U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said having billionaire businessman Donald Trump lead the Republican ticket as its presidential nominee will “be a positive in the end” for his re-election bid.
“I’ve got a lot of friends frankly who normally don’t vote and they came out and voted for [Trump], and they don’t consider themselves Republicans normally,” Portman, a Republican from the Cincinnati area, said Thursday. “But they strongly support [Trump]. He’ll bring new people to the party, no question about it.”
Portman, seeking re-election this year with ex-Gov. Ted Strickland as his Democratic challenger, also said he has “no interest” in being Trump’s vice-presidential running mate.
Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee and the only candidate left in the party’s primary race after Ohio Gov. John Kasich quit Wednesday. Portman had supported Kasich.
“I said all along I intend to support the Republican nominee,” Portman said. “The Republican voters have now spoken. The nominee appears to be Donald Trump. I’ll be supporting Donald Trump as the nominee as I said I would. But no [I won’t be his vice-presidential running mate]. I’m interested in Ohio. I’m not interested in being on the ticket with anybody.”
Ah, but Republicans have been trying to spin this race as a whole separate race from the Presidential election:
With nearly 65 percent of voters across the country having a negative view of the New York real-estate magnate, Democrats are hopeful if suburban Republicans in Ohio refuse to vote for Trump in November, their absence from the polls could lead to victory for Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in his race against Portman.
“Rob Portman is truly stuck with Trump,” said David Niven, a political scientist at the University of Cincinnati and former speechwriter for Strickland.
“Donald Trump will be something like a horror-movie monster to Rob Portman,” Niven said. “ Portman can go about his business and pretend he's not afraid, but he can't ignore it, because eventually Trumpzilla will knock over most everything around him.”
But some Republicans don't take quite such a fatalistic view.
“Trump is absolutely going to have an effect on this election,” said Jai Chabria, a former top aide to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “But Ted Strickland is such a flawed candidate that I think the Portman team will effectively remind voters of his failed governorship.”
For public consumption, Portman’s aides are expressing confidence. They point out they have $14 million in the bank, which means they have far more money to spend on TV advertising than Strickland. They contend voters have a low opinion of Strickland’s term as governor from 2007 through early 2011 when the state — like the nation — was hammered by a recession.
While acknowledging Trump has steep disapproval ratings — particularly among women and suburban voters — they console themselves with the fact that the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows 56 percent of registered voters disapprove of the likely Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“It has no impact on our race,” Portman campaign manager Corry Bliss said of Trump’s candidacy. “ We are running our own race, like we have for a year and a half."
But here are a couple of ways Trump could have an effect on this race:
Trump could drive down GOP voter turnout in Ohio: As in other areas of the country, Trump has alienated a significant portion of the Republican base. Unless Trump can mend those relations, many Ohio Republicans are likely to stay home on Election Day, said University of Akron political scientist John Green. Of course, that would devastate Portman and other Ohio Republican candidates, much as scandal-prone Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald hurt his party's candidates around the state in 2014.
Trump could attract new voters: At the same time, Trump has proven very effective at attracting independent voters, conservative Democrats, and Americans who feel alienated from politics and haven't often voted in previous elections. If those people come out to vote for Trump, that would likely help Portman as well, Green said. While it currently appears that Trump is an overall liability for Portman, Green said, that could change by Election Day. "Mr. Trump has been confounding the conventional wisdom for a year now," Green said.
Democrats' new priority – equate Portman with Trump: Strickland's campaign and liberal groups have already been working to use Trump as a weapon against Portman. Now that Trump's the presumptive nominee, look for them to step up that rhetoric, using phrases such as "the Trump-Portman agenda" and warning that a Republican-controlled Senate would allow Trump to pick a new U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Portman may find it difficult to bridge his differences with Trump: While Democrats will try to convince Ohioans that a vote for Portman is a vote for Trump, the two are very different candidates. Portman is a reserved, mostly orthodox Republican who has championed free trade. Trump has based his flamboyant campaign on challenging Republican orthodoxy and has railed against free trade. "There's a huge, huge contradiction between the people who will be the top two people on the ballot on the Republican side," said Ohio State University political science professor Paul Beck.
GOP donors could pour more money into Senate races: Trump's nomination will likely lead many top conservative donors to shift their focus from the presidential race to maintaining the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate. Already, a super PAC funded by the Koch brothers has launched a $2 million ad campaign targeting Strickland. Beck said he expects such spending to continue – both in the form of contributions to Portman's campaign and through a number of conservative super PACs.
Strickland has been wasting no time tying Portman to Trump:
Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland is making the most of the Trump campaign's interest in Sen. Rob Portman as Donald Trump's running mate.
Strickland hit his Republican opponent in the Ohio Senate race after CNN reported that Portman was among those the presumptive GOP nominee is thinking about for vice president.
"It’s no surprise that Donald Trump wants Sen. Portman to be his vice president because on many issues Trump and Portman share the same toxic agenda," Strickland spokeswoman Liz Margolis said in a statement. "And by refusing to do his job and consider the Supreme Court nominee, Portman has also made it clear that he’s happy to let Trump reshape the Supreme Court for generations."
The Koch Brothers are already spending a lot of money to save Portman and defeat Strickland after giving up on the Presidential election. If we want the majority back in the U.S. Senate, we need to help Strickland win. Click here to donate and get involved with Strickland’s campaign.