Ohio Senate Candidate Matt Dolan Plays Down Value Of Trump Endorsement (Exclusive)

Two leading candidates for Ohio’s Republican Senate nomination are angling for former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. A third Senate hopeful doesn’t think he’ll need it, isn’t seeking it, and said he thinks that whoever Trump endorses in the race will eventually lose. 

State Sen. Matt Dolan, who finished third in last year’s primary and who regularly argues that the Republican party needs to be more forward-looking, told a group of supporters that he doesn’t believe his opponents who are seeking the Trump endorsement are “acting in the best interest of all of you.” 

His chief opponents for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and former car dealership owner Bernie Moreno — are both actively seeking Trump’s endorsement. 

The remarks, taken from a recording obtained by The Messenger, were previously unreported. 

“Do you want to talk about Trump?” Dolan asked a small gathering of supporters in a parking lot. 

“So look, I’m not seeking the Trump endorsement,” he said. “I think this is about you, this is about Ohio, this is about tomorrow.” 

Dolan continued, saying that he hopes for a “vibrant presidential nomination.” 

“I’m hoping that we forced President Trump to talk about his time being president and what he was able to accomplish, and what he wants to accomplish tomorrow for this country. If we do that, then I feel a lot better,” he said. “But if we as Republicans just don’t even want to have a discussion at the top, and it’s all about yesterday, then I worry about the success.”  

“I’m not anti-Trump, I’m pro-tomorrow,” Dolan said. “And if he wants to join me in that, great. But we need to have that discussion.” He added that he hopes Trump participates in the next GOP primary debate and hopes they discuss spending, national security, and the direction of the country. 

“But if you seek the endorsement of President Trump right now,” he said, “I don't believe, A) I don't think you can win, and B) I don't think you're acting in the best interest of all of you.”

That message is in stark contrast to Moreno and LaRose, who have been more vocal about their desire for Trump to back their campaigns.

After all, Trump’s endorsement proved decisive in the 2022 Ohio GOP primary, where now-Sen. J.D. Vance emerged victorious after Trump backed him despite being outspent by his opponents. He went on to win the general election against former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan. 

“Matt emphasized the fact that the Senate primary has two posers but only one problem solver,” said Dolan spokesman Brad Miller after The Messenger reached out to the campaign regarding Dolan’s comments. “Bernie Moreno and Frank LaRose are obsessed with reinventing themselves to win Donald Trump’s endorsement because neither has a path to victory in the primary without it. Matt Dolan is a proven conservative, focused on solutions that make Ohioans’ lives better and prosecuting the case against Sherrod Brown’s failed record. That’s not only a path to victory in the primary, but it’s also how we as a party defeat Democrats and reclaim the majority in 2024.”

Dolan finished third in the primary last year, spending over $11 million — and $10.5 million was either a candidate contribution or loan. 

When he announced his first campaign, he also kept his distance from Trump, saying that the GOP needed to focus on the future instead of the 2020 election. Straight from the jump, Trump said that he wouldn’t endorse Dolan, who also said in 2022 that he wouldn’t be seeking his endorsement. However, Dolan did vote for Trump twice and while he has criticized Trump’s relentless focus on relitigating the 2020 election, he left open the possibility of supporting Trump if he wins the nomination in an interview when he launched his candidacy. 

“Anybody that changes the name of the once storied Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians should not be running for the United States Senate representing the Great People of Ohio," Trump said in a 2022 statement from his Save America PAC. "The Atlanta Braves didn’t change their name, and the Florida State Seminoles didn’t change their chant, but Cleveland has, and they were there first. Despite this, a man named Matt Dolan, the son of the owner of the team, said he is against Cancel Culture. Do those two things really work together? In any event, I know of at least one person in the race who I won’t be endorsing. The Republican Party has too many RINOs!"

Dolan was the only candidate in the race not seeking Trump’s endorsement and he picked up momentum towards the end of the primary, finishing in a surprising third place.

It appears that he’s not deviating from his strategy last year in this campaign either as both of his opponents angle for Trump’s stamp of approval. He has focused more on issues, and his campaign has already run statewide ads on immigration and highlighting endorsements from law enforcement officials.

This week, Moreno’s campaign released a digital ad touting the praise he’s received from Trump. 

“We love Ohio and we love Bernie Moreno,” says Trump in the ad, which highlights other endorsements from prominent conservatives like Vance, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and former Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake. 

When Moreno launched his candidacy, he got praise from Trump via a post on TruthSocial in April: “Word is that Bernie Moreno, the highly respected businessman from the GREAT STATE of OHIO, and the father-in-law of fantastic young Congressman, Max Miller, is thinking of running for the Senate. He would not be easy to beat, especially against Brown, one of the worst in the Senate!” 

And LaRose recently fired a top aide, Rob Nichols, for tweets critical of Trump. LaRose, in comments unearthed by Politico in May, said that while Trump’s endorsement “matters,” it doesn’t carry the weight it used to carry. 

“There is another 20 percent that care about who he endorses but that’s not going to be the decision maker. And then there’s probably another 60 percent of the party that doesn’t care who he endorses,” LaRose said. 

He also reversed his position of declining to endorse a presidential candidate as Ohio’s chief election official and backed Trump in July and endorsed Trump a week after he launched his campaign. 

Brown’s seat is a top target for Republicans in 2024 as Democrats look to cling to their narrow 51-49 majority in the upper chamber.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, helmed by Montana Sen. Steve Daines, has gotten more involved in the primary process this cycle, but the committee is happy with its crop of candidates in the Buckeye State and doesn’t plan on getting involved in the primary. 

"When you have three candidates, [where] anyone could win the general election, we don't stay up late at night worrying about that," Daines told CBS News in July.