Republicans inside and outside Ohio are pushing their favorite candidates to jump into the U.S. Senate race to challenge incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.
The field opened when Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel , and now Cleveland businessman Mike Gibbons is the sole competitor. But Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who had endorsed Mandel, says he鈥檚 been hearing from people wanting to jump in.
鈥淚 would assume there would be a lot of people who jump in,鈥� Portman says. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to think how many people have called me the last few days. I think its five different people said they might be interested that either texted or called me. So I think it鈥檒l be a spirited primary.鈥�
Portman says author J.D. Vance is 鈥渓ooking into it鈥� and gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci is 鈥渄efinitely looking into it.鈥� A spokesman for Renacci told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Congressman is .
Other possible candidates, such as Gov. John Kasich, Rep. Pat Tiberi and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor have all shot down rumors that they would enter the race.
Vance, the author of "Hillbilly Elegy," moved to Columbus after the 2016 election and that he considered, but decided against, running for U.S. Senate. In the meantime, he joined the bus tour to encourage Midwest startups.
But this week that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with Vance about jumping in the race. Unlike Gibbons, Vance has been critical of President Trump.
Gibbons doesn't plan to go down without a fight, though. This week, he'll put $5 million of his own money into his campaign. Before, he was trailing far behind both Mandel and Brown in fundraising.
