Rob Portman is a vestige of a disappearing GOP. He seems to know it.

Rob Portman is a vestige of a disappearing GOP. He seems to know it.

Paul Waldman — Read time: 3 minutes

If you wanted to argue that the Republican Party is not in the grip of its craziest elements, or that despite Donald Trump’s continuing hold on the party there are still serious Republicans who care about governing, you might point to Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.

A relatively soft-spoken figure, Portman has spent most of his adult life in government — influential positions in the administrations of both Bushes, 12 years in the House, 11 years in the Senate. One of the more moderate members of the Republican caucus, he can occasionally be found working across the aisle, as when he negotiated the bipartisan infrastructure bill last year.

But since he’s a vestige of the old GOP, Portman’s story is more about what has changed than what remains. He’s not running for reelection this fall, and he just endorsed Jane Timken in the race to succeed him.

Timken, the former chair of the state party, was apparently the closest thing to a reasonable Republican in his own mold that Portman could find. Which tells you a lot about the state of that race, and the party.

There are five major candidates in the contest, and only one of them, state Sen. Matt Dolan, isn’t running by presenting themselves as the Trumpiest of Trump loyalists. And for some, it involved a transformation from their earlier selves.

Josh Mandel, a former state treasurer, did so in the most vulgar way, which is probably why he’s widely considered the front-runner. Though it has alarmed some former friends, Mandel seems to look for the most aggressive positions he can find, then communicates them in the most hostile, divisive way possible. He doesn’t just dislike mask mandates; he’ll make a video of himself burning a mask in a stairwell! Captioned “FREEDOM”! Take that, socialists!

Then there’s J.D. Vance, the “Hillbilly Elegy” author who has reinvented himself as a Trumpist warrior. Since his 2016 criticisms of Trump are unfortunately on record, he has focused on taking down “elites” and corrupt institutions, a kind of Trumpism without (much) Trump. Recently he endorsed Trump’s big lie.

Mike Gibbons, an investment banker, proudly touts his service as Trump’s Ohio finance co-chair and his donations to Trump’s 2020 campaign. Timken vows to “advance the Trump agenda without fear or hesitation.” Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway has joined Timken’s campaign, calling her “a true MAGA champion.”

This is something of a passing of the torch for Ohio, which has had a generation of more substantive Republicans that is in a slow decline. In addition to Portman, you have former governor John Kasich, who actually endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and is thus persona non grata in his party. There’s also Gov. Mike DeWine, who will likely win reelection this year even though he enraged the right by taking the pandemic seriously. All three are quite conservative, yet they don’t have much place in today’s GOP.

What kind of a senator would any of those candidates be? It’s clear they’d be less Rob Portman and more Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), treating legislating as an unfortunate distraction from their primary tasks of getting on Fox News, spreading memes on hot new right-wing social networks and generally owning the libs.

One might hope that along with similar candidates in other states, the Ohio Republicans would mature in office as they confronted the weighty task of making America’s laws. Unfortunately, that seldom happens; the person we see on the campaign trail is who they’ll almost certainly be in office.

That’s in large part because the incentives that push them in this direction now will remain in two or four or six years. Ohio might be a swing state, but not only does it lean slightly right, a swing state these days isn’t one with lots of moderates but one where liberals and conservatives are nearly equally balanced.

The winner of this race, whether it’s Timken or Mandel or someone else, will know that crafting good legislation won’t stave off a primary challenge in their next election. There’s no margin in trying to be like the senator they’re replacing. And with his endorsement, Portman seems to be acknowledging it.