Ohio GOP is now undeniably the party of Donald Trump
The Senate nomination Tuesday of Westlake entrepreneur Bernie Moreno by GOP voters showed that the once middle-of-the road Ohio Republican Party of Ray C. Bliss (chair from 1949 to 1965) and Robert T. Bennett (from 1988 to 2009, and in 2012 and 2013) is now the party of Donald J. Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Gov. Mike DeWine and ex-Sen. Rob Portman, speaking for what’s left of the Ohio GOP establishment, had endorsed state Sen. Matt Dolan of Chagrin Falls. (The other contender, who placed a distant third, was Ohio secretary of State Frank LaRose of Upper Arlington.)
But according to unofficial results, Moreno drew almost 51% of Republicans’ statewide primary election vote compared to the 33% drawn by Dolan and 17% LaRose gleaned. If there were ever a more clear repudiation of the Powers That Be in Ohio GOP politics, it’s hard to recall what that could be.
It seems likely that Trump’s swoop into suburban Dayton three days before Tuesday’s election helped shove Moreno across the finish line even as reputable polling suggested that fellow Greater Clevelander Dolan could be poised to win the nomination to challenge the re-election of Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, of Cleveland.
The irony is that there’s some evidence that Moreno is precisely the challenger that Democrats wanted Brown to face, on the theory that Moreno would be easier for Brown to beat than Dolan. But many are the voters and bystanders who’ve underestimated Trump’s hold on Ohio’s rank and file Republican voters.
The other dye-marker in Tuesday’s tides were the shifting fortunes of Republican Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens of Lawrence County’s Kitts Hill. He was elected speaker in 2023 when he and 21 fellow House Republicans (the “Blue 22″) bolted to coalesce with the House’s Democrats rather than the House’s GOP caucus’ pick, Rep. Derek Merrin, of suburban Toledo.
It appear the pro-Merrin group denied renomination Tuesday to four of the 12 targeted Stephens supporters: Republican state Reps. Sarah Carruthers of Hamilton; Jon Cross of Findlay; Brett Hillyer of Tuscarawas County’s Uhrichsville; and Gail Pavliga of Portage County’s Atwater.
Coincidentally or not, Senate President Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, is being term-limited out of the Senate and is running (apparently unopposed) for state representative in the 78th Ohio House District (Allen County and parts of Auglaize County).
Once in the House, Huffman is expected to challenge Stephens for the speakership, which is why the defeat Tuesday of the four Stephens allies may be significant.
Bliss, the legendary Ohio GOP chair, is reputed to have said that a key to winning elections is keeping issues out of campaigns. Today, Bliss’s maxim seems like a quaint throwback, because “social issues” will be among the pivots of this year’s statewide Ohio contests. Anyone who thinks otherwise must also think that there really still is a Republican establishment in Ohio – and that it can call the GOP’s shots.