Free Republic

Like Pompeo, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has lined up behind McCormick in the May 17 Pennsylvania primary, which recent polling has suggested is close. Cruz is looking to bounce back after his preferred candidate in the Ohio primary, Josh Mandel, lost. Cruz joined Mandel on the campaign trail in the final stretch of the race, even mocking Republican candidates for talking too much about Trump. Meanwhile, former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appeared in a new TV ad this week for Rep. Nancy Mace, who is facing a challenge from the Trump-backed Katie Arrington in the June...

Until the end of April, J.D. Vance's storied career as a self-made Middle-American memoirist, conservative firebrand, and venture capitalist risked sputtering out as a third-place also-ran in Ohio's Republican Senate primary. All of that changed with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a single debate, and the singular resolve of Vance, and also that of former President Donald Trump and his son, to stand against dragging America into yet another war and neocons like Josh Mandel.

Polls are closing in Ohio as Democrats and Republicans anxiously await the results of key primaries in a state that will likely prove pivotal in November’s midterms. For Republicans, the Tuesday primaries in Ohio are dominated by the Senate nominating contest. Former President Trump, who remains the most popular figure within the modern GOP, has endorsed author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance in the race, though Vance faces a crowded field of rivals, almost all of whom have campaigned as Trump acolytes.

Much like how many in the establishment raced to stop Donald J. Trump’s 2016 ascendancy to the GOP presidential nomination and eventually the White House, donor class and swamp forces are swooping into Ohio to try to block Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance from winning Tuesday’s primary to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). This 2022 primary for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate has been particularly revealing, showing what campaign consultants, donors, and politicians, both those from Ohio and elsewhere, are really all about when it comes to not just Trump himself but also key policies that Trump championed...

Today's Morning Joe didn't merely report on Donald Trump stumbling over the name "J.D. Vance," the candidate he's endorsed in the Ohio Republican Senate primary—it led the show with it! And in a moment of clueless hypocrisy, Joe Scarborough said: "You know if the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue had done that, there would be headlines for, like, months." Ridiculous! If Biden had done that, one place you can be virtually certain there'd be no coverage, let alone show-leading headlines, would be . . . Morning Joe.

Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel is confident he will win Tuesday's Republican primary and take Democrat Sen. Tim Ryan’s seat in November despite an uphill battle against Trump-backed opponent J.D. Vance, who is leading the polls. Mandel said on "America’s Newsroom" Monday that his campaign strategy is something no other Ohio Senate candidate has ever done, and it will take him to victory. "Rather than running the campaign through traditional Republican Party groups, we’ve actually run our campaign through churches," he told co-hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer. "We’ve got this army of Christian warriors throughout the state who are...

Trump-endorsed candidate J.D. Vance has increased his lead heading into Tuesday’s Ohio Republican Senate primary, a Sunday Trafalgar Group poll revealed. Twenty-six percent of likely Ohio voters support Vance in the seven-way primary. [cut]Final Independent #OHSen ‘22 #GOP primary @trafalgar_group #poll shows #Vance lead w/tight race for 2nd #OHpol26.2% @JDVance122.0% @dolan4ohio20.8% @JoshMandelOhio13.1% @MikeGibbonsOH5.7% @JaneTimkenOH1.9% @mpukita1.7% Patel8.6% UndSee Report:https://t.co/AjiR7vO6DG— Robert C. Cahaly (@RobertCahaly) May 2, 2022 Both Mandel and Vance have received high-quality endorsements from conservatives. Vance has won the endorsement of Donald Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Mandel’s endorsements include Club...

Republicans running for the seat of Ohio’s retiring senator, Rob Portman, appear determined to bury the soft-spoken country-club bonhomie that was once a hallmark of the party in this state, and replace it with the pugilistic brand of conservatism owned by Donald J. Trump and now amplified by the new band of Buckeye bomb throwers. The race descended into a brutal slugfest as the leading candidates, the author-turned-venture capitalist J.D. Vance, the former state treasurer Josh Mandel and a self-funded businessman, Mike Gibbons, entered the final weekend before Tuesday’s primaries accusing one another of being insufficiently right-wing or disloyal to...

COLUMBUS, OH — Our church-fueled campaign charges forward with @TedCruz preaching it at High Street Baptist! pic.twitter.com/pmXeKiz70d— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) April 30, 2022

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pokes fun at candidates using their devotion to Trump as a platform in the Ohio Republican Senate nomination. CNN's Abby Phillip hosts a panel discussing the race that will act as an early test of Trump's influence over the GOP in this year's midterm elections.

Ohio conservatives! Ignore the lies being spread about my friend Josh Mandel, funded by billionaire Peter Thiel and spread by JD Vance! Vote for Josh Mandel, the only PROVEN conservative in the Ohio GOP Senate primary!https://t.co/m34oekMCNf— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) May 1, 2022

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia criticized former state treasurer Josh Mandel Saturday while touting his opponent J.D. Vance as a better Ohio Republican Senate candidate ahead of the state's primary election on Tuesday. "For Josh Mandel, I didn't see the sincerity there. I didn't see the authenticity. I just saw someone that learned to speak MAGA and just repeat it over and over. I'm tired of those candidates. We don't want those people serving in Congress. We don't want those people in Washington. And so that's why I endorsed J.D. [Vance]," Greene said as she stood next to...

TOLEDO, OH — @TedCruz bringing the 🔥 at Northwest Baptist Church.- Conservative movement is for the working class, Democrats are for rich liberal elites- The politically correct term for illegal aliens is undocumented Democrats- Bible commands us to FIGHT for the people! pic.twitter.com/AXrYtLHmMA— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) April 30, 2022

Having been snubbed when former President Trump endorsed the U.S. Senate candidacy of a rival a week before, Josh Mandel presented himself Saturday to a northwest Toledo church as a Republican party outsider while railing against the separation of church and state, Democrats, and “establishment Republicans.” “The core of my campaign is standing up for the Judeo-Christian bedrock of America,” Mr. Mandel, flanked by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), told his audience of more than 100 at Northwest Baptist Church on Alexis Road. “We’re the only U.S. Senate race in Ohio, and in America, that is sidestepping the traditional...

A major staff fail: they put up the wrong video! They were supposed to post the one where we MADE all our shots….@JoshMandelOhio https://t.co/Wfqsgj7bBD— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 30, 2022TOLEDO, OHIO — @TedCruz and I at Northwest Baptist Church getting warmed up for rally. Pastors over politicians and backboards over bricks! pic.twitter.com/NLm6X0IhvF— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) April 30, 2022

Ted Cruz RetweetedDAYTON, OH — @TedCruz and I at Victory Christian Church talking about the need for FIGHTERS in the US Senate.- Fighters for Life- Fighters for the Constitution- Fighters for the Judeo-Christian bedrock of America pic.twitter.com/QKZiSmECPS— Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) April 29, 2022

Dr. Peter Navarro on the Trade Deficit, Ohio Senate Race

Rep. Gaetz: Mandel Tattling to McConnell on MAGA

Ohio GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel fended off attacks from an opponent calling him a "phony, fraud and sell-out" and stumped with political supporters at a packed auditorium of the Victory Christian Church in Kettering, Ohio, Friday. Trump-endorsed candidate J.D. Vance accused Mandel of being a Republican in name only (RINO) following reports from an upcoming book that Mandel pretends to be pro-Make America Great Again on the campaign trail but sides with establishment Republicans in private. "I think people in Washington will make false attacks all the time on people like me because I'm a constitutional conservative and a...

Ted Cruz RetweetedOur coverage tonight from Ohio ahead of Tuesday's closely watched primary. We spent part of the day with Josh Mandel and Sen. Ted Cruz - who are trying to reach undecided GOP voters. Here's our story with @BretBaier on tonight's Special Report. pic.twitter.com/ILhEX6Ln8C— Mark Meredith (@markpmeredith) April 29, 2022