Just how many sensible Republicans are left in the state of Ohio? For Free Press fans it’s a cringe worthy question but during these times, well worth asking.

The upcoming GOP gubernatorial primary could further expose what many are so very worried about – is MAGA (Make America Great Again) in Ohio fading or is it growing?

If MAGA’s anger is intensifying, this isn’t good news for the mostly lefty island that is Columbus, considering the region is on the verge of becoming a legitimate tech hub such as Austin, Texas, and will need to attract skilled young professionals.

Yet unbeknownst to many Ohioans is how GOP candidate and Trump loyalist Jim Renacci could win the upcoming May 3 primary, defeating incumbent Mike DeWine, considered a RINO (Republican in Name Only) by many Ohio conservatives and whom Trump wants primaried.  

Indeed, are DeWine’s days numbered, a la Hillary 2016?  

The Free Press has been reading emails sent from Renacci’s campaign and listening to him speak on the local ultra-conservative (and very MAGA) 610 AM radio station, where he is a frequent guest of late as the channel blasts DeWine for his handling of the pandemic.

In these campaign emails, Renacci is dog-whistling MAGA as only a desperate Trumpster can. For instance, mentioning DeWine’s connections to Les Wexner and his relation to Jeff Epstein. And, wait for it, he won’t stop yapping about the "Big Lie."

“Mike DeWine never shuts up about masks, but suddenly ‘declines to comment’ when asked about RINO Liz Cheney and election integrity, which Ohio Republican voters care much more about?” asked Renacci in an email sent this week. “Mike ‘Decline’ DeWine is always declining to answer any questions about voter fraud or the 2020 election. He’s never answered the question that the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans want to know!”

Renacci campaign’s self-funded polls show him defeating DeWine and the other Republican candidate Joe Blystone, who is also MAGA. The GOP in several Ohio counties have overwhelmingly voted to endorse Renacci, such as Clermont and Strongsville, while the Franklin County GOP has endorsed DeWine.

Renacci and others say DeWine’s re-election campaign has spent tens of thousands on his own polls, but is refusing to release the results because they would reveal his impending defeat.

There is good news, though, for DeWine. The neutral Trafalgar Group polled 1,066 likely GOP primary voters earlier this month and found 40 percent voting for DeWine, 22 percent for Renacci and 20 percent for Blystone, with 16 percent undecided or refusing to vote. In 2016, the Trafalgar Group was one of the few polls showing Trump would win.

But another new poll of 626 Republican voters released earlier this week and commissioned by the Democratic Governors Association showed 40 percent approving DeWine’s job performance and 41 disapproving.

Renacci has not received Trump’s endorsement, but he’s bent on winning it. Renacci served from 2011 to 2019 as US Representative for the gerrymandered Ohio’s 16th congressional district which encompasses parts of northeast Ohio. In 2018, he ran for US Senate and lost to Democrat incumbent Sherrod Brown, even though he had been endorsed by Trump.

One of Renacci’s main campaign promises this time around is “election integrity.” He announced an “Overhaul Ohio” pledge to protect our election integrity in 2024 and believes a “forensic audit” should be conducted nationwide every four years.

He urged Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to keep investigating the 2020 vote even though Trump won the state handily and that Ohio House Majority Leader Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) has repeatedly said Ohio conducted an “outstanding election,” and the state has “an exceptional voting system.”

Renacci is apparently so concerned about “election integrity” he served as one of the two Medina County GOP Board of Election board members in 2021 so to better understand the voting process. Medina County GOP nominated Renacci to be on the board and LaRose approves all Ohio BOE board members, two from each party.

Renacci insists he’s doing all this so “elections procedures nationwide are free from fraud and can be trusted by all voters, regardless of their party,” as stated by a campaign email.

But is Renacci pulling a fast one on Ohio MAGA? He may be pushing the ‘Big Lie’ so to entice MAGA and doesn’t believe the conspiracy theory himself, but that appears unlikely.

The Free Press asked his campaign organizers: Does candidate Renacci believe the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen from Trump? They did not offer a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

“Jim Renacci has voiced his concerns about upholding election integrity. He believes Ohio has a better system than other states. He believes there were issues with other states that effected the election in 2020 overall,” stated Renacci campaign spokesperson Eileen McShea in an email.

No doubt there’s a disconcerting number of Republican BOE board members across Ohio who are MAGA and endorse the ‘Big Lie.’ But they don’t have the clout or power that Renacci has, or are they personally connected to Trump, or plausibly Michael Flynn or Sidney Powell.

Which makes the Free Press take pause – Jim Renacci as a BOE board member does not pass the smell test during these contested times.

Nevertheless, one of the two Medina County BOE Democrat board members told the Free Press that Renacci never gave her a feeling he took the position to uncover some type of evidence or proof the 2020 presidential election was stolen. 

“Everything we do is bipartisan. And when he came on our board he was frank at the beginning that he wanted to know how the election process worked in Medina County and across Ohio. So he asked a lot of questions,” said Pamela Miller, one of Medina’s BOE Democrats. “He never did anything I thought that was out of line.”

Miller says he kept saying over and over that he wanted to educate himself.

“I knew underneath it all he wanted to see that there was something wrong, and I think he found that there wasn’t,” she said. “You work with who you have to work with on the Board of Elections, and I try to make the best of it, and it actually worked out better than I thought it would.”

What could help derail any continuing MAGA surge in Ohio are the Ohio Democrats, but the state party has been pushed towards irrelevance for a decade. Their gubernatorial candidates for the May 3 primary are former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. 

Matt Keyes, Ohio Democrat spokesperson, says Mike DeWine is “way underwater even within his own party,” and there’s one thing both Republicans and Democrats can agree on.

“How bad a job Mike DeWine is doing,” said Keyes. “And so the fact that a sad candidate like Jim Renacci even has a shot in this primary goes to show how weak Mike DeWine is going into the primary and this general election.”

Keyes says a lot of Ohio conservatives are concerned about DeWine’s connection to the HB 6 scandal, the culture of corruption at the Statehouse, and how he’s walked back his pandemic response in response to the extremists in the GOP controlled legislature.

“What this points to is that Mike DeWine is in real trouble in the election year here,” he said.

Keyes said don’t count out the Democratic challenger in November.

“If Renacci gets through the primary, [don’t forget] how Renacci lost two races in one year when he tried to run for both Governor and Senate,” said Keyes, referring to how Renacci dropped out of the Governor’s race to join the Senate race, which he lost to Sherrod Brown.

Keyes said Republicans across the board in Ohio, from Frank LaRose to Josh Mandel, are spreading lies about the 2020 Presidential Election.

“They seem more interested in securing the approval and endorsement of this failed blogger from Florida, Donald Trump, than fighting for what Ohioans care about,” he said. “Democrats are out here working overtime to secure historic investments in infrastructure while Republicans seem more interested in replaying the 2020 election and spreading lies and misinformation about it.”