The chair of the Ohio Republican Party is facing a challenge to his leadership at the state party’s meeting next month, after a public feud with the Donald Trump campaign during the presidential race. Matt Borges is now apparently campaigning to keep his job.
Borges ended up backing Trump, but the lack of full throated support bothered some in the party. Trump’s Ohio campaign director Bob Paduchik, who announced a split with Borges at one point, is slated to be the national party’s deputy director. And Stark County GOP vice chair Jane Timken says she has the support of the President Elect to unseat Borges. But Borges said in a letter to the state central committee that he has in his corner House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, Senate President Keith Faber and incoming Senate President Larry Obhof, as well as at least four of Ohio’s 12 Republican members of Congress. Several statewide officials haven’t announced which side they’re on, including Gov. John Kasich, who continued to criticize Trump after dropping out of the presidential race, and the others who campaigned for Trump.
