January 31, 2022 

Good Monday afternoon, and welcome back to Mike Check, your weekly source of all the infighting, conspiracy spewing and corruption that’s making headlines in and around the Republican governor’s race and Mike DeWine’s statehouse, courtesy of the Ohio Democratic Party.

As the gubernatorial race heats up, Republicans are in disarray with Mike DeWine’s popularity dropping by the day, facing attacks both inside and outside of the Republican Party, and having to answer for the largest public corruption scandal in state history. It’s hard to keep up with all of the corruption and mess surrounding Mike DeWine and the GOP gubernatorial primary, so here are some stories you may have missed:

NO ONE WANTS TO BE LIKE MIKE. In the latest sign of trouble for Mike DeWine, a new Axios report outlines how Republican Senate candidates are not only running away from Mike DeWine on the campaign trail, they’re actively attacking him to gain support with fellow Republicans. Josh Mandel has called Mike DeWine ‘a RINO,’ Jane Timken and Bernie Moreno have tempered their praise of DeWine and J.D. Vance has gone from endorsing DeWine in ‘18 to criticizing his handling of the pandemic. This is all sad, but the saddest part? DeWine would still campaign with any single one of them. Woof.

AN “UNPRECEDENTED PHENOMENON.”  DeWine is also making national headlines as one of the GOP governors around the country who are increasingly vulnerable due to a primary challenger. Renacci continues to go after DeWine for not being ‘Trumpian’ enough, and even the failed blogger from Florida himself has raised the question of whether DeWine should get through a primary. One thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on: how much we don’t want Mike DeWine to be the governor.

A ‘PRO-TRUMP’ GOVERNOR? That’s the campaign Jim Renacci is running and it has Mike DeWine running scared. Things are so bad support-wise for DeWine that his primary challenger has a real shot at the nomination. In fact, recent internal polling discussed by Ohio media outlets shows Renacci is leading DeWine by 8 points. By the way, when asked about the state of the race, all Mike DeWine would offer was another “no comment.”

Thanks for catching up with us, that’s all the Mike Check we’ve got for this week. If you have questions my email is ckeir@ohiodems.org. Have a great week!