The Republican primary Ohio’s 9th congressional district — one of the nation’s most closely watched U.S. House races — was already messy. As NBC News reported, it just got a little worse.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the chair of the House Republican conference, announced [yesterday] that she was withdrawing her endorsement of Craig Riedel in a congressional race in Ohio after audio of Riedel talking about Trump leaked. “I was very disappointed in his inappropriate comments regarding President Trump,” Stefanik said on X [formerly Twitter]. “As we begin 2024, my focus is on ensuring we nominate the strongest candidates on the ballot who are committed to electing President Trump this November and expanding our House GOP Majority.”
For those who might benefit from a recap, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans thought they’d put the pieces in place to defeat Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. House. Those plans collapsed when local GOP voters ignored establishment-backed candidates and nominated J.R. Majewski, who was best known for his pro-Trump lawn art.
After Majewski won the primary, the public learned that the far-right candidate was far from truthful about his military record, at which point the party abandoned his candidacy, and Kaptur won by roughly 13 points.
Despite his failure, Majewski launched a comeback bid last year, only to drop out a month later. The Ohioan then reversed course again and announced a new candidacy against Kaptur.
This didn’t sit well with many party insiders — it’s tough to put a positive spin on exaggerations about military service, and that was not the far-right candidate’s only problem — who were delighted when state Rep. Craig Riedel announced he’d run against Majewski in a primary. He picked up Republican endorsements, including support from the House…
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