The Republican group Winning for Women on Tuesday rolled out a seven-figure ad buy supporting Ohio Senate candidate Jane Timken ahead of May’s primary.
The $1.4 million television, radio, digital and mail campaign marks the group’s first spending in the 2022 cycle. The campaign will hit the television and radio airwaves for three weeks in the Columbus, Toledo, and Youngstown media markets. It will also include digital and mail efforts in the region.
The new ads paint Timken as a “Trump conservative” and an “America First conservative,” underscoring what has become a theme of the entire GOP primary. Timken, businessman Mike Gibbons, author J.D. Vance and former state Treasurer Josh Mandel have all openly jockeyed for Trump’s endorsement — and have received blowback from one another over claims of closeness to Trump.
On Monday, Gibbons rolled out an ad tying himself to the former president and questioning Timken’s and Vance’s support for Trump. Timken released an ad last month touting her support for Trump while accusing the other challengers of being like men who “overcompensate.”
While Trump has yet to back someone in the primary, Timken received the biggest endorsement yet from retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). That endorsement was promptly followed by endorsements from Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).
Portman’s endorsement has been viewed as a boost for Timken, who has struggled to break into the upper tier of the race.
Many Ohio Republicans have wondered whether Portman’s endorsement could be a prelude to an endorsement from Trump.
But the latest polling shows Gibbons in the lead among GOP primary voters. An Emerson College-The Hill poll released last week showed him with 22 percent support. Mandel trailed at 15 percent support, while Vance came in at 8 percent. Timken and state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) each received 6 percent support. Another 39 percent of Republican primary voters said they were undecided.