CANTON, OH — Jane Timken, the former Ohio Republican Party chair who is running for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022, released her second television ad Tuesday morning.

Entitled “First,” the 30-second spot criticizes President Biden’s immigration policies and features Timken on-screen pledging to prioritize Ohio families. 

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) surprised Ohio political watchers in late January when he announced he would not run for a third term in the U.S. Senate.

Timken is only the second candidate in either major political party to jump into the race to succeed him, but she’s already had her first television ad airing for the last four weeks.

A Timken campaign official said this second ad buy, which will run on the Fox News Channel in Ohio’s major TV markets for the next four weeks, is meant to indicate the campaign is confident about its early fundraising. 

“During the pandemic, Ohio small businesses and families struggled to survive. What was Joe Biden’s first legislative proposal? A liberal plan to give amnesty to 12 million illegal immigrants,” Timken said in the ad, citing Biden’s desire to provide a pathway to citizenship for the over 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

Comprehensive immigration reform was one of several day-one legislative proposals Biden mapped out when he took office. The list also included coronavirus-related measures and rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord.

In a statement, Timken said, “As Ohio’s next senator, I will stand up to the radical open borders agenda of Biden and the left.”

The early days of Timken’s campaign have been spent trying to prove her support for former President Trump, who looms large over Ohio Republican politics following his two 8-point wins in the Buckeye State.

Timken’s only other declared opponent at this point is former Ohio Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel, who’s pursuing his third bid for U.S. Senate on a message focused squarely on continuing the Trump agenda.

Timken has been flexing the connections she built as state party chair throughout Trump’s presidency by already securing endorsements from U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs (R, OH-7), four Republican state senators, 10 Ohio GOP county party chairs, 19 GOP state representatives, and 38 members of the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee. 

A long list of other Ohio Republicans, including current Congressmen Bill Johnson (R, OH-6) Steve Stivers (R, OH-15), investment banker Mike Gibbons, and author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance are considering entering the race.

On the Democratic side, no candidates have officially declared, but Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan (D, OH-13), and former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton are seriously considering running.