Ex-House Speaker John Boehner remains a polarizing figure in his former home district of Ohio, and as candidates seek to fill his seat, his name is absent in the race.
"You can divide the Republican electorate into two camps," former GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette told
Politico.
"Half are angry at him and half are angry that he left."
There are more than a dozen candidates in the primary race, and they are not limiting themselves on either running against Boehner's legacy or basing their campaigns on him, and he has declined to endorse anybody in the race.
"Our data show he's still popular in that district, so we're not trying to distance our guy from him," said Club for Growth President David McIntosh, who represents a conservative PAC that targeted Boehner and his allies, including LaTourette.
McIntosh's PAC backs Warren Davidson while the Defending Main Street PAC — now led by LaTourette — opposes.
State Sen. Bill Beagle, one of the candidates for Boehner's seat, said that there are people who say they want him to be like Boehner, and then others who say that he better not be anything like him.
Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges said he asked Boehner if he wanted the state party to back a successor, but the former speaker asked the party to not take sides, and instead let the race run its course.
Saturday, Boehner spoke at the Butler County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, making his first public appearance in the district since his resignation last year.
However, he did not endorse a successor, but instead
backed Gov. John Kasich in his run for the GOP presidential nomination.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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