Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman just received a rather fascinating endorsement, showing that politics sometimes makes strange bedfellows. The local Black Lives Matter chapter endorsed Portman over his Democratic rival, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, because he’s run the state into the ground (via Political):
The Cuyahoga County Black Lives Matter movement announced Friday that it is endorsing the Ohio Republican candidate for re-election to the Senate, an unusual and noteworthy endorsement from a movement that has historically favored Democratic politicians.
The group slammed Democratic candidate Ted Strickland for his management of the state’s finances while he was Ohio’s governor — saying he “managed to destroy Ohio’s budget and deplete the state’s billion-dollar Rainy Day Fund.”
“In the current climate of identity politics, BLMCC understands that endorsing even a well-qualified Republican like Portman seems controversial, despite the fact that minorities have suffered the most from Ted Strickland’s gross financial mismanagement,” BLMCC President Jeff Mixon said in a statement Friday.
Portman and Strickland are locked in a tight race that is crucial for Republicans to maintain control of the Senate. At the beginning of the year, Strickland led Portman by three to six points, but as we entered the summer, polls show the Republican incumbent leading by an average of four points.
