If You Live By the Data, Then You Must Respect What the Data Says

It says it is time for me to move on.

Data is my life. I’ve spent my career analyzing data, seeing results and trends most people miss. My bold colors agenda is chock full of data and policies driven by the data. In many ways, I live and die by data. When I set out to explore a run for Ohio governor, I did so with several key data points to help determine whether my exploration would turn into a full run. On the positive side, with the enormous effort of volunteers, I reached more than half the counties far more quickly than I had anticipated. Former gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone also kindly endorsed my effort, which I’ll always be grateful for. 

Despite these important items, however, other data points have been less than encouraging. First, while many Ohioans have gotten behind my effort, I have not seen the groundswell of grassroots support and word-of-mouth activities at a level I believe are needed to successfully run and win the Republican primary against the Establishment. My various social media accounts have not attracted followers at the volume indicating strong support. Later events where I spoke saw too few attendees or knowledge of what I’d done the past seven months. The reality is it simply is incredibly hard to break through the avalanche of information that vie for our attention on a daily basis. 

Next, it would be an understatement to acknowledge there is broad division among Ohio grassroots Republicans. We saw that division in August on State Issue 1, as Republicans split their votes. That split didn’t just defeat State Issue 1, it gave the Left in Ohio and across the Nation a strong narrative that Ohio can still be won and that the abortion issue is deadly for Republicans. I saw the split in other ways, too. Despite putting forth an agenda a true conservative should love, conservative media outlets in Ohio and nationally didn’t cover my campaign in any way. It is a massive problem that I received more coverage from the mainstream media than I did from Ohio’s conservative media outlets. 

As I said when I started, I have a great life and don’t need this job. I started exploring a run because I know Jon Husted won’t do what is needed to fix Ohio. I know him. He is a pale pastel politician lacking the backbone to fight the big fights. As a fifth generation Ohioan raising the sixth generation, I was willing to sacrifice to get Ohio back to the state that gave so much to my great, great grandpa, Herman Kroger, his son, Joe, and their progeny. That sacrifice, however, came with an expectation that my effort would spark a fire among grassroots Republicans. As the data shows, it didn’t. Thus, as a single parent, I cannot justify spending more time away from my teenage son who I only get to see half the time. As any parent raising a teenager knows, you don’t get to choose when they spend time with you…you just need to be available when they decide they want to spend time with you. With two daughters already in college, I know all too well how fast time goes by—time which you can never get back. He supported my effort enthusiastically, but I’ve always been a dad before anything else and being a good dad means putting what is best for him ahead of what is best for Ohio, especially if the sacrifice isn’t justified by the outcome.

Finally and, most importantly, I want to genuinely thank those Ohioans who volunteered, joined the movement, and made it out to events to hear me speak. I also want to thank those Ohioans who spread the word and supported my effort. The highlight of the last eight months was the old friendships I renewed and the new ones I’ve made. I hope those friendships continue. Lastly, I want to thank those Republican leaders who didn’t support my run but who nevertheless allowed me to speak to their groups like Dave Johnson in Columbiana County. We Republicans should always welcome a robust debate on the issues, but too many Republican leaders just want a coronation. That way got us John Kasich and Mike DeWine and the weak Ohio I've written and talked about.

As a result of the above, I am ending my exploratory run for governor. I will continue to do my important work at Opportunity Ohio to promote the policies our policymakers should adopt and the policies they should reject, as well as hold elected officials accountable for their acts and omissions. Please follow that work by visiting Opportunity Ohio's website (www.opportunityohio.org), following me on Twitter/X (@ohiomatt), or signing up for my Substack column "The Patriot Mind” (https://mattamayer.substack.com/). I will be shutting down the Facebook and Instagram accounts in the next few days, so please migrate to Twitter/X or Substack to keep getting the policy work and op-eds I produce in the coming months and years.

I’ve truly had a blast over the last eight months talking to so many patriotic Ohioans and seeing amazing parts of Ohio most never see, but having fun isn’t enough. If you live by the data, then you also must respect what it says. It says it is time for me to move on. Cheers!