Coward:
Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) told a local radio station on Tuesday that he doesn’t intend to hold any town halls because “just having a town hall setting where people are screaming doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Renacci said that if his constituents have concerns, he’s happy to meet with them one on one.
“What I’ve tried to do is offer individual meetings — I’ve got time in the office, what I call office time, that people can come and meet, and talk with me on an individual basis,” Renacci told host Jasen Sokol. “Sad thing is, Jason, a lot of people say to me, ‘I’m not coming unless you do a town hall with 150 people.’ Well if you have a concern, you can come to my office and we can talk about it.”
Renacci also said that a lot of the requests for town halls have been coming from out of state.
“A lot of times I see the people and they hit my Facebook account saying you won’t do a town hall, and we have staff that look at those, some of those are from California, some of them are from out of the country, out of state,” he said, adding that some requests from his constituents are people that he has met with before. “It just seems to be a tendency to say, ‘he’s not willing to confront,’ and the interesting thing is, I actually like confrontation, I like the idea, as long as it’s not 100 people screaming.”
When Renacci was running for congress, however, he sang a very different tune.
During his first campaign in 2010, Renacci attacked incumbent Rep. John Boccieri (D), for failing to show up to several town hall-style meetings set up by Renacci’s campaign.
“It is deeply troubling to see that our current Congressman is so ashamed of his record that he refuses to face his own constituents in an open forum and listen to their mounting questions and concerns about his policies,” Renacci said in a press release.
In case you were wondering, in the crowded GOP field, this clown is the Trump backed candidate:
Vying for the Trump vote in the contest for Ohio governor next year, Republican candidate Jim Renacci today claimed the endorsement of two groups said to represent the swing constituency that supported Donald Trump for President.
Mr. Renacci, a wealthy businessman and now a U.S. representative from the Akron area, announced he was endorsed by Citizens for Trump and Bikers for Trump.
The motorcycle-based political action group rallied with Mr. Renacci on Saturday in Sandusky.
“I could not be more honored to receive this endorsement from Bikers for Trump and Citizens for Trump — not simply because we share a common patriotism and passion for motorcycles, but because they represent the power of what’s possible when fearless, hardworking Americans mobilize to take their government back,” Mr. Renacci said.
Mr. Renacci is one of four people competing for the Republican nomination to succeed Gov. John Kasich when his second term ends in January, 2019.
Also in the running - and also hoping to win a share of the Trump vote in the 2018 primary - are Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, Secretary of State Jon Husted, and Attorney General Mike DeWine.
And being the Trump loyalist could help or hurt him in the primary:
Renacci has the lowest statewide name-recognition of the four likely GOP gubernatorial hopefuls. Secretary of State Jon Husted and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor already have declared their candidacies, and Attorney General Mike DeWine is expected to announce his bid soon.
But Renacci is the only one who enthusiastically campaigned for Trump last fall. When he jumped into the race in March, with a video featuring him riding a motorcycle, Renacci brought an “Ohio First” slogan and website that echoed Trump’s “America First” message.
Like Trump, Renacci — an accountant by trade and one of the wealthiest members of Congress — emphasizes his background in business and presents himself as a political outsider, though he’s in his fourth term in the House and was mayor of Wadsworth, near Akron.
Trump has not indicated a preference, but Renacci has attracted support from other allies of the president. One of his senior campaign advisers, Rob Scott, helped run Trump’s Ohio operation. And in a not-so-subtle move Friday, Renacci tweeted a photo of himself standing between Jane Timken and Ronna Romney McDaniel, Trump’s handpicked chairwomen of the Ohio GOP and Republican National Committee, respectively. (Timken has pledged to remain neutral in the primary.)
Renacci’s strategy has merit: Trump won Ohio by 8 points. But the Republican Party in the state is fractured, split between those loyal to the president and those loyal to term-limited Gov. John Kasich, who lost to Trump in the 2016 primaries and refused to endorse him. Kasich has said he intends to support Taylor, and some of his allies are expected to back DeWine.
While the GOP primary is crowded, we have a pretty big bench of candidates on our end. Click below to get involved and donate to any of the Democrats running for Governor of Ohio:
Connie Pillich
Betty Sutton
Nan Whaley