First off, FUCK YEAH!!!!
While there are many reasons to feel joyous about this, here’s another big reason this makes me very optimistic:
And Secretary of State and U.S. Senate candidate Frank LaRose (R. OH) was a bigger loser tonight:
One of the GOP candidates, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, is the highest-profile champion of Issue 1, which would raise the bar for voters to ratify future state constitutional amendments from the 50%-plus-one currently required to 60%.
If it passes, the new threshold would apply to a separate November ballot measure that’s aimed at enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution, making it harder for Democrats to challenge the Republican stranglehold on power in Ohio and highlighting Brown’s lonely, endangered status in an increasingly red state.
LaRose’s central role in the ballot measure campaign has emerged as a tension point in the Senate primary. Losing would do little to ease those feelings.
He has argued that his two wealthy rivals for the nomination haven’t done enough to support Issue 1. A moderate by reputation who has heavily courted the GOP’s conservative base, LaRose also faces scrutiny — on the right and the left — for emphasizing the abortion angle ahead of Tuesday’s vote, as well as for what his critics call a divided focus between his political ambitions and the special election he is responsible for administering.
“A victory on Tuesday will give LaRose a story to tell donors and some much-needed credibility with the conservative grassroots around the state,” said Scott Guthrie, a veteran of Republican Senate campaigns in Ohio who is not aligned with any of the 2024 candidates. “If the issue fails, LaRose will have spent the vital early days of his campaign as the face of a losing effort and he will be open to criticism from the already skeptical conservative base.”
And LaRose was looking like an early GOP frontrunner:
A Suffolk/USA Today poll of the 2024 Ohio Senate race released on Tuesday shows Republican businessman Bernie Moreno trailing by seven points — 41 percent to 48 percent — while the same poll finds Republican secretary of state Frank LaRose and Brown tied at 45 percent each. GOP state senator Matt Dolan trails Brown 43 percent to 46 percent.
The Republican primary (which won’t occur until March) is wide open with LaRose at 19 percent, Dolan at 14 percent, Moreno at 9 percent, and 57 percent undecided. Donald Trump, whose Senate GOP picks cost Republicans the upper chamber in 2022, has expressed enthusiasm for Moreno’s candidacy but has not yet formally endorsed him.
But Brown is ready for a tough race:
In their Senate re-election bids, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana both brought in more than $5 million. Mr. Brown had $8.7 million in cash on hand, and Mr. Tester $10.5 million. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin raised $3.2 million, the most ever raised in a Wisconsin Senate contest in an off year, according to her campaign.
Even if some polling shows Brown way ahead:
It remains to be seen if LaRose will continue to be the GOP frontrunner after tonight. Either way, we need to keep up this momentum.
Health, Democracy and Freedom are all the ballot next year and we need to get ready to make sure Senator Brown and his fellow Ohio Democrats are ready to win. Click below to donate and get involved with Brown and his fellow Ohio Democrats campaigns:
Sherrod Brown
Marcy Kaptur
Greg Landsman
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