A Republican newcomer running amidst a crowded GOP field for a House seat in Ohio notched a victory after being endorsed by former President Donald Trump, reports said Wednesday.
Mike Carrey, a coal industry lobbyist who has never held public elected office, beat out 11 other GOP candidates to win his party’s nomination to Ohio’s 155th Congressional District, to replace Rep. Steve Stivers.
Several of his GOP competitors also had the backing of big-name Republicans but failed to win the nomination.
The Associated Press called the race for Carey Tuesday evening. He will now run against Democrat Allison Russo in the November election, though Carey is favored to win the Republican-leaning district.
“Great Republican win for Mike Carey. Big numbers! Thank you to Ohio and all of our wonderful American patriots,” Trump said in a statement after AP called the race.
“Congratulations to Mike and his family. He will never let you down!” he added.
Carey was not at all widely known before Trump offered his endorsement. The win is another “sign of the former president’s influence on the Republican voters who decide the party’s nominee,” the Daily Mail reported.
Carey is also a close friend of former Trump campaign manager and ally of the 45th president, Corey Lewandowski, which no doubt helped his chances of winning Trump’s backing.
“Tonight, Republicans across Ohio’s 15th Congressional District sent a clear message to the nation that President Donald J. Trump is, without a doubt, the leader of our party,” Carey said in a statement following his win.
In recent days, the former president’s endorsement did not help in a Texas race to fill a seat there. His chosen candidate, Susan Wright, whose congressman husband died of COVID-19 in February, lost her bid to another Republican candidate.
But surrogates for Trump dismissed suggestions that his endorsements were losing steam, noting that there weren’t supposed to be two Republicans running in that race and that the candidate Wright lost to, state Rep. Jake Ellzey, is also an ‘America First’ advocate.
As for Carey, a pro-Trump super PAC spent $350,000 in campaign ads backing him, which no doubt helped put him over the top as well.
Also, the former president joined Carey on July 20 for a virtual rally, complaining at one point that some of the other candidates were attempting to suggest they, too, had Trump’s endorsement.
“He’s the only candidate in the race that has my complete and total endorsement,” Trump said of Carey during the call, according to Bloomberg News.
“I know Mike Carey, he’s a true outsider, he’s a true fighter, he’s a warrior, and he’s going to win,” the former president added.
Trump’s super PACs have managed, in sum, to raise more than $100 million heading into the 2022 midterm campaign cycle, an unprecedented war chest for a recently-departed president.
“The scenario is virtually unprecedented: Never in history has a former president banked nine figures’ worth of donations to power a political operation,” Politico reported late last month.
“Over the first six months of the year, Trump’s political groups whipped up supporters with baseless claims of election fraud to pull in cash on a scale similar to the GOP’s official political arms, the Republican National Committee and the party’s House and Senate campaign committees,” Politico added.
Trump is expected to use the bulk of the funds to campaign for candidates he endorses.
Syndicated with permission from USA Features News.
