No Trump endorsement, no problem for David Taylor in GOP 2nd Congressional District race
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It was hard, but a concrete company operator from Clermont County won the 2nd U.S. House district Republican nomination in a heavily GOP area nearly certain to elect him to Congress in November.
David Taylor, who has also been an assistant county prosecutor, emerged Tuesday from an 11-candidate field. He, like nearly every other candidate, embraced former President Donald Trump. In his campaign commercials, Taylor said he’d physically go help complete the border wall if needed.
Six-term incumbent Brad Wenstrup, who decided to retire from Congress, won his 2022 election with nearly 75% over Samantha Meadows, also the Democratic nominee this year.
Reaching voters in a southern/central Ohio district spanning 16 counties was a formidable challenge, and Taylor backed his TV campaign with repeated direct mail appeals to Republican voters.
He ran ahead of Tim O’Hara, a Brown County LaRosa’s pizza franchise owner whose TV commercial recreated his role as an order-shouting Marine drill instructor, and Larry Kidd, a Jackson County businessman whose ads touted his friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on Trump’s behalf.
Former Cincinnati councilman and Hamilton County commissioner Phil Heimlich, running as the anti-MAGA alternative, finished far behind in the middle of the pack.
State Sen. Niraj Antani of Miamisburg didn’t ignite much support despite an eye-catching TV commercial in which he wielded a flamethrower.
Trump didn’t endorse in this primary, but he did make a late choice in the 9th U.S. House District in northwest Ohio. His pick, state Rep. Derek Merrin, won nomination Tuesday in a field that included an opponent caught criticizing Trump. Merrin will face Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, first elected in 1982, in a district Republicans think they can win in November.
For now, enjoy a break from all political ads.
Dan Sewell is a regular Enquirer Opinion contributor. Email: dsewellrojos@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Republican David Taylor likely to succeed Brad Wenstrup in U.S. House