'Rough and tumble politics': Senate primary in Ohio shows shifting tone among GOP candidates

COLUMBUS, Ohio - When the Republicans running for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat gathered on stage for their final scheduled debate last week, the biggest presence in the room was roughly 1,000 miles away.

Former President Donald Trump hasn’t weighed in on the race, but he loomed large in the auditorium on Miami University’s campus in Oxford, Ohio.

Four of the top five candidates in the Republican field are seeking his endorsement, and their campaigns are littered with ex-aides to the former president. They echo Trump's grievances about a stolen election and parrot similar campaign rhetoric.

Ohio's GOP Senate primary is perhaps the most emblematic race in the country of the shift within – and Trump's hold over – the Republican Party. The campaigns have been confrontational and the candidates aggressive, representing a shift from the mild-mannered GOP Sen. Rob Portman they are angling to replace.

Officeholders like Portman, a mainstream conservative who regularly appears on Fox News but rarely delivers sound bites, are giving way to candidates looking to capitalize on outrage.

“Whoever replaces him is likely to be very different," said Robert Alexander said, a political science professor and founding director of the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern University.

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'Outrage is working'

Portman surprised some observers when he decided against running for reelection in 2022. A veteran of both Bush administrations, he was an ally to Trump but also has worked across the aisle. He was part of the bipartisan group of senators who negotiated the infrastructure deal President Joe Biden signed into law last year.

Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher of Inside Elections, described Portman as a traditional mainstream conservative Republican who has a moderate public persona.

“I think that’s more about tone than issues,” he said.

In the primary to replace him, that tone has shifted dramatically.

In the first debate, former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and financier Mike Gibbons went nose-to-nose, swearing at each other, and had to be separated.

Former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken dropped an ad earlier in the race that suggested the men she was running against are “overcompensating for their inadequacies."

Mandel and "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance both released ads this month defending themselves against charges of racism. Mandel, who has feuded with the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., walks across the Edmund Pettus bridge in an ad where he says “there’s nothing racist about stopping critical race theory.” Vance starts his spot asking “Are you a racist? Do you hate Mexicans?”

The candidate who most resembles Portman, state Sen. Matt Dolan, has purposefully avoided comparisons to Trump, and recent internal polls released by other candidates campaigns and supporters show him running behind.

Portman's office did not respond to an interview request. Portman has backed Timken as his replacement, but other Republicans with national brands have thrown in behind other candidates.

Two other Republican candidates, Neil Patel and Mark Pukita, didn't qualify for the final debate stage.

Several candidates have suggested that Rep. Tim Ryan, who faces Democratic primary opponents in attorney Morgan Harper and tech executive Traci Johnson, has been the biggest beneficiary of the heated GOP primary.

The Republican candidates, though, are likely to keep pressing the brand of Republican politics that helped Trump carry the state twice by 8 points, Alexander said.

“Their polling must be telling them that outrage is working," he said. "The more outrage the better.”

Republican 'crossroads'

The latest debate was notable in that it most closely resembled a typical election. Between policy discussions and primary voter appeals, the candidates traded barbs over past statements and positions.

But Mandel offered the broadest critique of the Republican Party, saying the conservative movement was "at a crossroads" and invoking Sen. Mitt Romney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, GOP members of Congress who voted for Trump's impeachment.

“They need to be eradicated from the Republican Party," Mandel said.

Vance echoed some of Mandel's disdain for establishment Republicans, saying "the old way of doing politics in the Republican Party is just not going to cut it."

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While Alexander said some of the rhetoric is bluster to try to stand out in a crowded field, he said it also is taking advantage of a shift among Republican voters in Ohio. Other experts said the realignment doesn't stop at the Buckeye State's borders.

Sabato's Crystal Ball editor Kyle Kondik said there is a "radicalization" happening on both sides of American politics, though he said it has been more prevalent among Republicans.

Candidates have adopted a more aggressive tone, echoing complaints that date at least as far back as the 1980's, when Newt Gingrich rose to power in the House and talk radio exploded.

“The tension level is just really high,” said Kondik, an Ohio native who has written books about the state's politics. “I think a lot of observers would love for the temperature to get turned down on American politics and yet there are no signs of that happening.”

'Angry' politics across the US

The temperature is rising not just in Ohio but in races across the country.

“I think we’re in an era of this angry, rough and tumble politics," said Marty Cohen, a political science professor at James Madison University in Virginia and co-author of a book on party politics.

In Missouri, Republicans have called on former Gov. Eric Greitens to drop out of the race to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt. Greitens has denied accusations of domestic violence made by his ex-wife

Sean Parnell, a Republican Trump initially endorsed in Pennsylvania's Senate race, dropped out amid allegations of physical abuse. Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker also has faced accusations that he threatened his ex-wife.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has stressed the need for Republicans to have "electable candidates" in competitive races, but the GOP also has whiffed on recruiting some high-profile candidates, including Govs. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Doug Ducey of Arizona.

Ducey said his decision in part was related to not wanting to be a roadblock to a Democratic White House for two years.

Stopping President Joe Biden has been a key talking point for Ohio's Senate candidates. At their latest debate, the candidates pitched themselves as the best option to stand against Biden and "the radical left."

Even Dolan, who has acknowledged the legitimacy of Biden's election as president and lamented the shift within politics, said he would hold Biden accountable.

“We can achieve Republican principles and execute our Republican ideas without destroying the character of people who disagree with us," he said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Midterm election: Ohio Senate primary shows shift among Republicans