Free Republic

Vice President JD Vance, who’s widely expected to be eyeing a 2028 run, pinned the GOP’s massive midterm losses on the Iran war that President Donald Trump started.

A Trump supporter was stabbed in the back outside President Donald Trump’s midterm rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, on Wednesday night while the president was on stage speaking to the crowd at the Shoemaker Center on the Ohio University Chillicothe campus. Video posted by Derek Myers shows the victim with a knife still protruding from the left side of his lower back as police officers rush to detain a person nearby. The stabbing is not shown in this video, which is of the immediate aftermath. WATCH: During @POTUS @realDonaldTrump’s visit to Chillicothe, Ohio, a supporter was st@bbed. This video shows a...

The 2026 midterms aren’t even over yet, and Vice President JD Vance has already dropped a bomb into the 2028 presidential election cycle: he might not run. Vance told the audience at a Michigan town hall that he had not yet made a decision about whether or not he would seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2028 — and said it was certainly a possibility that he would sit the election out. Host Tony Dokoupil started the ball rolling by jumping on a comment Vance had made earlier in the evening — namely that he might be “out of a...

One million ballots have now been cast in the state of Ohio. The milestone was reported by the Ohio Secretary of State's Office on Friday, just 11 days out from Election Day. As a result of this colossal and rapidly growing early-vote total, Ohio appears to be on track to set an all-time record for early voter turnout in a midterm election, after having already blown past comparable totals from this point in the 2022 midterm cycle. Among those who have so far weighed in on this year's top races in Ohio, statistics show that roughly 58% of those who...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s team confirmed late Tuesday that it produced a controversial advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, and the campaign said it will spend $4 million to promote it despite facing bipartisan rebuke for dredging up the painful childhood of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race. Ramaswamy’s campaign initially issued a statement that did not address whether he was responsible for the ad or knew who produced it. In the earlier statement, Luck said Acton “has some serious problems with the truth that the public needs to be aware of.” Casey Putsch, a...

Republican Sen. Jon Husted leads Democrat Sherrod Brown by less than a point in Ohio’s 2026 U.S. Senate race, according to polls. The survey, published by ActiVote, put the appointed incumbent at 50.2 percent to the former senator’s 49.8 percent, a 0.4-point edge among 400 likely voters, well inside the poll’s 4.9-point margin of error. The firm conducted the poll between September 26 and October 18, with a median field date of October 7. ActiVote reported that the contest comes down to the middle of the electorate. “The race is decided in the center, where Husted leads by 56% to...

On the day Vivek Ramaswamy made official his run for Ohio Governor, President Donald Trump did not dally. “He will be a GREAT Governor of Ohio, will never let you down, and has my COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT!” the President wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 24 of last year, within hours of Ramaswamy kicking off his campaign. Trump’s post essentially cleared what had been expected to be a crowded GOP field, boxing out the likes of state Attorney General Dave Yost, state Treasurer Robert Sprague, and Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel in a state where Republicans felt dominant. It also...

A new poll of the Ohio Senate and gubernatorial races shows Democrats ahead in both contests. In the Senate race, a Bowling Green State University (BGSU) poll found former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) ahead of Sen. Jon Husted (R) by 6 points, 48 percent to 42 percent, among likely voters. When BGSU surveyed the race in September, Brown had just a 3-point lead. Ohio voters were evenly split 48 percent to 48 percent on who they think will win, regardless of whom they support. That is narrower than September, when more thought Husted would win. In the governor’s race, Democrat...

A viral rumor claiming Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico secretly spent his recent campaign absence at an Ohio behavioral health center has now been debunked — but new questions are emerging over why evidence that could have quickly undercut the allegation was not made public as the speculation exploded online.

James Talarico is in one of the most competitive Senate races this cycle, and he disappeared from the campaign trail for almost two weeks. He supposedly reappeared this weekend to poke at Republican Texas AG Ken Paxton over debates, and his team showed him attending a Kacey Musgraves concert. Talarico is once again being hailed as the Democrats’ best hope to win statewide in the Lone Star State, but his absence drew attention, especially since it looked like he checked into a mental health clinic. That’s not what his campaign said; it said he was sidelined with the flu. This...

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy edged out Democrat Amy Acton in a new poll of the Ohio governor’s race, breaking a string of five recent surveys that gave Acton a lead in the state that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024. A new co/efficient poll, conducted on October 5 and October 6, showed Ramaswamy up 2 points over Acton, 45 percent to 43 percent among 925 likely voters. Three percent said they would back a Libertarian candidate, while 8 percent were undecided. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.49 percentage points. Ramaswamy's win ended up...

(The Center Square) – An Ohio college that touted a “Free College Benefit Program” was actually illegally funded with millions in taxpayer dollars, according to indictments released Thursday. A grand jury in Jefferson County indicted three people for stealing $20 million from Eastern Gateway Community College, a state school which has now closed, Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber said. Michael Perik, Nicole Rowe Colclasure and Michael Geoghegan are accused of diverting Pell grants and other federal financial aid state funds through “fraudulent reimbursements and illegal incentive payments, “ Faber said Thursday. The “Free College Benefit Program” caused the school’s enrollment...

After a few days campaigning in safe conservative territory, President Donald Trump on Saturday takes his midterm tour into Ohio, a battleground state that’s home to one of the top-tier Senate races this cycle. Trump has embarked on what he says will be a 32-day blitz ahead of the Nov. 3 elections, hitting the deep red states of Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama this week. Saturday's rally is just outside Dayton, Ohio, where he'll stump for key candidates in competitive races for the House, Senate and the governor’s mansion in Columbus. Perhaps the most pivotal of these races is the Senate...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Texas-based travel center Buc-ee’s and Ohio gas station chain Mickey’s have settled a trademark infringement lawsuit over the companies’ cartoon animal logos. On Sept. 15, Buc-ee’s and Coles IP Holdings, the parent company of Mickey’s, reached a confidential agreement during a settlement conference, according to court records. The settlement stems from a lawsuit Buc-ee’s filed in February, claiming Mickey’s cartoon moose logo is too similar to its own cartoon beaver logo. It is unclear whether Mickey’s will change its logo as part of the settlement. Neither Buc-ee’s nor Mickey’s immediately responded to a request for comment....

An appeals court on Wednesday reinstated an Ohio law requiring people to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote at motor vehicles offices, a win for Republicans seeking to tighten voter requirements nationwide. A panel of three judges on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to block a lower court ruling that had granted a preliminary injunction against the voter ID law in August. The majority argued that the advocacy groups that brought the suit failed to demonstrate that the law would likely prevent people from registering to vote. Red Wine & Blue and Ohio Alliance for...

A federal appellate court ruled on Wednesday that Ohio can enforce its law requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote in the midterm elections. In a 2-1 decision, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals paused a preliminary injunction issued by Ohio-based Senior District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. last month. The Obama appointee’s order sought to block the Buckeye State from enforcing its statutory requirement that individuals provide documentary proof-of-citizenship when registering to vote. As described by Courthouse News, Oliver argued that the contested provision is “preempted by the National Voter Registration Act and increases the likelihood that U.S. citizens fail to register for...

Sherrod Brown slams Ohio data centers in ads but quietly took big money from Google lobbyists tied to the same projects. Google PAC and its lobbyists gave Brown over $30,000 while Brown now pretends the company is hurting working families with higher electric bills. Trump-backed Sen. Husted’s bill to make data centers pay their own power costs passed the House but got blocked by Senate Democrats. Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is running a new attack ad blaming Republican Sen. Jon Husted for bringing data centers to Ohio. The spot claims the facilities drive up electric bills for local families....

The children of bloodthirsty Somali dictator Siad Barre, whose rule left as many as 200,000 people dead, are quietly living in the US — alongside victims of his regime. The Post located the despot’s “right-hand man” son Ayanle and daughter Deka Mohamed Siad, in Columbus, Ohio, where they lead unassuming suburban lives. However, among the wider Somali community, their presence is a painful reminder of the regime and some are calling for US authorities to investigate. “Siad Barre and his men committed so many war crimes so I was shocked to see his son [Ayanle] in the mosque enjoying his...

Amy Acton, the Ohio version of Fauci, has struggled to gain traction and a widely circulated fair clip of her seemed to be showing a Howard Dean style meltdown. And then the media was suddenly ablaze with headlines claiming that an “armed attacker” had “lunged” at Acton and been taken down with multiple injuries. Both Acton’s campaign and the media pushed this hoax. Amy Acton unharmed after man lunges at her during campaign event; suspect now in custody – WLWT Ohio Democrat Amy Acton reflects on a ‘rough day’ as witnesses recall ‘frightening’ confrontation – NBC News Witness describes attempted...

You may have heard about the alleged assassination attempt against Ohio Democrat gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton over the weekend. "While attending the Canfield Fair, an armed individual lunged at Dr. Acton, injuring multiple people. Dr. Acton and Eric are grateful for the swift and decisive action of law enforcement and are praying for the recovery of those injured. This kind of violence has no place in Ohio. Dr. Acton will always stand up to the chaos, hate and vitriol that pits us against one another," said Addie Bullock, communications director for the Acton campaign. There's just one problem. This story...