Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel jumps into Senate race

Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) jumped into the Senate race to replace outgoing Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) Wednesday.

The announcement from Mandel, who served two terms in the Ohio state government and two tours as a Marine in Iraq, marks the third time he will run for the Senate. Mandel cast himself as a candidate in former President Trump’s mold and stated he was motivated to run for the upper chamber in part due to the ongoing impeachment trial against the former president.

“Watching this sham and unconstitutional impeachment has made my blood boil and motivated me to run for U.S. Senate. It’s sickening to see radical liberals and fake Republicans in Washington engage in this second assault on President Donald Trump and the millions of us who supported him,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

“I’m going to Washington to fight for President Trump’s America First Agenda and to pulverize the Uniparty – that cabal of Democrats and Republicans who sound the same, stand for nothing and are more interested in cocktail party invites than defending the Constitution," he added.

Mandel’s campaign emphasized his pro-Trump bona fides by noting in the announcement that he was the first statewide official in Ohio to back Trump’s 2016 White House bid and that he raised $500,000 for him in 2020. 

His campaign said Mandel is a conservative “fighter” and will build on the “momentum” of the previous administration. 

“Today, I’ve heard loud and clear from my fellow Ohioans that we need a warrior that won’t quiver in their boots when it comes to standing up for conservative values,” he said. “We need a fighter in the Senate who will fight to build the wall, combat China’s economic cheating and advance conservative policies that gave us the greatest economy in American history. We need to keep our foot on the gas and build off the momentum of the Trump presidency.”