Going all-in on one of the election's largest bellwether states, former President Donald Trump has endorsed incumbent GOP Gov. Mike DeWine, despite having been at odds, along with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted for reelection.
"Things are really starting to look good in Ohio for Republicans, probably because they've seen the alternative, and the alternative is not good," Trump wrote in a Save America PAC statement posted Wednesday.
"I won Ohio twice, in a landslide, and we may have to do it again!"
Trump has already boosted GOP Senate nominee J.D. Vance in Ohio, seeking to retain the Senate seat of retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
"With a heated Senate race where J.D. Vance is pulling ahead of a 'RINO Democrat,' Tim Ryan, who has tied himself to me rather than Biden, yet he's voted 100% for Biden's destructive economic policies, little has been said about the race for governor, where we have an outstanding person running, Mike DeWine, who quietly, but professionally and patriotically, goes about doing his job, and really well.
"Running alongside his very talented and loyal Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, Ohio has been in strong hands with the economy 'roaring,' especially in the four years that I was president."
The endorsement of the incumbents comes just 10 days before Trump is headed for a Save America rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday, Sept. 17, which will air live on Newsmax.
"This great team is running against a terrible person, and failed Mayor Nan Whaley, where crime rates in Dayton, under her leadership, have reached new highs," Trump continued. "I know very well who she is, and she would send Ohio back to the Stone Ages.
"Mike DeWine and Jon Husted truly deserve my complete and total endorsement, AND THEY'VE GOT IT — they will never let you down!"
Trump was not always effusive in praise for DeWine. He once slammed the Ohio governor at a spring Save America rally.
"We had this terrible governor that you had: Terrible, terrible guy, and he was fighting us," Trump told the crowd.
Trump has come around in Ohio before. He once trashed Vance for saying, "he's the guy that said some bad s**t about me," before ultimately endorsing him in the GOP Senate primary.
DeWine once suggested Trump "started a fire that threatened to burn down our democracy" Jan. 6, 2021, causing the rift that has since healed.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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