Credit: Abigail S. Fisher via TNS
Former Ohio Treasurer and two-term Ohio State Undergraduate Student Government president Josh Mandel will make his third bid for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat as a Republican in 2022.
Mandel launched his campaign Wednesday, with a message of support for former President Donald Trump amid Trump’s second impeachment trial. Trump is accused of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“Watching this sham and unconstitutional impeachment has made my blood boil and motivated me to run for U.S. Senate,” Mandel said in a press release on his website. “It’s sickening to see radical liberals and fake Republicans in Washington engage in this second assault on President Donald Trump and the millions of us who supported him.”
Mandel first ran in 2012 but was defeated by incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown — a fellow Ohio State graduate and former faculty member. He made a second run in 2018 but dropped out early in the race, citing family health concerns.
Mandel served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2007-11, representing Ohio’s 17th district before becoming Ohio Treasurer after a successful 2010 campaign.
In the wake of the insurrection, Mandel called Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH-16), the lone Ohio Republican who voted to impeach Trump, a “total phony, fake Republican,” and called for his resignation on Twitter.
In the primary election, Mandel faces likely competition from Jane Timken, who resigned from her position as chairperson of the Ohio Republican Party one week ago to explore a run for the Senate.
Two Democrats have also signaled interest in the Senate seat; Rep. Tim Ryan, who represents the 13th District — which includes the city of Youngstown and areas east of Akron — and former director of the Ohio Department of Health Dr. Amy Acton — who left her post at the Columbus Foundation to consider running.
According to his website, Mandel was the first statewide elected official in Ohio to back then-candidate Trump in 2016, and in 2020, he was one of the only Ohioans to be part of the “Trump 500” club, raising $500,000 for the Trump campaign.
Mandel was USG president from 1998-2000. After graduating from Ohio State in 2000, Mandel served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve until 2008 and was deployed to Anbar Province, Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
