Harsh GOP critics may challenge Dewine
Politicians look to next primary
Former Congressman Jim Renacci of Wadsworth tops most political insiders’ lists of Gov. Mike Dewine’s likely Republican primary challengers in 2022.
And those who enjoy stirring things up toss out the name of Rep. Jim Jordan, the Urbana firebrand loved by conservatives and fans of President Donald Trump.
Both have leveled a fair amount of criticism at their fellow Republican, mostly for the COVID health restrictions Dewine’s administration has imposed.
But almost no one mentions perhaps Dewine’s harshest critic in Congress: Warren Davidson of Troy, the man who succeeded John Boehner in 2016.
When the governor asked most Ohioans earlier this month to stay home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., Davidson responded: “This is a continuation of the abuse of executive authority that has been present in our state since March. ... the legislature must end this unchecked, unconstitutional abuse. Our Constitution establishes a republican form of government, and we have sworn oaths to support and defend it against all enemies.” Earlier, he had accused Dewine of “creating a system where, if you’re a good enough agent of the the state, and your customers cooperate, the Orwellian Retail Compliance Unit will permit you to operate your business.”
And Davidson said, “It’s wrong to effectively deputize every business to enforce the governor’s (mask) mandate on their customers, under threat of more shutdowns. Under the 5th Amendment, no one may be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process. The governor’s unjust process cannot meet this test.” Neither Davidson nor Jordan — who called Dewine’s rules “a joke” — have even hinted they are interested in running for governor. But both are increasingly outspoken about the incumbent on social media.
Speaking of 2022...
Democrats have been lining up to take shots at U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, but it’s unclear whether the Cincinnati-area Republican is really vulnerable after raising big bucks and cruising in his 2016 reelection campaign against former Gov. Ted Strickland.
Ohio native Kyle Kondik of Sabato’s Crystal Ball is putting Portman’s seat in the small category of “potentially competitive” U.S. Senate seats in 2022, reporter Rick Rouan noted. Portman’s is one of three seats in that category, along with one each in Florida and Colorado.
Rouan contacted Kondik for a little more explanation about how he sees Portman’s seat in light of Trump’s backto-back wins in the Buckeye State and the sitting senator’s own strength.
“The reason we classified Portman as “potentially competitive” is that it would likely take some combination of a bad
Republican environment, strong Democratic challenger and other factors to truly endanger Portman,” Kondik said. “At this point, I’m assuming he runs for reelection, and I think he’d be hard to beat.” Sources inside his camp say Portman definitely is running.
Even though Ohio has become redder in recent elections, Kondik said it’s more winnable for the opposition party than the 24 states he classified as “not competitive.”
“The bottom line, though, is that Portman starts in a strong position,” he said.
Portman hasn’t formally announced he will seek re-election in 2022, but he had not at this point six years ago, either. We’ll be watching for that in early next year.
Trump team fantasy
One piece from the blizzard of false information put forth by President Donald Trump and his supporters to make the fictional case that he actually won and not Joe Biden involves voting software used in several states, including Ohio. Attorney Sidney Powell, who has worked along with Trump’s legal team to (so far unsuccessfully) challenge the election outcome in various states, claimed without evidence during a Fox News interview that Democrats stole the election by manipulating software from Dominion Voting Systems.
A couple of weeks ago, Trump tweeted: “Dominion is running our election. Rigged!” Last week Trump tweeted that he would “never concede to fake ballots & ‘Dominion.’” Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose said 11 counties in Ohio use the Dominion devices with no problems: “They’ve had great experience on them.”
The equipment was approved by the bipartisan federal Elections Assistance Commission and Ohio’s Board of Voting Machine Examiners, noted Larose, speaking last weekend at the 21st post election conference of the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute.
Larose, a Republican, pointed out that Ohio elections machines are not even capable of being connected to the internet, and under state law they must print a paper trail — which is automatically audited to compare it the the electronic results. Any attempt to manipulate the results, he said, would necessitate a conspiracy of hundreds of staffers, both Democrat and Republican, not a one of whom whispers a word about the plot. drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland