COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former President Donald Trump issued a last-minute endorsement in a extremely sought northwest Ohio congressional district Monday, backing state Rep. Derek Merrin over a rival Republican whom Trump’s closest ally within the state has described as “a rock-solid conservative.”
Trump’s resolution happened 18 hours earlier than polls had been set to open on Ohio’s major election — and fewer than 48 hours after Trump campaigned within the state on behalf of Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, his choose for U.S. Senate.
“Derek Merrin is an unimaginable America First Patriot who’s working for Congress in Ohio’s ninth District in opposition to a RINO, Craig Riedel, who is not any good friend of MAGA,” Trump wrote on his Fact Social platform. “As your subsequent Congressman, Derek will combat exhausting to Safe our Border, Cease Inflation, Assist our Army / Vets, and Defend our all the time beneath siege Second Modification.”
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Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tapped Merrin, 38, as his choose to tackle Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur, 77, the longest-serving lady in Congress, this fall. Kaptur is considered as among the many most weak Democrats within the nation.
Merrin drew statewide consideration for main an intraparty insurrection within the Ohio Home final 12 months after a bitter combat over the speakership.
Johnson recruited Merrin after audio surfaced of Riedel criticizing Trump, which raised issues about his electability in a state that’s twice supported Trump’s presidential bids by robust margins. However that was months in the past, again in December, begging the query of why Trump didn’t weigh in earlier.
Notably, Riedel’s marketing campaign lately started airing a searing Merrin assault advert — blasting the legislator as “a high henchman” to then-Ohio Home Speaker Larry Householder. Householder was convicted final 12 months within the largest bribery scheme in state historical past and sentenced in June to twenty years in jail. The advert suggests “hypothesis swirls Merrin may very well be charged subsequent.”
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In backing Merrin, Trump parted methods together with his greatest identified Ohio ally: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan. Jordan initially endorsed Riedel and caught by him even after the remarks involving Trump got here to mild.
Jordan stated, “Craig Riedel is a rock-solid conservative who understands that oldsters, not the federal government, know what’s greatest for his or her youngsters. He’ll combat to chop spending, decrease taxes, uphold the Second Modification, and defend conventional household values.”
Trump’s Eleventh-hour resolution to get entangled is merely the most recent twist in what has been a curler coast major marked by swift entries and exits, candidate gaffes and bouncing endorsements. At one level, Johnson, Jordan and the state’s Republican senator, JD Vance, had been aligned with three totally different candidates.
Vance had backed J.R. Majewski, the occasion’s 2022 nominee, earlier than he abruptly withdrew from the race earlier this month after going through criticism for remarks he made throughout a podcast denigrating Particular Olympics athletes.