Exclusive — Ohio Conservative Mary Taylor: ‘The Establishment in Columbus Getting Really Nervous’ as Momentum Swings Against Mike DeWine

Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor speaks before a gathering of Republicans at the City Club of Cle
AP Photo/Dake Kang
Matthew Boyle
Washington, D.C.

Conservative Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, a gubernatorial candidate in the key Rust Belt state, announced on Breitbart News Daily Thursday morning that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has endorsed her campaign for governor against GOP establishment-backed Mike DeWine.

“I’d like to break some really great news for our campaign on your show this morning,” Taylor said at the open of the interview on SiriusXM 125 The Patriot Channel when asked why she’s surging despite millions in attack ads against her.

“I’d like to announce the endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz for the Taylor-[Nathan] Estruth campaign. That directly answers your question. Conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, Steve Daines, and Rand Paul have all endorsed the Taylor-Estruth ticket because we are the true conservative choice, and so, we are seeing in Ohio and nationally conservatives are rallying around our ticket. In fact, everything you’ve just said is the case: DeWine is the good old boys establishment candidate, and the establishment in Columbus is getting really nervous because the polls have closed significantly, and they know conservatives are coming home, and conservatives will never vote for a liberal like Mike DeWine.”

Immediately following Taylor’s appearance on Breitbart News Daily where she rolled out the Cruz endorsement, Cruz tweeted his endorsement:

“I’m asking voters to carefully consider the choices before them this election cycle, and to stand with those who have proven themselves to be conservatives of conviction,” Cruz said in his statement endorsing Taylor, as reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “In the race for Governor in Ohio I am proud to endorse Mary Taylor, and I urge the voters of Ohio to join me by supporting her.”

The American Conservative Union (ACU), which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) every year, has also endorsed Taylor:

As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, Taylor has surged in the polls against DeWine—who is supported by the establishment GOP network in Ohio behind outgoing Gov. John Kasich. Kasich, a failed 2016 GOP presidential candidate, has been vehemently anti-Donald Trump since he lost to Trump in the last cycle—and reports out this week suggest establishment Republicans in Washington are aiming to prop up Kasich as a potential primary challenger to the president in 2020.

In fact, CNN quoted several sitting members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate—including members of leadership—refusing to endorse the president’s re-election campaign. Trump supporters and conservatives in Ohio could, in this upcoming May 8 gubernatorial primary, deal a significant blow to Kasich’s long-term prospects of undermining conservatives and Trump supporters and solidify the president’s support by nominating Taylor in the governor’s race.

DeWine is currently the attorney general of Ohio after previously serving as a U.S. senator and lieutenant governor of the state. Prior to that, he was a U.S. House member, and before that, he was in the state Senate—having served in government jobs since 1981.

All these surprise developments in the Ohio governor’s race come as DeWine finds himself under serious fire in Ohio for running phony attack ads against Taylor. Running a typical playbook for GOP establishment candidates, DeWine has put on television ads what the Columbus Dispatch calls a “dubious claim” that Taylor has profited from government service.

“Mary Taylor and her family have enriched themselves at the public trough, a new TV commercial claims as Mike DeWine continues his multimillion-dollar media spending spree ahead of the May 8 primary,” the Columbus Dispatch’s Randy Ludlow wrote about the ad campaign,” adding:

The spot, though, questionably implies that Taylor played a large and direct role in the award of state dollars, or tax breaks, that ultimately benefited her husband’s business. The 30-second commercial, which concludes “Mary Taylor — taxing, taking and two-faced” — continues the nasty tone underlying the contest for the Republican nomination for governor.

The catch, though, according to the Columbus Dispatch report, is in the “fine print” at the bottom of the ads: Taylor had nothing to do with these contracts.

“The fine print of the commercial cites newspaper reports reflecting the award of state construction dollars to public entities and the granting of state tax breaks to businesses while Taylor was a legislator and lieutenant governor,” Ludlow reported. He added:

Taylor’s husband, Donzell Taylor, and his Welty Construction Co. received work on the projects. But it did not get all or most of “over $100 million” or receive the money directly. In fact, Taylor could not have had anything to do with one of the cited examples, a $30 million tax credit for Goodyear’s new headquarters in Akron in 2007 that was awarded by a state authority when she was an Akron-area legislator.

Taylor told Breitbart News Daily that the ads reek of DeWine desperation as the momentum swings her way.

“We feel it on the ground,” Taylor said. “We’ve done over 100 events in 50 counties since the first of March, and conservatives are coming home and rallying for us. And they’re saying exactly what you just said: Mike DeWine is a liberal. He’s attacking you because he has no place to go. And we’re going to support the conservative who has a record of standing for conservative values and recognizing that government is not the solution—and we also know based on the numbers in the polls, the polls have closed 30 points since the beginning of January. Last week, we released a poll that showed this was a ten-point race. We absolutely expect that we’re in the single digits this week because we went up on statewide TV on Friday, and we believe a week out, we’re going to be leading, and we’re going to carry that victory all the way through the primary on primary election day on May 8.”

The winner between Taylor and DeWine will likely face off against Richard Cordray, the now-former director of the highly controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—a hard leftist in the mold of Sen. Liz Warren (D-MA). To win, Taylor said Republicans need a bold contrast in November to make it a clear choice for voters.

“Mike DeWine will not be a contrast to Richard Cordray, who represents the far left,” Taylor said on Thursday’s program. “In fact, Mike DeWine voted 162 times when he was in the U.S. Senate with Hillary Clinton. He earned an F from the NRA. Mike DeWine will not be a contrast to that far left. But I love that you said, ‘Paint with bold primary colors, not with pale pastels.’ I start every one of my speeches with that great quote from Ronald Reagan. What I believe it’s going to take for Republicans to win in November in Ohio is for somebody who’s a true conservative who actually believes in governing as a conservative but also who understands that government doesn’t solve, but problems are solved by people, and when you restore freedom and opportunity back to those people, they will make the best decisions for what’s right for their families and what’s right for their communities and neighborhoods and ultimately what’s right for the state.”

LISTEN TO OHIO LT. GOV. MARY TAYLOR ON BREITBART NEWS DAILY:

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