COLUMBUS, Ohio — A leadership fight is emerging at the Ohio Republican Party with just two months to go until the Nov. 8 election.
Bryan Williams, chairman of the Summit County Republican Party and current state party vice-chair, announced Monday that he is challenging Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Paduchik at the party’s scheduled Sept. 9 organizational meeting. The meeting will be the state GOP’s first since the Aug. 2 election, when under-the-radar races for state central committee seats were held alongside elections for state legislative seats.
In a Monday interview, Williams said his backers include elements within the party who took issue with the state GOP’s decision to endorse Gov. Mike DeWine for re-election in the primary election in May. Williams personally voted to endorse DeWine, but said he disagrees with the way the process through which the endorsement was issued.
In the February state party vote, committee members voted 36-26 to endorse DeWine. The issue was contentious, with restive activists disrupting at least one meeting beforehand, leading Paduchik to impose stricter rules for public access to the meetings. Several committee members who endorsed DeWine, including Betty Montgomery, the ex-state attorney general, subsequently were among those who ended up losing their seats in the Aug. 2 election.
In an interview on Monday, Williams said the decision to call an endorsement vote in the first place has left the party with lingering divisions. DeWine ended up easily winning the May primary over ex-congressman Jim Renacci and Joe Blystone, a Central Ohio farmer, in part because Renacci and Blystone split the anti-DeWine vote.
“Mike DeWine was going to win the nomination with or without the endorsement, but that process infuriated a significant portion of our party who wanted to consider alternative candidates,” Williams said.
A vocal bloc of committee members, with backing from some conservative GOP activists, also have raised questions about internal party finances, unsuccessfully calling for the party to conduct and publicly release audits of its books dating back several years.
“There’s a whole host of issues in terms of his operational style that divide and weaken the party,” Williams said. “And that’s not the type of leadership I will provide. I will be the anthesis of that. And as a result, I think we will have a more united and energized party come the November election.”
