Mike Gibbons doesn’t want to be viewed as just a Trump-lane candidate in the quickly expanding field of GOP hopefuls running for U.S. Senate in Ohio.
“My lane is pretty simple,” said the 69-year-old investment banker from Cleveland, who joined the race this week. “I’m not a politician. I’m only going to tell you the truth. And I have a style that is — you expect more from a businessman and somebody that cares. I’m not going to be screaming slogans.”
But Mr. Gibbons’ own assessment of his candidacy sounds like it came from another businessman-turned-politician — Donald Trump, who helped turn “not a politician” into its own political brand.
And Mr. Gibbons isn’t exactly a political novice. He ran for Senate once before, in 2018’s five-way GOP primary that earned him almost 32 percent of the vote.
Mr. Gibbons lost the primary to former Rep. Jim Renacci, who switched at the last minute from the governor’s race to replace Josh Mandel, the former state treasurer whom Mr. Gibbons is again pitted against for the nomination, as well as Mr. Trump’s endorsement to help him get there.
In 2018, Mr. Trump backed Mr. Renacci, who lost to incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown. Despite Mr. Gibbons’ reputation as a Republican donor who says he raised more than $1 million for the former president’s first run, Mr. Trump and the GOP establishment threw their support behind Mr. Renacci.
Mr. Gibbons said that after the election, he was up for a job in the Trump administration, but wouldn’t have been able to divest from his business quickly enough.
In February, Mr. Gibbons stepped down as chairman of Ohio Strong Action, a PAC backing conservative candidates, including the former president, as a precursor to running.
Now Mr. Gibbons is again vying for Mr. Trump’s attention, but said at this stage he’s more focused on reaching as many Republican voters as possible, especially those who backed him in 2018, and highlighting his conservative credentials.
“It would be great to have Donald Trump’s endorsement, I think because he’s still popular in Ohio,” he said, but added: “I hope he doesn’t endorse anybody, or at least he endorses somebody who really is vetted and [he] understands what that person believes.”
Mr. Gibbons referenced a meeting last month between himself and three other Senate hopefuls — Mr. Mandel, former Ohio GOP chairman Jane Timken, and Cleveland car dealer Bernie Moreno — at Mr. Trump’s Florida golf club, where each of the candidates appealed to Mr. Trump for his backing.
“I went there because the fix was in, and we all knew it was in,” Mr. Gibbons said. “Jane Timken is very well connected to the insiders that work with Trump. Frankly, I think she was promised the endorsement of Donald Trump because she was chair of the party. We all suspected that. Everybody did. That was why three of the four people were in that room ... to try and convince him to stay out of it.
“There were promises made — that was my understanding — and we wanted a fair shot. I don’t believe I got a fair shot last time.”
Mr. Gibbons said he hasn’t spoken to Sen. Rob Portman since the two-term senator announced his planned retirement in 2022. But he had talked to the senator when his investment firm was involved with the Lordstown Motors acquisition of GM’s former northeast Ohio plant. Mr. Gibbons said his firm, Brown Gibbons Lang & Company, were exclusive advisers to Lordstown Motors.
“It was almost an impossible task,” he said of the getting the electric-truck startup off the ground. “I had been in Mahoning County and Trumbull County and up in that area, and I knew firsthand how important this could be for the state.”
Republican Reps. Steve Stivers and Mike Turner are also considering launching bids, as well as venture capitalist and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, whom Axios has reported is telling associates that he plans to run. On the Democratic side, Rep. Tim Ryan is expected to announce his campaign in the coming weeks.
First Published April 16, 2021, 12:00 p.m.
