Renacci attacks democracy with the Big Lie

Jim Renacci, candidate for Ohio Governor, is now peddling the dangerous lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen in multiple states. That makes him a threat to democracy and unfit to lead our State.

He says the election was stolen

On 1/26/22, Renacci said that President Biden’s victory was “stolen” from Trump in “some states”:

“As governor I will never let an election be stolen as it was in some states in 2020 against President Trump.”

It’s fine to promise proper elections in the future, but it’s unacceptable to falsely declare that Biden’s win in multiple states was not valid. This lie actually shows his willingness to participate in attempting to steal a presidential election!

Targets DeWine for stating facts

Renacci is the one ruining faith in democracy here. Governor DeWine correctly recognized Biden’s presidential victory about a week after election day 2020. It’s not “taking sides” to accept the outcome of an election. It is honoring state certified results as the US Constitution demands. Renacci suggests that Republicans should not accept an electoral loss, which is the very antithesis of democracy.

No widespread voter fraud

He criticizes the idea that there was “no fraud”, but there has been no evidence of large scale voter fraud that could have changed the result. He doesn’t say exactly how much fraud he believes there was, or even which states’ results weren’t valid, but his message is clear: Jim Renacci backs the false narrative of a fraudulent, stolen election.

“President Trump called Mike DeWine a RINO for refuting that the 2020 election was stolen. If elected I will protect our elections to re-elect Donald Trump in 2024.”

Here Renacci shows his support for the Big Lie by echoing Trump’s attack on anyone who acknowledges his obvious loss. Protecting our elections means accepting the outcome even in defeat, whereas protecting the Governor’s preferred outcome is an attack on our elections.

Keeping company with Big Lie promoters

Renacci teamed up with former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, who had planted ideas that “voter fraud is going to be rampant” ahead of the 2020 election, saying, “If it’s not going to be rampant, everyone’s going to think it’s rampant.” Parscale also planned preemptive election lawsuits, foreshadowing Trump’s various attempts to steal the election.

On 2/11/22, Renacci announced he’s partnering with Mike Lindell, who promoted a fake “miracle” COVID-19 cure, whose pillow company earned an F rating from the Better Business Bureau, and is being sued by Smartmatic and Dominion for his lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

Renacci was “thrilled” by Lindell’s endorsement and called him a “patriot”. But hours later, we learn that Lindell does not endorse him after all! Rival candidate Joe Blystone called Renacci a liar, sharing a screenshot of an image where Mike Lindell purportedly says, “Tell them I am not endorsing him !!!!” Blystone supporter Douglas Frank accused Renacci of “dirty politics”.

Parscale then posted messages purportedly received by Renacci’s running mate Joe Knopp from Mike Lindell, saying, “Yes Joe for sure get the word out that you guys have my endorsement.” (Did Lindell confuse Joe Knopp for Joe Blystone?)

Parscale said he “thought Mike Lindell was an honorable man”, but anyone can see that Lindell is about as dishonorable as it gets. It serves them right to face humiliation for dealing with liars and con artists.

Blystone is in on the Big Lie too

Joe Blystone and Douglas Frank are villainous in their own right. Frank has traveled the country promoting a flawed analysis in support of the Big Lie, and Blystone has criticized Secretary of State for “refus[ing] to meet with Dr. Frank to examine evidence of voter fraud.”

Blystone’s website has a graphic that says, “This election was stolen from America.” He calls for “a full, forensic audit of the 2020 November election.” He claims his family’s votes did not appear on the voter file, saying “Our vote has been stolen!” Blystone donated to Trump’s Make America Great Committee on 11/9, days after announcements that Biden had won and Trump was ramping up his election lies and declaring, “This was a RIGGED ELECTION!”

He also claimed in a Facebook live video that Trump won Ohio by twice as much as he actually did. He said, “LaRose doesn’t have any idea what’s going on in this state. The Secretary of State, and he has no clue. … I can unequivocally prove Trump won this State by 15 points. … If we don’t clean this mess up this year, we’ll never have a fair election ever again. If [LaRose] can’t clean this up this year, we’re going to drag him into the street and fire him.”

Columbus Dispatch: Grassroots leader or shady spoiler? Why Joe Blystone is running for Ohio governor

The biggest fraud was committed by Trump’s campaign

Trump’s campaign is being investigated for criminally orchestrating counterfeit elector certificates in at least 5 states, and faces allegations of corruptly seeking to obstruct Congress’ proceeding to count electoral votes. Renacci’s support for Trump’s crimes means he cannot be trusted with Ohio’s highest office, and Blystone’s nod to Trump’s Big Lie is not much better.

They should look to Republican Senate candidate Matt Dolan for what real leadership looks like:

DeWine wins the primary

On 5/3/22, incumbent Mike DeWine won the Republican primary, with the opposition vote split between Renacci and Blystone. This is a victory over the Big Lie in Ohio’s gubernatorial race. DeWine will face off against Nan Whaley in November, after she beat John Cranley on the Democratic side.

Blystone posted on Twitter, Facebook and his website encouraging people “to carefully document every anomaly you entered while voting”, alongside a photo labeled “voter fraud”.

In a separate video, he accused his opponents of censoring, lying, and using the government against him. He said he’s not done fighting, and that he will be looking into county vote tallies because he got “many messages” about voting machines and ballots. He’s pushing for investigations and says “stay tuned”. He criticized open primaries for crossover votes for a “RINO”. He said “uniformed voters … voted the tyrant back into the seat” and that we’re going to have to live with DeWine for another four years, the closest he gets to conceding that DeWine is the winner.

Ex-Ohio governor candidate Joe Blystone fined $105K, can’t run for office for 5 years

1/5/23: Blystone was found to have violated campaign finance laws, and was fined $105k and can’t run for office for 5 years.

Renacci posted that he’s “disappointed that we fell short last night”, seemingly accepting the results:

References

buckeyereporter.com/stories/619027271-i-will-never-let-an-election-be-stolen-gop-gubernatorial-challenger-pledges-to-bolster-ohio-election-security