Decision 2022: U.S. Senate candidate Jane Timken
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The former chair of the Ohio Republican party, Jane Timken sees herself as uniquely situated to hold together all elements of the Republican party.
“I'm a unifier,” Timken said, pointing to her endorsement from former President Donald Trump for her chairmanship and her experience speaking to Ohio residents throughout her term in that role.
Timken styles herself as an “America First” Republican who is focused on a stronger economy based on keeping jobs in the United States. Timken often refers to this as the Trump agenda, her style of courting favor with the former president and his supporters.
On style, Timken is significantly different from some of the other candidates in the GOP race, particularly Mandel.
Softer-spoken and less prone to throwing rhetorical bombshells, Timken says she's looking to appeal to voters who are more focused on issues.
“Republicans and President Trump always stood up and said we're gonna produce here, in this country, we're gonna produce in Ohio. We need to make sure that the environment is good for businesses to thrive and hire more people. We need to get back to work,” Timken said, drawing a contrast between her would-be Democratic opposition by saying they are too interested in large spending plans that she believes would hurt business and cost jobs.
With regard to the Mahoning Valley, Timken says she's the type of Republican that appeals to voters who voted for Democrats prior to 2016, but have since left the party.She specifically points to trade policy, citing the fact that prior to the 2016 election, blue-collar Democrats often cited protectionist policies as one of the main things that kept them aligned with the Democratic party.
That party alignment changed when the GOP nominated Trump, who advocated for things like steel tariffs, and the Democrats voted for Hillary Clinton, who was seen as much more of a "free trader."
As for the endorsement of the former president, Timken doesn't say she needs it in order to win the nomination, but says she would welcome it.
Hear the entire 21 News Podcast with Jane Timken here:
