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XENIA, OHIO – Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, at present working in the GOP Primary for U.S. Senate, spoke to Fox News Digital on the campaign trail in Ohio this week and defined why he believes he’s the candidate Democrats worry most and why his conservative message will shine by way of a crowded main subject in a hotly contested race.
“When I say that we’ve got a country to save that’s not exaggeration at this point, the left is trying to take this country in a fundamentally dangerous direction,” LaRose, a 44-year-old father of three who has served as Ohio’s Secretary of State since 2019, instructed Fox News Digital on Monday night inside a Coffee Hub location in Xenia, Ohio, about 15 miles east of Dayton and 50 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
“I’ve long had this belief that each generation is responsible for leaving this country better than we found it, right? A little bit stronger, a little bit freer, a little bit more prosperous. I think if we don’t act soon, our generation will be the first in American history to leave this country weaker, poorer and less secure.”
The Ohio Senate race is predicted to be one of many tightest and most contentious in the nation and is one in every of solely 3 Senate races listed as a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report, together with Arizona and Montana.
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A current Emerson College ballot exhibits LaRose, businessman Bernie Moreno, and State. Sen. Matt Dolan, in a neck and neck race with all 3 polling inside some extent or two of incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and 22% of GOP main voters supporting Moreno, 21% LaRose and 15% Dolan with 42% of voters nonetheless undecided.
The ballot represents a dramatic shift from November when Emerson College had Brown, the one Democrat to win statewide in Ohio in the previous decade, beating Dolan by three factors, LaRose by 5, and Moreno by 11.
After talking with Fox News Digital, LaRose walked down Main Street to the Greene County GOP headquarters the place he took questions from a gaggle of engaged conservatives in a county the place Trump received by 20 factors in 2020. Voters wished to listen to about LaRose’s allegiance to the previous president and though Trump endorsed Moreno in the first, LaRose made it clear that he’s a agency supporter of Trump.
“100%,” LaRose, who has confronted scrutiny from some conservatives over previous criticisms of Trump, instructed an viewers member when requested if he totally helps the previous president.
“Listen, I’ll give you an example, I told you that I was hired by President Trump to help run his inaugural committee. I literally buckled his grandchildren into their motorcade vehicles for the ride down Pennsylvania Avenue. I am a loyal Trump supporter. I’ve endorsed him. I was one of the first to endorse him. I can tell you this, I will stand with President Trump to accomplish his agenda. I will work for the people of Ohio, that’s who my first loyalty is to, but I will work with President Trump to accomplish his agenda when he’s in the White House and I’m in the U.S. Senate.”
Matt Dolan, Frank LaRose and Bernie Moreno (AP)
“I’m a proud supporter of his,” LaRose instructed Fox News Digital. “I believe he’s going to be in the White House in 2025, but we need to take back the Senate if we’re going to get his policies done, get his appointees through the process. And so in that sense, making sure that we have the strongest candidate to beat Sherrod Brown needs to be what Ohio Republicans are focused on.”
In phrases of beating Brown, who has represented Ohio as a Democrat in the Senate since 2007, LaRose has persistently made the case on the campaign trail that he’s finest positioned to beat Brown, who he referred to as a “fraud”, in November.
“I’m the one that Sherrod is the most afraid of. It’s pretty clear and the old saying is they only try to tackle you when you have the ball,” LaRose instructed Fox News Digital. “The Democrats have been attacking me because they know I’m the most dangerous weapon against Sherrod Brown.”
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US Senator Sherrod Brown (Maddie McGarvey/Bloomberg by way of Getty Images)
“I think it’s pretty clear that I’m the one that has the wherewithal to defeat this tough federal Democrat incumbent, but it’s not good enough to just beat him with another sort of go along, get along Republican,” LaRose added, outlining his pitch that he has probably the most conservative file in the race.
“The two guys that are also running in this race are part of that kind of corporate establishment. I think it’s important that we send somebody to D.C. who’s a proven conservative. Everybody’s going to call themselves a conservative in the Republican primary. We need somebody who we know is going to fight for our values. I’m proven on it. I’m the only candidate in this race who’s a lifelong Republican. I’ve never been a registered Democrat.”
The three GOP Senate candidates confronted off in their first of three debates final month and in addition to jockeying for the place as probably the most conservative, immigration was probably the most hotly contested matter in the talk and is a matter LaRose instructed Fox News Digital the place his resume is the strongest.
“I was on the border over 20 years ago in uniform as a member of the United States Army,” LaRose, a former Green Beret who earned a Bronze Star serving in Iraq, defined. “Securing the border is absolutely fundamental, I actually served out there and so that’s a unique life experience that I’ve had. I was part of a counter-narcotics task force as a soldier with the 101st Airborne Division down on the U.S. Mexican border. We know what it takes. I’m the one that has a plan to get it done.”
LaRose, who instructed Fox News Digital he would vote in opposition to the immigration invoice at present being debated in the Senate and helps impeaching DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, reiterated his plan for the border whereas talking to Republicans in Xenia on Monday evening.
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“My plan is very clear,” LaRose instructed the room. “We need to send three divisions to the border. That’s about 60,000 troops. There’s one entity that is capable of ending this invasion and it is only the United States military that can restore order on the US-Mexico border.”
“We also need to make sure that people know that there will be no benefit to coming here illegally. If you break into our country, we will not reward you. That means no amnesty. That means we must make a clear statement that if you come into this country illegally, you will never be eligible for citizenship. Your offspring will not be eligible for birthright citizenship. You will not be able to ever get U.S. government benefits and you will not be able to take advantage of the asylum process which is being abused right now by people that come into this country illegally and then claim that they were in danger in their home country and want to stay.”
Although Americans throughout the nation have instructed pollsters that their largest concern is immigration, the most important applause line of the evening for LaRose got here on a problem that has been a high concern for Ohio voters in current years, parental rights, which LaRose instructed Fox News Digital is without doubt one of the high 3 points that comes up when he talks to voters throughout the Buckeye State.
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“Nobody knows better than parents how kids should be educated,” LaRose mentioned after slamming the “arrogance” of President Biden’s Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “By the way, it’s time that we put our foot down and say we want our children to be educated and not indoctrinated. This nonsense of teaching our children to hate each other based on race, or to hate this country based on some skewed version of our history, that has to end.”
“We need to restore parents’ rights and involvement in education, that means school choice across all 50 states. That means eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. Here’s another thing, anyone who would dare subject a minor child to a gender transition. That’s child abuse.”
Over the previous yr in Ohio, parental rights have been on heart stage with a measure pushed by Democrats that efficiently enshrined abortion into the state’s structure and laws pushed by Republicans that banned organic males from girls’s sports activities that was vetoed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine however later overruled by the GOP managed legislature.
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“The governor made a bad decision a few weeks ago and thank God our state legislature overturned that,” LaRose instructed the gang. “You know, I always stand up and protect children. And for another thing, my three girls could beat the boys on the basketball court, but they shouldn’t have to. The only way for sports to be safe for our kids is for girls to play against girls, and boys to play against boys. Guys, this is common sense.“
Although he missed out on the coveted endorsements of Trump and Ohio GOP Sen. J.D. Vance, who additionally endorsed Moreno, LaRose touted different key endorsements he’s acquired together with the Buckeye Firearms Association, one of many largest Second Amendment teams in the state.
On Tuesday, LaRose secured the endorsement of outstanding Dayton space GOP Congressman Mike Turner who touted LaRose’s “proven track record of fighting for families, workers, and small businesses in the Ohio State Senate and as our Secretary of State.”
“I’m confident we’re going to win it if I’m outspent,” LaRose instructed Fox News Digital.
LaRose is certainly getting outspent by Moreno and Dolan who each have amassed a major private fortune, in line with current Federal Election Commission filings reported earlier this week.
LaRose acknowledged that he’s “not the wealthiest guy in the race” by a “long shot” however says his campaign is engaged on”getting our message out there” and he’s “confident” that Ohioans will start paying nearer consideration to the race as the March 19 main nears and “realize there’s only one battle tested, proven conservative that can beat Sherrod Brown.”
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“I’m asking you for two things,” LaRose mentioned in his closing remarks to the room stuffed with Republicans in Xenia. “I’m asking you for your vote, and I believe in earning it, I’m here for the job interview. I’m asking you for your vote so that we can beat Sherrod Brown in November and take this country back and save this country.
“But extra essential than that, I’m asking on your prayers. Pray for me, my household additionally pray for my opponents. You’re not going to listen to anyone else say that. Now, do not pray for them to win. But do pray for them, I imply that, a campaign is an enormously nerve-racking enterprise. I’m not complaining. It’s loads of time away from your loved ones, time on the highway, so pray for, for all of our candidates and together with your vote and together with your prayers. I’ll beat Sherrod Brown this November, and we’ll put our nation again on monitor.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Brown’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report
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