GOP civil war in Ohio threatens another special election loss

[riversedge]

Source: politico




Outside groups are pouring in money as prominent Republicans say nominating the wrong candidate could cost the GOP the district.

By ELENA SCHNEIDER

04/30/2018 05:00 AM EDT


Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan (pictured) is lining up behind a self-described Trump Republican in a special election primary that has divided the GOP. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images


Republicans’ latest special election headache is unfolding in central Ohio, where a chaotic primary has divided the party and stoked fears of losing another seat in Donald Trump territory to Democrats.

The race pits the two wings of the House Republican Conference against each other, going all out to nominate rival candidates. On one side is the scrappy co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jim Jordan, who is lining up behind Melanie Leneghan, a self-described Trump Republican. Jordan is going up against former Rep. Pat Tiberi, a close ally of GOP leadership who resigned from his seat in January and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from his old campaign account to boost state Sen. Troy Balderson as his successor.

A week before the primary, the Club for Growth, a longtime conservative antagonist of business-backed Republicans like Tiberi, is jumping into the 10-candidate race with TV ads attacking Balderson, Club strategists told POLITICO.

It’s the latest in a series of mainstream-versus-outsider battles in Republican primaries around the country. But some of Balderson’s backers say there is more than intraparty politics at stake: They argue that a Leneghan primary win would put the GOP in danger of losing another special election this summer, in a district that’s been held for decades by Republicans like Tiberi and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Democrats have already flipped a Senate seat in Alabama and a House seat in Pennsylvania in recent months, and House Republicans would dearly love to avoid a repeat in August.

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Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/30/ohio-special-election-republicans-559697

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[muntrv]

1. I love the sound of a circular firing squad in the morning.

[Gothmog]

2. This will be fun to watch

[True Blue American]

3. Jim Jordon is not, " Scrappy!"

Jim is in a gerrymandered District created by Boehner that will probably go by the wayside if we vote for honest Redistricting here in Ohio!

He is a publicity seeking Trump toadie. I have yet to see anything he has accomplished.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. Yes on Issue 1.

I'm with you brother. We have to redistrict the state to clean out the metastasized growth that has paralyzed us for decades. Youngstown, the bluest of working class cities, is represented by Bill Johnson of all people. That's how badly our districts are drawn.

I seldom complement John Kasich here, but this is one of his good deeds, and I have to credit him.

[True Blue American]

11. Oh,absolutely

Friends have been calling me because they want me to read it. We did this for State. Now we have to get it passed.

Kasich did accept Medicaid but after we handed his hat to him on Public Unions. I have never seen so many angry firemen with huge signs on their pickup trucks.

But Kasich cut School funding so bad his Republican Legislature put it back. One of his wealthy friends opened Charter Schools all over the state. Dayton Daily was running a scandal a week on stealing, cheating,closing Schools with the money.

[Orange Free State]

4. Someone tell me which is the "wrong" side

(Meaning least likely to win the general) so I can send a donation!

[True Blue American]

5. The Republican side

I hope! I would like to see Jim Jordan and all his sleazy Freedom Caucus friends dumped on the street!

They can have moderate John Kasich,too.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Freedumb Caucus and Club for Corruption are partners made in political hell.

The Kochs will see all their corruption and corrupt money wasted if Democrats win the House...and as this district was only Shitler 53% the Blue Tsunami will wipe that out in a flash.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. Republicons can't govern themselves, let alone a state or nation, even holding top leadership. . . n

[irisblue]

8. I am enjoying their fighting each other.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. Jim Jordan is the worst of the worst.

I don't know what the problem is with the voters in his district, but he rode in on a dilapidated Tea Party horse that's already seen it's day. His stated campaign platform is to dismantle our government, and he's doing a great job of that, but his real mission is to advance a conservative social agenda. For more info look up "miserable piece of shit" in the dictionary.

His district (OH-4) has been in the GOP"s hands since I was in junior high, and I'm now on Social Security, so they'll never learn. All Jordan had to say was: "I'm a Republican", and he was in.