The GOP establishment fears another bad candidate could cost them an Ohio special election
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State Sen. Troy Balderson has picked up an endorsement for the May 8 GOP primary from former Rep. Pat Tiberi, who represented Ohio's 12th Congressional District until he resigned at the beginning of the year to lead an industry lobbying group. But Tiberi, whThe GOP establishment fears another bad candidate could cost them an Ohio special election
State Sen. Troy Balderson has picked up an endorsement for the May 8 GOP primary from former Rep. Pat Tiberi, who represented Ohio's 12th Congressional District until he resigned at the beginning of the year to lead an industry lobbying group. But Tiberi, who still had a massive $5.78 million in Friends of Tiberi, his old campaign account, at the end of March, isn't stopping there. Friends of Tiberi is spending $147,000 on an ad staring the former congressman praising Balderson as «a conservative fighter» who shares «the same values and wonderful story that make our country great.» This is the second major outside group that's aired ads for Balderson: Defending Main Street, a super PAC set up to stop anti-establishment candidates from winning GOP primaries, recently began a $240,000 ad campaign to support him. Defending Main Street is the political arm of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which Tiberi was involved with in the House. Tiberi's decision to get involved here may be about a whole lot more than just him liking Balderson. The nihilistic House Freedom Caucus's allied House Freedom Action group has begun spending for Liberty Township Trustee Melanie Leneghan, and some establishment Republicans tell the Columbus Dispatch that they're afraid that she could win the primary. One Republican privately told the paper that they're worried an ultra-conservative nominee like Leneghan could cost them the August special election in this 53-42 Trump seat. (The primary for both the special election and the regular two-year term will be on May 8.) Another Republican also said that GOP donors were unhappy that they had no idea which non-Leneghan candidate they should back, and frustrated that NRCC chair Steve Stivers was essentially helping Leneghan by refusing to take sides or give them any sort of guidance. Tiberi, who was a close ally of the House leadership, could make it easier to stop Leneghan by declaring that Balderson is the candidate to back. State Sen. Kevin Bacon and Delaware County Prosecutor Carol O’Brien are both competing with Balderson for establishment support. And national Republicans may have good reason to fear that Leneghan will be a weak nominee. Back in 2012, Leneghan was issued a formal reprimand by her colleagues after Kelly Imler, who was Liberty Township's only front-line female firefighter, recounted Leneghan telling her, «You’re the girl, the girl firefighter, the token female.» Another firefighter also said that Leneghan had made «snide comments about Imler being a single woman and sleeping in the same engine house as ‘all those male firefighters.» Read more