Scott Pullins

.@MattHuffman1 says House GOP leadership vote is next Tuesday. He said he doesn't know anyone challenging him for speaker & 80% of his caucus told him he has their vote. "I'm sure there are going to be 2 or 3 people who don't want to vote for me. ...But I don't think it's close."

Former Strickland Administration chief of staff John Haseley will lead transition efforts for Amy Acton. Gov. Strickland told me before Election Day that Haseley's involvement in the Acton campaign eased his concerns about a political novice taking over as governor.

You need to hear this from Rush Limbaugh.

Have heart, my beautiful friends. @VivekGRamaswamy isn’t going to fade into the sunset. No. He is still the vibrant young entrepreneur who during the course of the campaign became acquainted with issues that may have been neglected or overlooked. All of these issues are important to Ohio’s industry and demographics. ❤️❤️🍎🌹 Previously I have stated that Ohio is a very important state to our republic, and that is true. The Renaissance of Ohio might have been delayed by the current event, but it will happen. Vivek will continue to be involved in the lives of Ohioans. For two months, or so, he made contact with diverse industry sectors, and knowing his creative abilities, I know that he will find ways to solve some of the issues presented to him. Last night’s loss falls on Ohio’s citizenry, not on Vivek. I just pray that his plans/inventions are not hindered by those who will be in control. We are counting on you, @VivekGRamaswamy and are looking forward to hearing about your next projects; this, of course, after you and beautiful Apoorva take a well deserved vacation that affords you time to be spent with the gorgeous children. We love you. 😍

20 years ago, after Republicans suffered a blowout in the 2006 midterms, Rush Limbaugh shared a perspective many of us are feeling today: Rush: “I feel liberated, and I’m going to tell you as plainly as I can why. I no longer am going to have to carry the water for people who I don’t think deserve having their water carried… Now I’m liberated from having to constantly come in here every day and try to buck up a bunch of people who don’t deserve it, to try to carry the water and make excuses for people who don’t deserve it.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis says he knew Republicans were in trouble when he saw them spending hundreds of millions on transgender ads. DeSantis went to war with Disney over gender ideology in 2022. Even he says Republicans were "fighting in yesterday's battle." DESANTIS: "I knew Republicans were in trouble when I was reading an overview about what they were running ads on. And they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars across the country on on transgender ads." "Look, I fought Disney on gender ideology… But that was not the issue motivating voters." "It was kind of like an attempt to just scare Republicans to vote." "Republicans… they really were fighting in yesterday's battle."… Last month, Pew asked Republican voters which issues mattered most. Their top 5: the economy, immigration, the future of democracy, violent crime, and the size of government. Transgender issues ranked 15th out of 16.

Last night didn’t go our way. Congratulations to those who rode the wave to victory. I wish them well. I’m proud of the race we ran. With zero attack ads, we outperformed the top of the ticket by 7 points, a number I didn’t think was possible. That happened because people all over Ohio were willing to hear a different message. We earned the trust of union members, teachers, and first responders in every corner of this state. That’s a coalition worth building on. Here’s what I think that number tells us. Our party wins when we stand with the blue collar middle class. Not corporate welfare. Not sweetheart deals for the well connected. Good jobs, fair wages, and a government that works for the people who actually keep this state running. To every volunteer, donor, and voter who stood with us, thank you. You gave everything you had, and I won’t forget it. I lost this one. I’m not done. I will always keep fighting for Appalachia, for Ohio, and for this great country. Roosevelt said it best. The credit belongs to the ones in the arena. #Fighting4Ohio

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.) In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

Here’s my list of Day 1 Executive Orders. They’ll be signed before midnight on January 11. Buckle up. E.O. #1: Investigate local property tax spikes. This executive order will direct the Department of Taxation, in consultation with the Auditor of State, to review changes in property taxes in every county, township, municipality, school district, and special district in Ohio, and surface how increased property taxes have been spent. Every jurisdiction that has seen an increase of over 100% in property taxes since 2020 will be subject to a full investigation into spending realities and needs. E.O. #2: End sanctuary cities across Ohio. This executive order will prohibit Ohio cities, townships, counties, or other local jurisdictions from adopting policies that would prevent or impede their law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Specifically, if a political subdivision does not honor detainer requests or share information as federal law allows, the local government will lose eligibility for state grants run by executive agencies, including public-safety and homeland-security grants, until it complies. The sanctuary city policy would also be referred for possible legal action. E.O. #3: Stop new data center projects until comprehensive legislation is signed. This executive order directs every state agency, board, and commission to pause action on any application, permit, incentive or approval for a new data center to give the General Assembly time to pass comprehensive data center legislation that includes my non-negotiable principles. E.O. #4: Direct the Department of Medicaid to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse. This order will direct the Department of Medicaid to apply for a Section 1115 waiver that caps Ohio's Medicaid spending, in line with Tennessee's original TennCare III waiver, which let the state keep up to 55 percent of federal savings when it spent below the cap. Under similar terms more of every dollar of fraud that Ohio stops would return to Ohio. E.O. #5: Prioritize solving violent crimes to rapidly get criminals off our streets. This executive order will direct the Departments of Public Safety and of Rehabilitation and Corrections to prioritize violent crime clearance rates in discretionary funding available to support local law enforcement. Tools including advanced forensic science will enable local law enforcement to increase the number of violent crimes solved from the current 34% level to aggressively eliminate violent criminality in Ohio cities. E.O. #6: Comprehensively review all existing state contracts to root out wasteful spending. This executive order will order a review of every executive-branch contract paid in-part or in-full from the General Revenue Fund. The Department of Administrative Services, working with the Office of Budget and Management, will review each contract's legal basis, necessity, performance, alternatives, and the cost of ending it versus continuing it, then recommend continuation or termination. E.O. #7: Establish an inter-agency anti-fraud task force, with direct accountability to the Governor. This executive order will establish an inter-agency task force, reporting directly to the Governor, focused on combating various forms of fraud including, but not limited to: Medicaid fraud, benefits fraud, and child care fraud; visa fraud; voter registration fraud; trucking fraud; foreign CDL licensure; and abuse of foreign hiring by public entities. The anti-fraud task force will consist of experts from across state government and the private sector and may include representatives from the Auditor of State, Secretary of State, and Attorney General.

🚨MUST WATCH🚨 Amy Acton’s team SMACKS a voter’s camera for trying to ask her a simple question: “why won’t you debate Vivek?” They proceed to push him & keep him held back, telling him “no pictures, no interviews” (this was in a public area by the way). Watch in full:

I recently had a magistrate donate to my primary election opponent *while presiding over a trial I had before them*. It wasn’t disclosed until the trial was over & the finance reports came out. We filed a motion for a new trial, for violating the Ohio Rules of Judicial Conduct. The 4th District Ohio Court of Appeals said it’s fine. The Ohio Supreme Court declined to review it. So, judges in Ohio can literally make donations to defeat the lawyers actively appearing in front of them in elections, even while presiding over their trials, and it apparently isn’t an indication of bias that warrants recusal. I suspect that would surprise most people.

Outside the Chillicothe Rally. Completely full inside. President Trump arriving to speak shortly.

Sen. Andrew Brenner on Acton as governor: "If she can't do it one way because of what we put into law, she will find another way around it." 44,000 state agency employees. One veto pen. Seven days. omny.fm/shows/the-windsor-re…

Come on Ohio. Remember Amy Acton's role during Covid. She was a loyal little puppet, just not to Ohioans.

#OHGov: R candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is up on TV with this spot -- Male voiceover: "The stakes couldn't be higher. Ohio's governor makes decisions that affect every family. Appoints judges, leads in a crisis. But, when things got tough, Amy Acton quit. She was reportedly found curled up in the fetal position"

Thank you, Mount Vernon 🇺🇸

Last year I met a veteran named Sandy who was a protestor outside of my event. We had an intense exchange & built a relationship. She just showed up at our event, it was one of the most beautiful moments of the campaign. ❤️

Just for the giggles, I started looking at the profiles losing their mind that I am voting for Vivek Ramaswamy... not one single one I have looked at yet is based in Ohio. Many of them aren't even Americans. It's like when Africans lecture Americans about our politics... you don't even live here. I don't really care how mad you are about it. I get to vote in this election and you don't. I get a say and you don't. I get to have my voice be heard and you have to shriek outside the house hoping we will care. We do not care. We are getting ourselves a Republican Governor. We are getting a America First Governor. We are getting ourselves Governor Vivek Ramaswamy!