In a room full of optimistic Republicans, some running for office and wondering if their party’s presidential nominee will help or hurt their chances, supporters of Sen. Rob Portman gave inspiring speeches of party unity in a time when the national party is fighting to keep itself together.
The comments came at a pep rally for Portman volunteers and supporters Saturday in Brecksville.
While Republican National Committee Chairman Rance Priebus last week prescribed faith in the next face of the Grande Ole Party, Ohio Republicans shared other plans to insulate their candidates from the potential backlash of a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz candidacy. The New York billionaire and the Texas senator have managed to sour enough American voters to tip the scales in tight races, including that of Portman and his challenger, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
“National media wants to say that because of that” all the down-card races are in trouble, Matt Dolan, a former state lawmaker running for a state senate seat this fall, said Saturday. “Well here in Ohio, we have a firewall. And that’s Rob Portman.”
The middle matters
Ohio Governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich, though finishing a distant second place in the New York primary and snatching up only four of the state’s 93 delegates, did well with moderate and independent voters who will be critical to clinching swing states like Ohio.
According to CNN exit polls, Kasich also did best with voters most concerned about the economy or jobs, issues that ring truer with general election voters than concerns about terrorism, which mustered more votes for Trump or Cruz.
More troubling exit polling in Wisconsin indicated the extent of the damage that could befall down-card races. More than a third of Republicans leaving the polls in Wisconsin told the New York Times and ABC that they would rather vote for a third-party candidate, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton or not at all if Trump or Cruz become the party brand.
The polls, pundits caution, are a snapshot in time. They measure what people thought that day. Sentiment may shift. And the polls taken in the days and weeks before the general election tend to be more accurate than more speculative measurements taken months out.
Trump, who extended his lead by nearly sweeping New York, also could change. The contentious candidate showed short-lived signs of more presidential behavior. After winning his home state last week, he dispensed with the usual name-calling, referring to Cruz as a senator and not “Lyin’ Ted.” Days later, he reverted to his more vitriolic manner. Whether Trump again turns presidential or remains pugnacious could impact future polling and, ultimately, voting.
Anti-Trump time
The possibility of a contested convention, in which no Republican candidate arrives in Cleveland with enough delegates to secure the nomination on a first-round vote, was given new life over the weekend as the Kasich and Cruz campaigns coordinated to deprive Trump of the necessary 1,237 delegates.
“Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee,” announced John Weaver, the top political strategist for Kasich.
“To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe added.
This isn’t the first time campaigns have joined forces, or at least not hurt each other, in the tangential race to stop Trump. But it is the first time they’ve openly admitted it. Before the mid-March primaries in the Buckeye and Sunshine states, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kasich avoided crossing paths by campaigning away from each other’s home turf. Cruz made only a brief stop in Ohio then quickly bounded off to North Carolina, Missouri and Illinois, where the hard-line Texas senator cut deeper into Trump’s proportionally awarded delegates.
Case for Kasich
The Ohio Republican Party and its rank-and-file leadership are all-in for Kasich, whose more moderate appeal, relative to his challengers, already has proven worth voting for in Ohio.
“We couldn’t have a stronger top of the ticket than John Kasich,” said Rob Frost, chair of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party and a delegate pledged to vote for Ohio’s governor in Cleveland this July.
Kasich took nearly half the Ohio primary vote, dealing Trump a rare defeat. What’s worth noting, though, is the high-turnout among Republicans. Democrats have said they pulled Republican ballots to stop Trump. That meant voting for Kasich. Some crossed party lines to support Trump.
“Who knows?” Portman told supporters and volunteers Saturday. “But maybe they weren’t all traditional Republican primary voters.”
Portman didn’t dwell on his party’s turmoil, stemming from the presidential race. He talked instead about how he captured more than 80 percent of the vote, more than any other senatorial candidate challenged this year, so far, in a primary. Portman went further, using his decisive dispatching of Don Elijah Eckhart, a conservative Christian who ran to his right in the primary, as reason that Republicans should look to him and not worry so much, even if Trump has the highest negative ratings ever recorded.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug.