Free Republic

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman became the latest Republican senator to call on Donald Trump to quit the race. “While I continue to respect those who still support Donald Trump, I can no longer support him,” Mr. Portman said in a statement. “I continue to believe our country cannot afford a Hillary Clinton presidency. I will be voting for Mike Pence for president.” Mr. Portman becomes the latest in a flood of Republicans to have abandoned the party’s presidential nominee Saturday, a day after a 2005 recording emerged of Mr. Trump making lewd and degrading comments about women.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman has opened up a huge lead over former Gov. Ted Strickland with just two months until Election Day, according to a new poll. According to the latest Bloomberg poll, Portman now leads Strickland by a whopping 17 points, 53-36, as Strickland has seen his poll numbers suffer over the past couple of weeks. It's also the second poll in a week to show Portman up by double digits. A Quinnipiac poll last week showed Portman up by 11 points. The new poll marks a new high-water point for Portman, who was thought to be fighting in...

Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and a few other key states are struggling under the weight of Donald Trump’s candidacy. But there seems to be at least one exception: Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. Polling released in the past few days — including a Monmouth University survey of Ohio released on Monday — confirms that Portman is not being swamped by the anti-GOP sentiment Trump is stirring up. The Monmouth poll found Trump down by 4 percentage points and Portman ahead by 8. The new Monmouth survey is in line with the...

Sen. Rob Portman, a former U.S trade ambassador, announced Thursday that he opposes a sweeping 12-nation Pacific Rim trade agreement, dealing a setback to a deal that is seen as a key part of President Obama’s economic legacy. The Ohio Republican is facing a difficult re-election campaign against Ted Strickland, an anti-trade former Democratic governor, in a state that has seen a steep decline in manufacturing as a result of companies moving operations overseas. The announcement is a significant but not fatal blow to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which is protected by fast-track rules that ensure it cannot...

News flash! Senator from Ohio endorses Governor of Ohio for president! Extra! Extra! Read all about it! In a snapshot, the story out there now that Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) has endorsed Governor John Kasich for president tells you everything you need to know about why Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are leading the pack. Here is the breathless headline from cincinnati.com: Despite Bush ties, Rob Portman endorses John Kasich for president The article opens this way: U.S. Sen. Rob Portman has endorsed John Kasich for president, an unexpected move that reinforces the Ohio governor's strength in his home state....

A "bulldog" Ohio lawyer is helping conservative groups influence elections as opaquely as legally possible. WEST CHESTER, Ohio—Just outside Cincinnati, tucked among insurance agencies, hair salons and a yoga studio, is the nexus of one of the nation’s most mysterious networks pouring secret money into elections. “Langdon Law LLC Political, Election Nonprofit and Constitutional Law,” reads its small sign, which faces the building’s parking lot rather than the street. On a Tuesday afternoon last month, that parking lot was empty. No one answered the Langdon Law office door. Phone calls went unreturned. Unlike other heavy-hitting political lawyers, David Langdon doesn’t...

Don Elijah Eckhart has announced he will try to wrestle the Republican Party’s nomination for U.S. Senator from incumbent Rob Portman in the March 2016 primary. “I am pro-life, and I continue to support the Ohio Constitution’s definition of marriage as one man and one woman,” Mr. Eckhart said. “I will protect religious freedom, especially the right of pastors and priests to preach values from the Bible.” He said he is committed to simplifying the federal income tax and reducing tax rates for the middle class. “By eliminating special tax breaks, the overall income tax rates could be reduced substantially,”...

Retired neurosurgeon and likely presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson this weekend endorsed Ohio Sen. Rob Portman's re-election campaign against likely Democratic challenger Ted Strickland. "I want to see Rob Portman re-elected to the U.S. Senate and encourage Ohio voters to join his campaign and keep the Senate in Republican control," said Carson, a spokesman at the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County's annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday night in Cleveland, according to a party press release.

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) enjoys an unbroken record of election success, has a campaign war chest that is one of the Senate’s deepest, and claims the endorsement of just about every Republican party officer and elected official in the state. But he’ll still face a Democratic opponent in the general election, and possibly a primary opponent. Two weeks ago Mr. Portman released a list of endorsements with about 250 names including elected Republicans, county chairmen, and state central committee members. snip Matt Borges, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said that even though Republican voters will decide in...

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Mitt Romney ally in 2012 who was exploring his own bid for president in 2016, has opted against a White House bid and will instead seek another Senate term, sources confirmed to POLITICO. Portman began calling allies Monday to let them know he didn’t plan to run nationally, sources familiar with the calls said.

Rob Portman is continuing to weigh a presidential run even as he leans toward running for reelection, he said in an interview on Friday afternoon. The Ohio Republican senator doesn’t have a precise timeline for his decision, but with his party’s triumph on Tuesday behind him he said he’s finally got some time to think about whether to seek the presidency or commit 100 percent to running for reelection in the swing state of Ohio in 2016. He’s currently “planning to run for reelection” but declined to rule out a run at the White House. “I am going to take...

Social conservatives are making a last-ditch effort to stop Republicans who support gay marriage, looking to torpedo their campaigns ahead of next month’s elections. But they don't just have 2014 in their sights — they’re already turning one eye to 2016, with the goal of defeating pro-gay marriage Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). The National Organization for Marriage is making robocalls attacking a trio of socially liberal Republicans, including a pair of openly gay House candidates, California’s Carl DeMaio and Massachusetts’ Richard Tisei, plus Oregon Senate nominee Monica Wehby, who supports same-sex marriage. The organization is also openly discussing ways to...

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman is being urged to form a presidential exploratory committee as the first step in running for the White House in 2016, but the Ohio Republican will not make any decisions until after the November elections. An exploratory committee would allow Portman to raise money to pay for travel and other expenses to states such as New Hampshire and Iowa which will be holding the first presidential contests of 2016. Although Portman and his aides say he is currently focused on running for re-election in 2016, the first-term senator has long had ambitions for national office. Portman...

WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- Attorney General Eric Holder's suggestion that some harsh criticism of President Obama comes from racial prejudice is "not constructive," U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said.

e are already at the point in this prematurely unfolding 2016 presidential campaign when a glance down the list of prospective candidates can cause most observers to wince. As that seductive and sultry crooner Peggy Lee once sang, “Is that all there is?” At the U.Va. Crystal Ball, we currently have 11 Republicans and nine Democrats as probable or possible presidential contenders. The Democrats have fewer and more tentative contenders because of the paralyzing gravitational pull of “Planet Hillary,” as the New York Times Magazine described the Clinton operation. The former secretary of state is a kind of massive Jupiter...

As a Conservative, I hold these truths to be self evident: (in no particular order) * Life begins at the moment of conception. Abortion, for any reason, real or imagined, is murder. * The Right to Bear Arms is an unalienable right that the government cannot infringe on in any way. Background checks, "assault weapon" bans, magazine capacity rules, and the like are completely unconstitutional. *Global warming is as much of a fraud as the "Next Ice Age" scare was in the 1970's. *Illegal aliens are criminals and should be treated as such. There should be no amnesty for illegal...

CLEVELAND, August 5, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an unprecedented move on July 17th, the National Right to Life Committee (NRTL) chose to support Senator Rob Portman's newly expressed support of gay marriage and to withdraw support from one of the most effective prolife organizations in the country, Cleveland Right to Life (CRTL). In a letter dated July 17, 2013, the president of National Right to Life, Carol Tobias, informed CRTL President, Molly Smith, that because of their recent addition of support for traditional marriage and the family to its Mission Statement, AND because of CRTL criticism of Senator Portman, that...

"Superficial" "A source close to the Senate negotiations [says] that two senators who voted against the background check bill would vote for it after minor, superficial changes." - Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC, May 6, 2013ACTION: Senators who voted pro-gun last month are under intense pressure - by Senate Democrats and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s hit ads - to switch their votes.  We need to keep applying the heat and let them know that gun owners are ready to help in any Senate campaign, no matter which state, to defeat ANY SENATOR who votes for gun control.LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON, DC. It’s...

CINCINNATI — No one heckled Senator Rob Portman during his first appearance before thousands of Ohioans since becoming the most prominent elected Republican in the country to endorse same-sex marriage. “Wouldn’t you say,” he said, turning to his wife, Jane, after marching in an opening day parade for the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, “that most of the comments were thank yous and thumbs up and ‘You did the right thing’?” True, but for some of the Ohioans who acknowledged Mr. Portman, doubts flickered below the surface. “Senator!” said one spectator, Pete Kidnocker, reaching out to shake Mr. Portman’s hand. But...

In another case in the annals of conservative "adaptation" to yesterday's liberal innovation, Ohio Republican senator Rob Portman has just announced that he now supports faux marriage. The change was motivated, he said, by his son having come out to him and his wife as a homosexual. Well, it's a good thing his son didn't announce that he was involved in bestiality. Talk about a pandering parent. We can also talk here about letting your personal life influence your public policy. If I were a statesman and learned that a child of mine were hooked on cocaine or had joined...