Ohio county GOP chairmen and local Renaccifor-governor supporters who are backing him in the Senate contest.
Republicans in Washington, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, say they expect Renacci to opt for the Senate fray.
“I will be shocked if he doesn’t run for the Senate, and I think the party is coalescing around him,” said one senior GOP campaign official. “I think he wants to run. He’s far from perfect, but who else is there?”
Another GOP official in Washington said Renacci would “do it if he got assurances from Trump and the White House that he is their guy.”
An Ohio Republican involved in multiple prior campaigns said “the chances of him winning one race for Senate are better than winning two races for governor.”
Schrimpf said Gibbons has been working hard to cement his place in the field.
“He’s been on the phone since Friday,” Schrimpf said late Monday afternoon.
Those calls have gone to local Republicans, including 16 “grassroots chairs” who back Renacci for governor.
Gibbons also has contacted the National Republican Senate Committee, and members of his campaign have been in touch with the Trump White House, Schrimpf said.
He said Gibbons will stay in the race no matter what — and he’ll remain the outsider.
“Putting up a member of Congress against a sitting senator is just putting two politicians up against each other,” Schrimpf said.