MILWAUKEE – Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) voiced frustration on Thursday with the blame Democrats are laying at Ohio’s feet over a vote to nominate President Joe Biden weeks before their August convention.
The Democratic National Committee will hold a virtual roll call during the first week of August despite the convention not starting until Aug. 19. The reason is ostensibly to avoid running afoul of an Ohio law requiring parties to submit names for the November ballot by Aug. 7, but the move is widely perceived as an attempt to outmaneuver a growing chorus of Democrats who want Biden to step aside.
Ohio initially informed the party that it must comply with state law, but DeWine subsequently convened a special session of the state legislature, which in late May passed a temporary extension of the filing deadline.
“You know, it’s up to them what they do. But that's not a reason,” he told the Washington Examiner on Thursday, the final day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“As governor, I said we need to make sure the Democrat nominee is on the ballot,” DeWine added. “We did it. We passed it. It was the right thing to do.”
The Democratic National Committee, which is convening Friday to discuss a path forward, denies the issue is settled. Chairman Jaime Harrison noted the Ohio law does not take effect for 90 days, opening the door to GOP litigation over ballot access.
But DeWine called the reasoning an attempt to scapegoat Ohio.
“You know, the idea that this would be some dirty trick is kind of absurd,” he said. “We wouldn't have done that if that's what we intended. It’s just garbage.”
Entrepreneur Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, called the rationale an attempt to deflect from the “full-blown civil war on their hands.”
The Democratic National Committee has listed five other states, California, Virginia, Montana, Oklahoma, and Washington, where filing deadlines could be a problem, though elections officials cast doubt that would be the case.
“They're just grasping for straws,” Moreno told the Washington Examiner from the convention floor on Thursday.
The brewing rebellion facing Biden — Democrats at the highest echelons of the party have reportedly spoken to him about stepping down — faded into the background as Republicans nominated former President Donald Trump this week.
But the pressure resumed as the four-day convention concluded. Two Senate Democrats have called on Biden to drop out in the last 24 hours, as have six new House Democrats.
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Ohio and other states with early filing deadlines have in the past found work-arounds to accommodate the major party conventions, but this year’s extension plunged the Ohio statehouse into controversy as Senate Republicans demanded the fix be paired with a ban on foreign donations to ballot initiative campaigns.
The extension eventually passed alongside the campaign finance bill, but Democrats accused their GOP counterparts of “partisan games.”
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