Over the last few weeks, my team and I have heard that former Congressman and three-time statewide losing candidate Jim Renacci is telling folks that I’m “not serious” about running for Ohio governor. I have to laugh given how much time I spent putting together the most detailed agenda any candidate for governor has EVER given Ohioans, how much effort my team and I have spent reaching out to all eighty-eight counties to schedule speaking engagements, and how many miles I’ve accumulated driving to the three dozen counties I’ve spoken to. As the video clip above shows, Ohioans really like what they are hearing.
As I layout to Renacci, I’ve never been more serious about anything in my professional career.
A special thanks to Joe Blystone for sending this message to his followers after seeing my Renacci posts. Joe set the standard in 2022 for running a grassroots campaign that attracted 22% of Republican primary voters despite being grossly outspent by DeWine-Husted and Renacci. Joe won twenty-three counties in the 2022 primary and took 2nd in another forty counties after spending under $700,000! In his third statewide race, Renacci only won two counties and got 2nd in twenty-three counties (and got just 67,000 more votes than Joe largely from the Establishment big counties) after spending seven times more than Joe at roughly $5,000,000. It won’t be easy, but if I can earn Joe’s voters plus another 10-15% of DeWine-Husted’s and Renacci’s voters, we will win the 2026 primary.
Ohio is hurting. It is losing people with a weak job market and economy, especially outside of Columbus and Cincinnati. After fifteen years of trying to get policymakers to act, it is clear they won’t so someone needs to step up to lead. While I have a great life doing what I do now, I feel called to raise a banner of bold colors in contrast to the pale pastels pushed by Mike DeWine, Jon Husted, Dave Yost, and Renacci. As I like to say, if you want more of the status quo pale pastels, I’m definitely not your guy. If, however, you agree with me that Ohio needs bold color ideas to move to the front of the pack, then there is no one other than me raising that flag.
As the picture below shows, Ohio has 0.75 people on Medicaid to every private sector worker. That ratio is simply unhealthy, which is why state spending is going north of $40 billion with Medicaid swallowing 50% of the budget annually. It prevents us from eliminating the state income tax, investing in key infrastructure like a world class airport, and drives dependency on government. Our supermajority Republican legislature is doing too little to end this madness, as DeWine and Husted lead from behind. They applaud themselves for lowering rates a bit…it is appalling.
At any rate, listen to last week’s interview on the Bruce Hooley Show when we talked about Ohio’s failure to enact universal school choice, DeWine-Husted leading from behind, Ohio losing our key working age populations, the failure of Republicans to hit the repulsive Adam Schiff hard, and why Donald Trump won’t be convicted in South Florida.
Finally, I cannot stress this simple fact enough: we will not be able to overcome the pale pastel career politicians backed by the Establishment without the help of you and everyone you know. So, please share my effort with everyone you know and get them to follow my campaign on social media (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook) and to join the movement. The bigger our social media following gets, the louder our voice will be and the more worried the Establishment will get. And, if you lead or are part of a group, reach out to Lizzie (MAYER4GOVERNORADMIN@proton.me) to schedule me to come speak in your county. Our goal is to hit forty-four by the end of July and all eighty-eight by next July. We can't do it without you!!
We Must Be Doing Something Right