United States Senate election in Ohio, 2012

Filed

Withdrew

Endorsements

Josh Mandel was endorsed by Rob Portman, U.S. Senator (R-OH); Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator (R-SC); Jim Jordan, U.S. Congressman (R-OH); Club for Growth; National Rifle Association; Tea Party Express; Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida; John McCain, U.S. Senator (R-AZ); Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator (R-FL); Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey; Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans for Congress (AIVC); Buckeye Firearms Association National Right to Life Committee; Ohio Right to Life; and National Federation of Independent Business

Candidates

Debates

The candidates engaged in three debates: October 15, October 18 and October 25. The third debate took place Thursday, October 25 at 7 p.m. in Cincinnati. NBC White House Correspondent Chuck Todd moderated the debate with anchor/political reporter Colleen Marshall from WCMH in Columbus, anchor Sheree Paolello from WLWT in Cincinnati, and political reporter Tom Beres from WKYC in Cleveland. It was live on all Ohio NBC affiliates.

Campaign

In 2006, U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown defeated two-term incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mike DeWine 56%-44% 2006 election. Over the past six years, he established a very liberal, progressive, and populist record. The National Journal named Brown the most liberal U.S. Senator in the past two years. The Washington Post called him a "modern-day Paul Wellstone." One article said “Brown is way to the left of Ohio in general, but probably the only person who could outwork Brown is Portman.” Brown is the only candidate the 60 Plus Association targeted in the 2012 election cycle.

Mandel, 34, was elected state treasurer in 2010. Before that, he was a Lyndhurst City Councilman and Ohio State Representative. He was criticized as Ohio Treasurer for not fulfilling his pledge to serve a four-year term and for not attending any of the Board of Deposit monthly meetings. However, Mandel raised a lot of money. He was called a rising star in the Republican Party and was called "the rock star of the party." He was also compared to Marco Rubio.

Mandel's campaign was singled out by the independent fact-checking group Politifact for its "casual relationship with the truth" and its tendency to "double down" after inaccuracies were pointed out. The fact-checking group wrote: "For all the gifts Mandel has, from his compelling personal narrative as an Iraq war veteran to a well-oiled fundraising machine, whoppers are fast becoming a calling card of his candidacy."

Mandel raised $7.2 million through the first quarter of 2012. He had $5.3 million cash on hand, trailing Brown's $6.3 million. However, Mandel benefited from massive support from conservative out-of-state superPACs, which raise unlimited amounts of money from anonymous donors. These outside groups, including Crossroads GPS, aired over $60 million in TV advertising supporting Mandel and attacking Brown, outspending Democratically-aligned outside groups by more than five-to-one. Mandel's campaign was aided by over $1 million spent primarily on attack ads by a 501(c)(4) organization called the Government Integrity Fund. The group was funded by anonymous donors and run by lobbyist Tom Norris of Columbus, Ohio-based Cap Square Solutions.

Endorsements

Brown was endorsed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Columbus Dispatch, the Toledo Blade, the Youngstown Vindicator, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Akron Beacon-Journal.

Mandel was endorsed by the Warren Tribune-Chronicle and the Marietta Times.

Results

Brown did better than polls right before the election suggested. Instead of winning by two points (which polls right before the election had suggested) Brown won by six points. Republicans could not come back from the huge margins for the Democrats of Cuyahoga County, Franklin County, Lucas County, and Hamilton County.