From pragmatist to primary candidate: How Frank LaRose evolved ahead of Ohio Senate bid

Editor's note: This is one in a series of profiles about the Republicans running in Ohio's U.S. Senate primary. You can read stories about businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan on our website. You can also find coverage of Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown's reelection bid on our site.

Ohioans have seen a lot of Frank LaRose over the past year.

The secretary of state championed a failed effort to make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution. He campaigned publicly against the abortion rights amendment approved by voters in November. Now, he's running for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown this fall − a battle he's been preparing to fight for a long time.

"It's crucial that we beat him," LaRose said in an interview. "It's proven hard to do, right? As a party, we've tried repeatedly and failed to defeat him. I think that's one of my real value propositions that I offer, is a guy that has actually won statewide elections. Neither of the other two guys have. I'm somebody that campaigns all over the state and has built relationships and trust among Ohioans."

On paper, LaRose should be the clear frontrunner. His opponents, businessman Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, are less known despite running in the 2022 U.S. Senate primary. LaRose served in the state senate before becoming Ohio's top election official. When he ran for reelection, he was the only secretary of state endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

That was then, and reality today paints a different picture. Trump is backing Moreno in the March 19 primary, which prompted other high-profile Republicans to coalesce around the former car dealer. LaRose isn't wealthy enough to self-fund his campaign and must rely on a super PAC bankrolled by an Illinois billionaire.

But his biggest problem, critics say, is a question of authenticity.

"You see it in politicians. But in a more extreme way than anyone I’ve ever encountered is a disturbing ability to say one thing to one group, the exact opposite to someone else," former Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper said.

Frank LaRose, state senator

LaRose has a long history in Ohio politics.

He won his first Ohio Senate election in 2010 and became known as a pragmatist willing to work across the aisle. He partnered with Democrats on legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and spearheaded an effort to improve civility at the Statehouse. Foreshadowing his tenure as secretary of state, LaRose also pushed for online voter registration and sponsored a bill to shorten early voting by a week.

At the same time, LaRose was a staunch supporter of efforts to restrict abortion access. He voted for the state's ban on most abortions, which will likely be declared unconstitutional in the wake of November's election. LaRose also sponsored a bill to prevent abortions when there's a diagnosis of Down syndrome.

"There's too much shouting about this issue, and there needs to be more compassion," LaRose said after a recent campaign event. "Any woman that's facing an unplanned pregnancy by definition is facing a crisis in her life. It's about making sure that we provide those life-affirming options so she can make that choice as well and do it in a way that's not going to be detrimental to her."

During his time in the Ohio Senate, LaRose emerged as a champion of redistricting reform. He supported voter-approved changes to mapmaking in 2015 and 2018, arguing it's wrong for either party to gerrymander districts in their favor. That process unraveled in 2022 as LaRose sat on the Ohio Redistricting Commission and voted for maps he privately called "asinine."

"The Statehouse is not a very friendly place for a centrist," LaRose said in 2012. "It's not easy to be pragmatic when you have chambers full of primary winners. We need to have lines drawn in a more-balanced way."

Frank LaRose, Ohio secretary of state

By 2019, LaRose had left the Senate and assumed the role of secretary of state.

He made headlines that year for promoting automatic voter registration − something he now opposes − and flagging registered voters he said weren't citizens. He called a tweet from Trump racist. Beyond that, LaRose's first year in office was relatively uneventful.

Then 2020 happened.

As Ohio's chief elections officer, LaRose was at the center of a messy fight over whether to hold a primary at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent the rest of the year navigating lawsuits and preparing election officials for an influx of mail-in voting. Throughout the chaos, LaRose also pushed back against false claims about the election process.

He defended Ohio's mail-in voting system when Trump suggested the practice would lead to widespread fraud. He admitted that misinformation from anyone − including the former president − made his job more difficult and needed to be addressed. He told Fox News that changing tallies as votes are counted aren't "a sign that something nefarious is happening."

"There's too much hyperbole on both sides when it comes to elections and election integrity," LaRose told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. "We need to be able to say that yes, it's easy to vote; yes, it's hard to cheat. These are the ways that we do that. The conspiracy theories and all the wild ideas that exist on both the left and the right, we need to be very honest about those and make sure people know this is how elections truly work."

But LaRose's opponents say his tone changed as he inched closer to his U.S. Senate bid − something he dismissed as "campaign rhetoric."

LaRose continued to defend Ohio as the gold standard but questioned voting practices in other states. He pulled out of a bipartisan elections group targeted by conservatives that aims to prevent double voting in multiple states. He fired a longtime communications staffer after the person's disparaging comments about Trump surfaced on social media.

Throughout all of that, the secretary of state's office saw an exodus of employees who said they were burned out and frustrated with LaRose's fixation on politics.

"In nearly every Republican primary, candidates shift to the right, just as in nearly every Democratic primary, Democrats shift to the left," said Mark Weaver, a Republican consultant based in Ohio. "It's an unusual criticism to make given how common the practice is."

Frank LaRose, U.S. Senate candidate

To Republicans like Moreno, LaRose's government experience makes him a "career politician." But Weaver contends that resume, coupled with his status as an Army Green Beret, gives LaRose an advantage that neither of his opponents have.

And LaRose's backers don't believe his time in Columbus has tainted him.

“He has always stayed above the fray," Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said. "Any time he shakes your hand, he’s sincere. He's not looking behind you. The other two, the only time I see or hear from them is when they’re running for office."

On the campaign trail, LaRose zooms in on three issues: the economy, immigration and parents' rights.

He believes President Joe Biden doesn't understand Ohioans who are spending more on groceries and gas. During an event in Marysville, he told Republicans that schools are teaching children a "skewed version of American history." He also said his military experience uniquely qualifies him to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

Before this year, LaRose's Senate campaign went hand in hand with his crusade for the August and November elections. Neither one had the desired outcome for Republicans, and Moreno and Dolan were quick to blame LaRose for that failure. Pepper, the former Democratic Party chair, said it's proof that LaRose isn't "in tune with Ohio."

But LaRose defended his work on both issues and argued he was willing to step up to the plate when others weren't.

"A lot of self-interested politicians, like my two opponents, looked at this and said, 'Oh, that's hard. I don't want to get engaged in this because I don't know if it's going to win or not,'" LaRose said. "We don't only fight battles that we know we can win. That's no way to go through life."

Now, LaRose is barreling toward the March primary with less money than his opponents and no Trump endorsement. A January Emerson College poll showed him statistically tied with Moreno for first place, while 42% of voters remained undecided.

But LaRose has been eyeing this race for years, and he's not backing down.

"Ohioans are looking for somebody that's going to stand with President Trump on policy, and that's who I am," LaRose said. "I'm confident that we'll win. And I'm confident I'll earn President Trump's endorsement after the primary."

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Senate race 2024: How Frank LaRose navigated political career