There are two primary races to watch above all others this month: Senate races in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
In Pennsylvania, Donald Trump hesitated to pick a favorite. So candidate David McCormick, a hedge fund CEO, didn’t wait. He reached out to national GOP leaders and convinced Texas Senator Ted Cruz to get on board. However, Trump did finally make his pick—television’s Dr. (Mehmet) Oz.
Meanwhile, in Ohio, we saw the same routine: Trump hesitated; Cruz acted, supporting former state treasurer, Josh Mandel; and Trump turned against him, endorsing venture capitalist, JD Vance. Since, in both cases, Trump chose to repudiate Cruz’s candidates, the importance of a Trump nod will be shown.
Mandel’s credentials are solid in Ohio.
Cruz earlier this month endorsed Mandel, a Marine and former state treasurer. A social conservative who remains popular among evangelical Christians, Cruz said in a statement announcing the endorsement that Mandel checked all the right boxes, calling him “a proven fighter for our American way of life, a champion for the unborn, and a stalwart advocate for our religious liberties.”
Cruz thought he picked an obvious winner, but then came the Trump endorsement.
Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, told Newsweek that Cruz “read the tea leaves” when he earlier endorsed Mandel in the crowded field. He said Mandel seemed like a “winner” at the time, but a Fox News poll released Tuesday shows Vance has pulled ahead slightly, with 23 percent support of those surveyed. Mandel is second with 22 percent.
Trump and Cruz have abstained from attacking one another directly, but not really. Donald Jr. has gotten into the act—complaining that the Club for Growth continued to support Mandel, even after Trump’s endorsement of Vance.
The Trump family has since been openly feuding with the Club for Growth, which bills its endorsements as “the gold standard” in identifying conservative candidates.
Trump, Jr. posted a screengrab of the quotes [of a book about Mandel] and said Mandel was “outed as the establishment RINO fraud he truly is.”
Mandel serves [GOP Leader Mitch McConnell] and is owned by the GOP establishment,” he charged. “MAGA can not trust him — Don’t be fooled by this RINO fraud!!!”
Surprisingly, a third candidate has begun to rise in the polls, despite not being endorsed by either Cruz or Trump—State Senator Matt Dolan
The state senator has declined to kiss the [Trump’s] ring, and instead run as a traditional conservative — pouring $10.6 million of his own money into the effort.
Now, after languishing at the bottom of the polls since joining the Republican field, Dolan is finding that his strategy is finally showing signs of paying off.
Days before the May 3 primary, Dolan appears to be experiencing a late burst of momentum. While J.D. Vance — who received Trump’s endorsement last week — has surged into first place according to the most recent Fox News poll, Dolan was the only other top contender to gain ground in the poll since last month. A separate poll released Tuesday by Blueprint Polling actually placed Dolan in first place with 18 percent of the vote, followed by Vance at 17 percent.
Trump has begun to attack Dolan because Dolan thinks it’s time to “move on” from the 2020 election.
Dolan is the lone candidate who refuses to toe the Trump line. He has accused the former president of “perpetuat[ing] lies about the outcome” of the 2020 election. He called the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol a “failure of leadership” by Trump and an “attack on democracy.” At a March 21 debate, Dolan was the only candidate to raise his hand when the moderator asked who believed it was time for Trump to stop talking about the 2020 election.
Trump’s support of Vance is somewhat surprising since Trump usually holds a grudge against anyone who doesn’t praise him endlessly. Vance has called Trump, “a moral disaster,” and an opportunist who has no genuine convictions at all.
“I cannot stand Trump because I think he’s a fraud. Well, I think he’s a total fraud that is exploiting these people,” Kentucky radio host Matt Jones said to Vance in August 2016.
“I do too,” Vance replied.
It appears that Trump feels that celebrity and name recognition are more important than ideals in an election. Vance is best known for writing a best-selling book called, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The Ohio Republican Senate primary takes place on Tuesday, May 3.
