How Criticizing Trump Reshaped a Key Republican House Primary

Craig Riedel was the odds-on favorite to win the Republican primary in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District as recently as last week.

But then audio of the former state representative criticizing former President Donald Trump leaked to a pro-Trump media personality. A host of Republicans, including some who had already back Riedel, then decided to endorse his diehard Trump-supporting opponent. The chastened Ohio Republican, according data from an ad-buying firm, is now set to begin running over $10,000 worth of ads Friday touting his candidacy on Fox News in West Palm Beach, Florida, home to Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate, in a not-so-subtle attempt to get back into the former president’s good graces.

The episode highlights – once again – just how dominant Trump’s influence remains with the Republican base and how the dynamics of the Republican Party currently revolve around the former president, even if that means ditching someone widely seen as a more electable Republican for a Trump loyalist who dramatically underperformed in his 2022 race.

Riedel’s candidacy was once welcomed by top Republicans in Ohio and nationally. When he announced his campaign in April, he was widely seen as the best-positioned candidate to take on vulnerable Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the general election, given he has represented portions of the area in the Ohio state legislature.

But the audio of him privately criticizing Trump – Riedel calls the former president “arrogant,” bashes “the way he calls people names,” and says “we need to go a different direction” in the 2024 Republican presidential primary – have upended the Republican House primary. The chaos has benefited J.R. Majewski, a Republican who lost to Kaptur in 2022 after the Associated Press reported that he had misrepresented his military service, something the Republican continues to dispute. 

That Riedel’s fall has turned into Majewski’s gain is not happenstance. Majewski is one of the most diehard Republican candidates in the nation. He notably turned his entire lawn into a Trump banner in 2020 and performed pro-Trump raps. He is also someone who has pushed aspects of the QAnon conspiracy theory (he has denied being a QAnon follower) and brought people to Washington, D.C., to attend the Jan. 6 rally headlined by Trump that was a prelude to insurrection.

But in D.C. Republican circles, Majewski is seen as one of the worst candidates to run for office in 2022. The AP story was a turning point in his 2022 election: Top Republicans broke with Majewski weeks before the election, effectively writing off the race by canceling ads they had planned to run on his behalf. Kaptur went on to win reelection by double digits in a district that had backed Trump just two years earlier, making Majewski one of the party’s worst-performing House candidates of the cycle.

“He was one of the worst candidates of the past decades,” said a Republican strategist who is involved in House races. “He is the total package for being a bad candidate.” Should Majewski win the party’s nomination in 2024, the strategist added, it would all but ensure Kaptur heading back to Congress in 2025.

Majewski, who initially said he would run for the seat in 2024, then backed up, only to get back into the race again in October, has seized on the audio recording, calling on Riedel to drop out of the race because of it and labeling him a “fraud.” Majewski has even played the audio at events for his supporters.

Top Ohio Republicans have followed his lead, throwing the primary wide open. Ohio Rep. Max Miller and Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno both pulled their endorsements of Riedel, with Moreno reportedly donating to Majewski’s campaign. Other top Ohio Republicans, like Sen. J.D. Vance and Secretary of State and Senate candidate Frank LaRose, endorsed Majewski after the leaked call.

Riedel responded to all of this by endorsing Trump for president after the audio was released and calling the audio fallout a “stunt” for “proven loser” Majewski.

"It's very simple... I endorse Donald Trump for president,” Riedel said in a statement. “Matt Gaetz and a social media trickster pulled a stunt yesterday to try and convince President Trump to get involved in my congressional primary for proven loser JR Majewski… Let me be clear now: I am focused on winning this primary by defeating proven loser JR Majewski and then defeating Marcy Kaptur in the general election.”

Riedel's campaign confirmed they planned to run ads on Fox News in West Palm Beach. Mark Harris, a top strategist for the Republican's campaign, said Majewski was "a guaranteed loser, while Craig Riedel has proven he can win the tough fights and protect our conservative values, and we're going to aggressively tell that story."

Trump has long dominated Republican primaries, with candidates worrying that running afoul of the former president would only sink their chances with the party’s base voters. But this dynamic is particularly potent in Ohio, a state Trump won twice and where three Republicans – Moreno, LaRose, and state Senator Matt Dolan – are vying for their party’s Senate nomination to take on vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. The former president has yet to endorse a candidate in the race, but his influence looms large, and many operatives inside the state believe his backing could effectively pick the Republican to face Brown in November.

It is unclear whether Trump is aware of Riedel’s comments or the fallout in Northwest Ohio. But Majewski, who is often seen at Trump events far outside of the Buckeye State, tweeted a video of the former president praising him and hinting at an endorsement.

“You will get a second shot,” Trump said at the New York Young Republican Club gala on Saturday. “You are going to get a second shot.”

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to questions about the former president’s endorsement. The National Republican Campaign Committee declined to comment. And Majewski did not respond to a request for comment on Riedel’s audio.

Democrats are gleefully watching this infighting.

“The OH-09 Republican primary is already an ugly and expensive race to the bottom between a two-faced politician and a serial liar,” said Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It's a lose-lose situation and whoever limps across the finish line will be worse for wear."

But Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history, is trying to keep her distance and focus on her work for Northwest Ohio, an area she has represented since 1983. 

"The GOP primary process will play out,” the Kaptur campaign said in a statement. “As a champion for the Great Lakes region, Congresswoman Kaptur is focused on bringing meaningful investment to Northern Ohio, renewing and rebuilding aging infrastructure, and bringing down costs for Americans paying too much for life-saving prescription drugs.”