Who Will Trump Back in Ohio Senate Primary?
Easily the most-asked question among Ohio Republicans these days is which candidate will Donald Trump endorse in the 2022 primary for the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Rob Portman. What makes the eventual decision most intriguing is that all of the major GOP contenders claim the Trump mantle. Jane Timken (a former state party chairman who was helped to her position in 2017 by phone calls to state committee members from Trump), former State Treasurer and 2012 Senate nominee Josh Mandel, and J.D. Vance (author of the acclaimed ''Hillbilly Elegy'')  all are referred to in GOP circles as the Big 3. (A tweet emerged last week indicating Vance, 36, did vote for independent Evan McMullin over Trump in 2016. But in his announcement Thursday, the author-candidate took the Trump line in denouncing the Biden immigration policy and Dr. Anthony Fauci.) Also in the race are multi-millionare businessmen Bernie Moreno and Mike Gibbons, both of whom are Trump backers. ''Activists are taking friendly bets about if and who he will endorse, with many people saying his advisers want him to wait to see if a clear front-runner emerges,'' former Franklin County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse, one of former GOP Gov. John Kasichs closest advisers, told Newsmax. ''Its plausible that he could endorse any one of the current candidates.'' In large part because of his past statewide races, Mandel was the early front-runner in many polls. But last week, his campaign suffered a major blow following reports that three staffers quit. Published reports said they resigned over the behavior of finance director Rachel Wilson, who reportedly used profanity and berated them in front of others. Mandel and Wilson, who have been dating for nearly a year, were also reported to have had loud arguments in the campaign headquarters. ''They are both single adults and try their best to keep their private lives private,'' Mandel campaign manager Scott Guthrie told The Columbus Dispatch. John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.