(Headline USA) Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in his reelection bid after deciding against openly backing him in the primary.
Trump said DeWine “quietly, but professionally and patriotically, goes about doing his job,” in a statement Wednesday via his Save America PAC.
“Ohio has been in strong hands with the Economy ‘roaring,’ especially in the four years that I was President,” Trump said in the statement, offering a nod as well to DeWine’s running mate, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted while slamming Democrat campaign rival, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
“[C]rime rates in Dayton, under her leadership, have reached new highs,” Trump said.
“I know very well who she is, and she would send Ohio back to the Stone Ages,” he continued. “Mike DeWine and Jon Husted truly deserve my Complete and Total Endorsement, AND THEY’VE GOT IT—they will never let you down!”
DeWine fought off three challengers in the GOP primary in May and is a favorite to retain his office in November against Whaley, who has far less name recognition in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 2006.
Despite the generous endorsement from Trump, DeWine—a denier of the 2020 vote fraud—has been careful to say he’s a supporter of the former president without fully embracing him.
The governor’s suggestion in November 2020 that it was time for Trump to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the White House prompted a response from Trump who said in a tweet that he wondered who would challenge DeWine in the primary.
“Will be hotly contested!” Trump predicted.
There were other notable splits between the two during the pandemic over how they handled stay-at-home mandates and business shutdowns.
But Trump said in his endorsement that “things are really starting to look good in Ohio for Republicans, probably because they’ve seen the alternative, and the alternative is not good.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
