COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — On Monday night, NBC4 brought you a debate from the three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in Ohio, who all are vying for a chance to unseat Democrat incumbent Sherrod Brown.
Back in 2018 then-congressman Jim Renacci took on Brown and lost, despite getting an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Renacci said he has not endorsed anyone in this year’s Republican primary and does not plan on it but shared his thoughts about the debate.
“I don’t think anybody just totally stood out,” he said. “We clearly have three candidates in this race, three Republicans with three very distinct places, but I’m not sure they distinguished themselves as to who can best go to Washington.”
Renacci said he thinks while the candidates — Bernie Moreno, Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan — stood firmly on Republican ideals about issues like the southern border, they all were missing a key component to their strategies.
“What I saw tonight was a little bit of jabbing back and forth, I didn’t see that likeableness come out,” Renacci said.
During the debate, candidates tried to align themselves with Trump on several occasions. Moreno, like Renacci, received the coveted endorsement from Trump. Renacci said that could carry a lot of weight as he said the Republican party in Ohio has changed.
“I’ve said many times, Ohio is not a ‘Republican state,’ it’s a ‘Trump state’ today,” he said. “They [the candidates] are never going to give up that Trump base. They need it. Not only in the primary, but they also need it in the general election.”
And while we heard candidates talk about issues like abortion, the economy, and government shutdowns, Renacci said he did not hear concrete solutions from the candidates.
“It’s easy to talk about what they want to do, but they’re only one of 100 if they get elected and they have to be able to move something forward,” Renacci said. “What I’d love to hear any one of them say is ‘What are you going to do as one person out of 100 to help Ohio and send the country in the right direction?’”
He said he thinks all three candidates are good men, but said no matter what, defeating Brown is an uphill battle.
“Defeating an incumbent is very, very difficult,” Renacci said. “You have to find the weakness, because, let’s face it, people don’t like change. If you’re an incumbent, you have the power of the incumbency, the power of money behind you.”
Renacci said he hopes Ohioans had the chance to learn more about each candidate.
“I think what they did is they presented their positions,” Renacci said. “I do think Frank LaRose stuck to the policies a little more than the other candidates.”
We are just under two months away from the primary election and the deadline to register to vote for one of these candidates is in less than one month on Feb. 20.