Jane Timken: ‘I have the best ground game’ for GOP US Senate race in Ohio

Ohio U.S. Senate hopeful Jane Timken says her campaign has crushed the tarmac like no other candidate competing in the May 3 Republican primary.

, Timken — the former chair of the Ohio Republican Party — told “Spicer and Co.” co-hosts Lyndsay Keith and Logan Gidley that her team and support staff have personally reached out to 1.4 million Ohio voters.

“We have the best ground game … this is going to be a turnout race. This is going to be who can turn out their voters,” said Timken, an Ohio native. “I have the best ground game to do that, and we’re going to be out campaigning every day. We’re going to win this race.”

In her countless conversations with Ohio voters, Timken says three campaign issues stand out: the chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border, the United States experiencing 40-year highs in inflation, and the Parental Bill of Rights involving educational problems with children.

“We have too much at stake [with the November midterms]. Inflation is skyrocketing, the borders are burning, and parents want someone who’s going to stand up for them, and their rights in education,” Timken said.

According to Real Clear Politics, a site that tracks polls for the midterm elections, Republican candidates Josh Mandel (leading one poll) and Mike Gibbons (two polls) are the current front-runners with Ohio GOP voters.

But that won’t deter Timken from fantasizing of a Republican primary victory … and then a general-election Senate battle, likely taking on Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.

“I’m the one who can defeat Tim Ryan. I have a history of defeating Democrats as chair of the Republican Party. The blue wave crashed in Ohio,” Timken said.

“We kept our congressional delegation. … I delivered Ohio for President Trump by more than [8 points in 2020]. The people who were in the trenches and the real [Make America Great Again] supporters know who was there.”

Earlier this week, GOP candidate JD Vance received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, earning the signal over GOP contenders Timken, Mandel, Gibbons, Matt Dolan, Bill Graham, and Neil Patel.

“Trump’s endorsement of JD Vance was disappointing, but we are still planning on winning this race,” Timken said.

Sen. Rob Portman, she said, “has endorsed me over 200 elected officials. Look, [Trump’s] endorsement of JD Vance has, quite frankly, upset a lot of the Trump base, especially because they know what JD Vance said about President Trump back in 2016.”

Timken continued: “JD Vance was a self-proclaimed Never Trumper. He called, most prominently, the Trump Ohio voters ‘uneducated’ and ‘racists’ at the Ohio Republican primary. Voters have not forgotten that and … and we are out there every single day, earning the vote of Ohio Republican primary voters.”

Along with Rep. Ryan, Morgan Harper and Traci Johnson are also running in the Democratic primary. Libertarian Dominic LaCavera, Shawn Mousourakis of the Veterans America Party and three independent candidates will be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot