Will J.D. Vance Snatch Ohio’s Senate Nomination Out From Under Josh Mandel?
After all but securing his nomination, Josh Mandel is now facing a new challenge from left field in his race to become the Republican candidate for Ohio’s senate seat in 2018.
BuzzFeed is reporting that Ohio Republicans, unhappy with Mandel, are trying to recruit author J.D. Vance to represent the GOP in the senate race against Democrat Sherron Brown.
Vance’s bestseller Hillbilly Elegy was among the most talked-about books last year. The view it provides on distressed white working class Americans is seen as a key to understanding Donald Trump’s victory.
According to the report, Republicans believe that Vance, with his star power, could “beat Sherrod Brown in a heartbeat.” Mandel, the Jewish candidate now serving as Ohio state treasurer, is having a difficult time inspiring Ohioans at this point, and a Republican source said donors are “kind of wishy-washy on Josh.”
Mandel is a vocal supporter of President Trump, while Vance, who describes himself as a conservative Republican, has been openly critical of the president.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO