LEWIS CENTER, Ohio — The Ohio Republican Party’s State Central Committee endorsed all the Republican statewide incumbents for reelection. The committee made it official at a meeting in Lewis Center Friday but not without some drama.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and incumbent Ohio executives were endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party Friday

  • Some GOP members were frustrated that DeWine was endorsed due to him running in a contested primary

  • It has generally been rare that a sitting governor faces opposition in a primary

The Ohio Republican Party threw its full support behind Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and Ohio Auditor Keith Faber ahead of May’s primary.

While Yost, Sprague and Faber are running unopposed in the primary, DeWine and LaRose face primary challenges. And because DeWine and LaRose face challengers, some members and campaigns felt the committee should have kept quiet, especially for the governor’s race.

“DeWine’s popularity is at an all-time low. He has about a 30-35 percent base in the Republican Party and the constituents around the state and many of these state central committee districts are not gonna vote for him,” said Tom Weyand, senior adviser for the Jim Renacci For Governor campaign.

The DeWine-Husted For Ohio’s campaign manager Brenton Temple said, “We are grateful for the support of the Ohio Republican Party and their recognition of Gov. DeWine and Lt. Gov. Husted’s strong, conservative record.”

​DeWine has faced backlash from his own party about his handling of the pandemic and not backing former President Donald Trump to the level of DeWine’s opponents such as Renacci, Joe Blystone and Ron Hood.

LaRose was also criticized Friday by Summit County GOP Chair Bryan Williams whom LaRose tried to remove from the county board of elections.

“To one audience, he’ll tell you he supports the proliferation of absentee voter drop boxes throughout the county, through the state. To another audience, he’ll tell you he opposes them. This type of doublespeak is in my letter. He’s done in over and over again on important issues that result in election integrity and I think we should stand up and take a stand against that,” said Williams.

In response, LaRose’s campaign said, “Bryan’s pathological weird obsession with the secretary has been more than a decade in the making and his claims are demonstrably untrue, yet his fixation on the secretary continues to cloud his judgement both within the Republican Party and on the Summit County Board of Elections. Our party and the voters of Summit County deserve far better.”

Meanwhile, the infighting amongst Republicans was music to the Ohio Democratic Party’s ears.

“The contrast for Ohio voters this election year couldn’t be more clear,” ODP’s Communications Director Matthew Keyes said. “On one hand, you have Democrats laser-focused on fighting for the needs of working families in Ohio. On the other, you have a Republican Party that is stumbling all over themselves to settle scores, replay old political fights and appease a failed blogger from Florida.

“Ohio Democrats are ready to tell our story, show voters we’re on their side and earn their support in November. Meanwhile, we’re more than happy to let Republicans keep play acting their warped version of the Ohio Apprentice.”

The primary is currently set for May 3.​​ It will be interesting to see how, if at all, these endorsements help the Republican incumbents.

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