Thune Calls Ohio 'Ground Zero' for Senate Control at a Lima Rally With Husted: 'This Is a Knife Fight'
The Senate majority leader said a Republican majority is the difference between a 24-hour and a 24-month impeachment trial. Husted told the crowd the race is close. A Fox News poll has Brown ahead 52% to 47%.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told an Ohio crowd Tuesday night that the state is where the fight for the Senate will be decided, Fox News reports.
The event. Thune, R-S.D., spoke in Lima alongside Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican nominee, after remarks from Dr. Mehmet Oz, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Thune praised Oz's work on waste, fraud and abuse and said Republicans need a Senate majority to let it continue. "This is ground zero," he said. "This is the firewall in the United States Senate."
The impeachment argument. Thune pointed to House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks, who have said they would use subpoena power to investigate the president and his Cabinet. "The first thing the House will do, Democrats, if the House flips, is they'll impeach the president," Thune said. That would require a Senate trial, and "the only difference between a 24-hour impeachment trial in the Senate and a 24-month impeachment trial is a Republican majority."
The case against Brown. Thune called Husted's opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, "a rubber stamp for Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden" during his 30 years in the Senate. He said Husted cut taxes in Columbus and in Washington and helped secure the border, adding: "We haven't had a person released into the country illegally in 17 months." A Fox headline linked in the same story says the administration marked 15 straight months of zero border releases, so the 17-month figure is Thune's own count.
Husted's message. Husted told supporters to expect a tight finish. "This is going to be a close race," he said, comparing it to "the fourth quarter of a football game" and urging voters not to be intimidated.
Where the race stands. Fox notes its recent poll of likely Ohio voters had Brown at 52% and Husted at 47%. Our earlier coverage of that poll is on the site. Neither Jeffries, Meeks, Thune, Husted nor the Brown campaign had answered Fox's request for comment at publication.
Note for readers: the "17 months" figure and the claims about what House Democrats would do are Thune's, made at a campaign rally. Election Day is next Tuesday.