County GOP endorses Gibbons over Mandel

POLITICS

Political newcomer Mike Gibbons scored a big upset Wednesday night as the Franklin County Republican Party central committee voted to endorse him over Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel for the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate.

The county party’s screening committee had recommended to the central committee that Mandel, who unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, be given the nod in the 2018 primary that will determine who tries to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown.

But central committee members had other ideas. The county party leadership never releases official totals of its endorsement votes, but Gibbons said he was told that he won handily, 85-16.

When asked what he thought the endorsement means, Gibbons, 65, who is making his first run for public office, told reporters: “I’m really new at this.”

“It’s quite an upset to pick off an incumbent officeholder,” Dr. Brad Lewis, the former Franklin County coroner and a Republican central committee member, told The Dispatch.

Gibbons is the co-founder and senior managing director of a Cleveland investment banking firm and a wealthy donor to the GOP. In fact, Gibbons said he had supported Mandel in the 2012 Senate race but decided to enter himself this time because he believes he might have a better chance to beat Brown.

The county central committee also gave its endorsement for the gubernatorial nomination to the ticket of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Secretary of State Jon Husted for governor and lieutenant governor on the 2018 ballot. Committee members followed the screening committee recommendation.

“It’s clear that the DeWineHusted ticket is the team to bring together the Republican Party and ensure victories up and down the ballot in 2018,” Doug Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County GOP Executive Committee, said in a statement.

In the Ohio House 21st District race, Stu Harris, a Dublin school board member, got the county committee’s endorsement for the seat representing northwest Franklin County that is now held by Mike Duffey.