How David Taylor beat 10 other Republicans for open 2nd Congressional District seat
In a battle among pro-Donald Trump, pro-gun and pro-border security Republicans, David Taylor came out on top Tuesday in southern Ohio.
Taylor beat out 10 other Republican candidates to succeed U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who is retiring at the end of the year to spend more time with family. Taylor won with 25% of the vote based on unofficial results Tuesday night. He will face Democrat Samantha Meadows in November and will be the heavy favorite in the Republican stronghold of the 2nd Congressional District.
"I am honored by the trust the voters have placed in me today," Taylor said in a statement posted on social media after his victory on Tuesday. "I am exceptionally grateful to my family, friends and our countless volunteers that made tonight's victory possible."
Taylor and his campaign didn't immediately return messages Tuesday night.
Here are four takeaways from Taylor's win.
Geography is a big factor
Voters went with whom they knew.
Voters in Taylor's home county, Clermont County, delivered the nomination, and likely the congressional seat for him. The 2nd Congressional District stretches over 16 counties in southern Ohio. Much of it is rural with some industrial towns, such as Portsmouth along the Ohio River. It's the suburbs east of Cincinnati in Clermont County where a bulk of the population, about 27%, lives.
It was here that Taylor won about 11,000 of his 26,000 votes, based on unofficial election night results. He won one other county, Adams County, which gave him an additional 2,000 votes.
This provided the difference in the 3,500 vote margin between him and second-place finisher Tim O'Hara.
Republicans knew Taylor in Clermont County, where he has worked as an assistant prosecutor and lives in the suburban area of Amelia. He also runs a local concrete company, Sardinia Ready Mix.
He won the endorsement of the Clermont County Republican Party.
Other candidates won their hometown areas, which had far fewer people than Clermont County.
O'Hara won Brown County, where he lives, with 4,000 votes. Larry Kidd, who finished third overall, won counties in the eastern portion of the district where he lives.
Trump's presence loomed
While Trump didn't endorse any candidates, his presence loomed over the race. In 2020, Trump won the 2nd Congressional District by a 3-to-1 margin, the largest margin of Ohio's 15 congressional districts.
Most of the Republican candidates jockeyed to claim they were the former president's biggest supporter. Going against Trump did not pay off for one of the candidates. Phil Heimlich, a former Cincinnati councilman and Hamilton County commissioner, has run in recent years as an anti-Trump Republican. He hoped to distance himself from the other 10 candidates as the candidate opposed to Trump. Heimlich won the endorsement of former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican critical of Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and one of 10 Republicans in the U.S. House who voted to impeach Trump.
Heimlich received 5% of the vote.
Big spending paid off
The top three candidates in this race all spent more than $1 million of their own money on the race, based on the latest reports filed in March with the Federal Election Commission. Taylor spent the most, putting $1.7 million into his campaign. Kidd, a Jackson County businessman and former county GOP vice chair, spent $1.28 million on his campaign. He came in third with 19%. O'Hara put in $1.1 million in his own money for his second-place finish.
Candidates spent their money flooding mailboxes with mailers and making some memorable ads.
In one ad, Taylor got behind a bulldozer saying, "I know a thing or two about building a wall." In another ad, O'Hara, a former Marine drill instructor, ran a "congressional boot camp" yelling at suit-clad politicians, "I've seen Biden move faster!"
Voters responded to ads, literature
Taylor's campaign literature convinced Keith Baker to vote for him. Baker didn't know which of the 11 Republican congressional candidates he would vote for as he walked into his polling place in Clermont County's Union Township on Tuesday. Someone handed him a Taylor flyer on the way in.
On one side of the flyer, Taylor, with a subtle smile, held a shotgun over one shoulder. On the other was a picture of a smiling Taylor and his wife. Above the photos, Taylor listed his stances on issues: for stricter controls on the country's southern border, for gun rights, against abortion and tough on drug dealers.
“He just looked like he had the same ideals as I have based on that flyer there,” Baker, 62, said. “Go down the line, securing America, Bidenomics is killing us. The gun rights are extremely important to me. I’m pro-life and then the border, stopping fentanyl.”
His wife, Kathy Baker, 63, voted for Tim O’Hara. She already knew who she wanted to vote for on the way to the ballot box. She credited, in part, O’Hara’s drill sergeant ad for swaying her vote.
“That helped,” Baker said. “It did.”
She said O’Hara convinced her he would stand up for what she believes in. Her top issue? Border security and stricter controls to prevent illegal immigration.
“I want it to be stopped,” she said. “I want somebody to shut it down.”
Taylor's presence on the television and radio airwaves paid off as well. That's how Jason Walton, 43, of Union Township, knew about him. For Walton, it came down to Taylor or Kidd.
“I think I went with David Taylor,” said Walton. “I listen to talk radio all day long, 550 (WKRC) and 700 WLW. That’s where I get most of my news from.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 2nd District GOP Ohio primary election: How David Taylor won
