Ohio

Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown loses police endorsement for the first time in 12 years

Published

4 months ago

July 26, 2024

Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown loses police endorsement for the first time in 12 years

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the first time since his Senate career began, Sherrod Brown has failed to earn the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police’s endorsement for re-election — and the union cites the Democrat’s tweet about a controversial shooting.

The Ohio FOP in 2006 endorsed then-Sen. and now-Gov. Mike DeWine, the Republican who lost his seat to Brown in an upset.

Since then, Brown has won the support of law enforcement, deftly navigating the blue-dog politics of an ever-reddening state. But not this year.

“It came down to a tweet,” said Mike Weinman, Ohio FOP spokesman and a retired officer who was paralyzed in the line of duty. “There was a shooting here, and Sherrod, instead of taking time to listen and talk to us and understand the situation, did what all these people do now and got on his phone. Brown made a comment. It’s a shame.”

The incident Weinman refers to dates back to 2021, when Columbus cop Nicholas Reardon fatally shot 16-year-old foster child Ma’Khia Bryant after responding to a domestic-violence call. He arrived at the scene to find Bryant swinging a knife at another young child in the home.

“When he arrived it was complete chaos,” Weinman told The Post. “She was using a weapon on an unarmed person so he had to unfortunately use his service weapon to neutralize the scene. Nobody in that house including the officer is happy that happened, let me tell you. But Brown spoke out quickly against the officer, and a lot of people I think remembered that during the vote.”

The senator tweeted one day after the April 21, 2021, shooting and tied it to another event that day: a former Minneapolis cop’s conviction for killing George Floyd.

“While the verdict was being read in the Derek Chauvin trial, Columbus police shot and killed a sixteen-year-old girl. Her name was Ma’Khia Bryant. She should be alive right now,” Brown wrote.

While the verdict was being read in the Derek Chauvin trial, Columbus police shot and killed a sixteen-year-old girl.
Her name was Ma’Khia Bryant. She should be alive right now. #MaKhiaBryanthttps://t.co/8SBdK4mxlE
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— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) April 21, 2021

Bryant’s death also sparked Black Lives Matter protests — she was black, Reardon is white.

But the officer was cleared of wrongdoing, with a grand jury declining to charge him after a review found the shooting justified.

Weinman also says further “statements” from the senator about police may have cost him more votes.

“People here genuinely don’t know where he stands on things like George Floyd and qualified immunity. Our voters know their stuff, and he just wasn’t being clear enough about where he stands. Brown has always been great for supplies, vests, helping us get resources. But I think now our people aren’t as sure they can trust him,” he told The Post.

Weinman explained the endorsement process: An FOP committee screens a small batch of candidates for office. The approved candidates are then brought up for a floor vote.

“They called his name, and it was time,” Weinman said. “He missed it by four votes.”

Brown’s Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, won’t receive the FOP endorsement this year either, but Weinman says this has more to do with procedure than politics.

“In the past, if a candidate failed to get the votes on the floor, a member could make a motion to suggest a new name, and we could have an immediate, direct vote,” Weinman said. “This year we changed that. Only names from the screening committee could be voted on, and only Brown made it past them.”

The committee passed on Moreno due to his lack of political experience.

“He’s too new,” Weinman said. “Great businessman, potential for sure. But he has to prove it. Like Vance did.”

By this, Weinman is referring to a similar vote in 2018 when then-Senate candidate J.D. Vance was able to win the prized endorsement over more experienced competitors.

“Vance really worked for it. He campaigned. Moreno ran out of time,” Weinman said.

He also confirmed the Ohio FOP will not be making any additional statewide endorsements for 2024.

Brown is the only prominent Democrat left in the soon-to-be-solid-red Ohio, making his race with Moreno one of the most expensive and closely watched in the nation.

Brown maintains a 6.5-point lead over Moreno, but experts expect endorsements like this one and Vance’s emerging role as a national campaigner to have a significant effect on the Buckeye State.

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Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game

Published

7 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

Ohio State Buckeyes’ Biggest Weakness Revealed Before Michigan Game

Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to take care of business against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday. Now, they are set to prepare for the massive rivalry matchup against the Michigan Wolverines to end the regular season.

Ohio State has been unable to beat Michigan for the last three years. In order to get a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, they’ll need to snap that losing streak.

At this point in the year, the Buckeyes absolutely look like a national championship favorite. However, there is one weakness that is worth monitoring.

David Pollack, a former star college football linebacker and a current analyst, spoke out about the one weakness that he sees with Ohio State.

“I don’t see a lot of gamewreckers,” Pollack said. “But I don’t see a lot of weaknesses, except at the cornerback spot. I’ve got to address the cornerback spot as a weakness. I’ve seen enough to know. There are enough penalties back there, enough flags, enough big plays that it’s not a strength.”

All season long, the Buckeyes’ cornerbacks have underperformed. Denzel Burke has looked nothing like the expected first-round pick talent that he was being hyped up to be. Davison Igbinosun has been heavily penalized and has struggled as well.

Going up against other elite national championship contenders will be a tough task with a struggling secondary.

Outside of the cornerback position, everything else seems to look solid. If they can fix the issues and get better production out of it, they would be a much more complete contender.

Thankfully, the talent is there for them to improve. Both Burke and Igbinosun are talented players who have simply struggled this season. They are more than capable of turning things around.

All of that being said, the stage has been set for Ohio State and Michigan. On paper, the Buckeyes should be able to dominate the game, but rivalry games can get tricky. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening.

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Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State

Published

16 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

Paul Finebaum names CFP National Champion favorite between Oregon, Ohio State

With just one week remaining in the regular season, there is only one team across all of college football that remains undefeated at this point: the Oregon Ducks.

So, it stands to reason that the undefeated Ducks should be the favorite to end the 2024 hoisting the College Football Playoff National Championship trophy, right?

Not according to SEC Network host and ESPN personality Paul Finebaum.

“I’m ‘Paul Out’ with block letters. I don’t even think Oregon is the best team in the Big Ten, let alone the favorite to win it all,” Finebaum said during Sunday morning’s ‘Paul-In, Paul-Out’ segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “And thanks Ducks fans waking up on the West coast, I’m aware that you beat Ohio State. But Ohio State, to me, looks like the best team in the country.

“I think they’ll have a fun game in a couple of weeks in the Big Ten championship game, and both are going to go to the Playoffs and be in very good shape. But Oregon, to me, looks a tad below Ohio State.”

As Finebaum reminded the college football world, this exact matchup has already been decided on the field once this season, with the Ducks eking out a 32-31 win in Eugene in mid-October. While it’s not official yet, all expectations are Oregon (11-0, 8-0 B10) and Ohio State (10-1, 7-1) will meet again in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

But in the meantime, Finebaum is sticking by the preseason favorite Buckeyes.

Ryan Day wanted to ‘leave no doubt’ vs. Indiana

Ryan Day wanted to leave no doubt during Ohio State’s 38-15 win over Indiana Saturday in Columbus and it certainly worked out by the time the game came to its conclusion.

After trailing 7-0, Ohio State ripped off 31 straight points to erase any opportunity of the Hoosiers pulling off the biggest win in school history. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers came in No. 2 and 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

But with Day and Ohio State one step closer to the Big Ten Championship vs. Oregon, they can put this game to rest.

“Game got a flip there with the punt return (for a touchdown by Caleb Downs),” Day told FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame. “I thought, you know, we had a chance to really separate ourselves in the first half. We didn’t do that. I thought we played well in the second half. I thought we played physical all across the board, and our guys had a great look in their eye. And so now it’s onto the rivalry game.”

As far as scoring the final touchdown, despite a 31-15 lead with less than two minutes to go, Day and Ohio State wanted to leave their mark.

“Well, you say, leave no doubt,” Day said. “And you know, these guys want to finish the game the right way. TreVeyon (Henderson) did the right thing going down at the one-yard line. We ate up the clock. We didn’t want to put the defense back out there. You just never know in games like this, it’s a top five matchup. So we wanted to finish it the right way and make sure that everybody knows that this is the Ohio State Buckeyes.”

Nick Kosko contributed to this report.

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College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News

Published

1 day ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

College football top 25 rankings for Week 14: Dreaming of a Ohio State-Notre Dame playoff matchup | Sporting News

Ohio State and Notre Dame looked the part of national championship contenders in Week 13.

The Buckeyes – who are No. 2 in this week’s Sporting News Top 25 – came one step closer to a Big Ten championship rematch against No. 1 Oregon. The Buckeyes beat Indiana 38-15, and the Hoosiers dropped to No. 8 as a result.

Now, Ohio State faces Michigan and can break a three-game losing streak in The Game on Nov. 30. To be honest, that’s not the game we want to see.

How about a rematch from last year’s 17-14 thriller against the Irish on Sept. 23, 2023. That was the one where the Buckeyes scored a late touchdown when the Irish had 10 players on the field, and Ohio State coach Ryan Day called out Lou Holtz afterward. How sweet would a rematch in the College Football Playoff be?

Notre Dame moves up to No. 5 after a 49-14 blowout against No. 19 Army at Yankee Stadium. The Irish set up a win-and-in matchup against rival USC, which seemed unthinkable after a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7.

A playoff matchup between the Buckeyes and Irish would not materialize until the quarterfinals or semifinals at this point, but we would take it whenever and wherever it happened. Ohio State has allowed 10.2 points per game since the Oct. 12 loss to the Ducks. The Irish have allowed 11.6 points per game in their last five games. Of the 10-1 teams in the top-10, Ohio State and Notre Dame are on the best trajectory heading into Rivalry Week.

Here is a closer look at The Sporting News top 25 rankings.

MORE: SEC title game scenarios | Big 12 | Big Ten | ACC

Sporting News Top 25 rankings for Week 14

Here is a closer look at our latest top 25 ranking heading into Week 14:

RANK	SCHOOL	RECORD	PVS.	WEEK 12 RESULT
1	Oregon	11-0	1	Bye
2	Ohio State	10-1	2	Beat Indiana 38-15
3	Texas	10-1	3	Beat Kentucky 31-14
4	Penn State	10-1	4	Beat Minnesota 26-25
5	Notre Dame	10-1	6	Beat Army 49-14
6	Miami, Fla.	10-1	10	Beat Wake Forest 42-14
7	Georgia	9-2	9	Beat UMass 59-21
8	Indiana	10-1	5	Lost to Ohio State 38-15
9	Tennessee	9-2	11	Beat UTEP 56-0
10	SMU	10-1	14	Beat Virginia 33-7
11	Boise State	10-1	12	Beat Wyoming 17-13
12	Arizona State	9-2	17	Beat BYU 28-23
13	Iowa State	9-2	20	Beat Utah 31-28
14	BYU	9-2	13	Lost to Arizona State
15	Clemson	9-2	18	Beat The Citadel 51-14
16	Alabama	8-3	7	Lost to Oklahoma 24-3
17	Ole Miss	8-3	8	Lost to Florida 24-17
18	South Carolina	8-3	21	Beat Wofford 56-12
19	Texas A&M	8-3	15	Lost to Auburn 43-41
20	Tulane	9-2	22	Bye
21	Kansas State	8-3	23	Beat Cincinnati 41-15
22	Illinois	8-3	24	Beat Rutgers 38-31
23	Army	9-1	19	Los to Notre Dame 49-14
24	Colorado	8-3	16	Lost to Kansas 37-21
25	Missouri	8-3	NR	Beat Mississippi State 39-20