Schmidt is a moderate, claiming to be a Conservative. Pat DeWine is a non-Conservative, claiming to be a Conservative. He lost ground throughout the race because he insisted on smearing the legitimate Conservatives (Brinkman and McEwen). DeWine's father, who is a moderate Republican Senator was a non-factor, except that he raised an enormous amount of money for his son. Since Pat used it to make himself look bad, I suppose you can say to that extent he was a factor.
The result is very much of a mixed bag. Pat DeWine ran a dispicable campaign and got what he deserved. In it, he ran smears that hurt better men, who still greatly out-polled Pat. I have never seen a candidate supported by the Hamilton County Republican organization poll only 12% of the vote--not in any contest in my lifetime. This was no slap at the Senator, but there are some very, very red, local faces.
To be fair, I bet the vast majority of the population views Schmidt as a solid Republican, possibly even "extreme right", which won't necessarily hurt her in this district. The one tax vote would be her only blemish
As for Brinkman, many are sick of his vicious attacks on the public schools, where his group has spread lies and distortions to work against school tax levies.
And finally, about DeWine - we all may want to think his plummet was because of his dad, and that may have cost him some - but he really did run a filthy campaign and having outspent his competition 3-1 or more, you heard his filth constantly. And for the values voters, there still is the fact that he had an affair with a lobbyist and left his wife, and still voted for the lobbyist's positions (1 vote margin in favor of the lobbyist in the end).. and seeing him campaign and show off his young (5 and under) children was outright nauseating.