A nonpartisan election monitor has shifted a key Ohio House race from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat” after scrutiny over the Republican candidate’s claimed military record.
The Cook Political Report shifted the 9th Congressional District race of Republican J.R. Majewski and incumbent Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the latter’s favor following reporting putting several of the Trump-endorsed Republican’s claims about his military service in doubt. Democrats’ previous strategies of portraying Majewski as a conspiracy theorist had proven mostly futile in winning over independents, but the new accusations of stolen valor seem to be tipping the scales, analyst David Wasserman argued.
HOUSE GOP PULLS ADS FROM ‘TOSS-UP’ RACE AFTER MAJEWSKI CONTROVERSY: REPORT
“Prior to the story, Democrats had been casting Majewski as an unhinged QAnon enthusiast who took part in a mob that attacked police. But it was far from clear those attacks would disqualify him in a GOP-redrawn seat that voted for Donald Trump by three points in 2020,” he wrote. “Allegations of stolen valor, however, are another story — they’re likelier to turn off independent voters who have moved on from January 6.”
An investigation by the Associated Press found last week that there is no record of Majewski’s combat tour in Afghanistan, as the Republican claims, but that he was loading planes in Qatar during the time. Majewski disputes this, saying his deployments to Afghanistan were classified.
Another investigation by the outlet found that the reason he was barred from reenlisting in the Air Force was because of a DUI he received at an air base in Japan during a 2001 deployment, not an Air Force dormitory brawl as he had previously claimed.
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The Republican Party has cut ads for the candidate in light of the news, leaving one of the Democrats’ most vulnerable incumbents, according to Politico, as favored to win in November.
