U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci won a crowded GOP battle Tuesday for the right to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in a general election match-up expected to draw national attention — and millions in campaign cash.
The race will test whether Democrats can hold on in a state that handed Republican Donald Trump an 8-point victory in 2016 after backing Democrat Barack Obama four years earlier.
Brown, of Cleveland, should have the advantage as a two-term incumbent and a Democrat in a mid-term election that traditionally hurts the party of a sitting president.
But Renacci, who was winning by about 15 percentage points with 90 percent of the vote counted, has welcomed Trump's support. The president has tweeted his backing of the Wadsworth congressman and touted him personally during a visit to Cleveland last weekend.
The Green Party's Philena Irene Farley, of Columbus, is also running.
Endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party, Renacci won a hard-fought, five-way primary contest for the GOP nomination, defeating Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons; Marysville business owner Melissa Ackison; Don Elijah Eckhart a retiree from Galloway; and Dan Kiley, a Cincinnati investment adviser.
Like Renacci, Gibbons, his closest competitor, aligned himself with Trump. Gibbons served as Ohio co-chair of the president's 2016 campaign and, borrowing from Trump's playbook, touted himself as a conservative political outsider making his first bid for public office and promised to "drain the swamp" of career politicians like his opponent.
Renacci, a four-term lawmaker who has represented his Northeast Ohio congressional district since 2011, originally was running for governor but jumped into the Senate race after Republican Josh Mandel announced he was dropping out because of a health issue with his wife.
Renacci entered politics as a city council member in Wadsworth before becoming mayor in 2004.
He proposes tightening the nation's immigration system and full repeal of Obamacare, which he says has increased premiums and limited health care options for consumers.
Renacci rejects claims that Medicaid provides the bulk of Ohio's government funding for opioid drug treatment. He proposes arresting people who overdose and cracking down on drug dealers.
On immigration system, he supports beefing up border security, a merit-based policy, and ending chain migration and the diversity visa program.
Among the richest members of Congress, Renacci funded much of his own campaign and had about $4.2 million on hand as of the last reporting period, March 31, compared to $11.2 for Brown, who had no primary challenger.
Brown first was elected to the Senate in 2006 when he defeated incumbent Mike DeWine, who is running for governor this year. Brown was re-elected in 2012 over Mandel.
Senators serve six-year terms.