Ohio GOP Senate candidate assails Trump-backed foe
As voters went to the polls in Tuesday’s primary elections, Ohio Republican Senate candidate Melissa Ackison told FOX Business that policies championed by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown have been bad for residents but Republicans have had trouble fielding strong opponents.
“The man has been in office since 1974, never held a job in the private sector,” she said during an interview on “The Evening Edit” program. “He has never started small businesses, yet this is the man who is legislating for folks.”
Ackison, who runs a surveying company with her husband, Rich, said establishment Republicans have continuously produced poor candidates to replace Brown. She is running in the primary against Republican Rep. Jim Renacci, for whom President Donald Trump recorded a robocall, and investment banker Mike Gibbons.
“You need a formidable opponent to take Sherrod Brown out, and I’ve got news for everyone, endorsement or not from the president, it’s not going to be Jim Renacci,” Ackison said.
Ackison said she has been campaigning for more than nine months and has heard from Ohio voters that they don’t want an established candidate who is using the Trump agenda to fire up the base.
“They don’t want business as usual, and a Jim Renacci, that’s business as usual,” she said.
She warned that a candidate representing himself under the Trump banner won’t be enough to remove Brown from office.
“Sherrod Brown has really gained a stronghold and has been able to create himself as this character who could somehow relate to the middle class,” Ackison said.