It was no surprise, but the Central Committee of the Ohio Republican Party voted to formally endorse former President Donald Trump for re-election to that office next year.
Though there are several other candidates in the race, the committee endorsed Trump as the GOP presidential candidate. Ohio Republican Party Chair Alex Triantafilou said he’s encouraged by the vote.
“We want to send a signal that the nominating process needs to end and we need to unite and our focus needs to be on defeating a failed president – Joe Biden," Triantafilou said.
Trump won Ohio in 2016 and 2020, each time by about eight percentage points.
But there was no endorsement in the hotly contested race for U.S. Senate, which features Sen. Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls), businessman Bernie Moreno and Secretary of State Frank LaRose. The winner of that contest will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
The Ohio Democratic Party has already endorsed President Biden’s re-election. The party made that endorsement this past July.
The Ohio primary for president and U.S. Senate is in March, about 80 days from now.