Summary
- Even as Ohio Republicans for statewide offices lost, Secretary of State Frank LaRose won his race for state auditor.
- LaRose told the Daily Signal what he’ll do in his role, stressing the “independent” nature of the job.
- LaRose is focused on his new role rather than “daydreaming” about higher office.
Ohio was not spared last week’s blue wave. Yet Secretary of State Frank LaRose managed to pull off a win for his race as state auditor, even as his predecessor and other statewide Republicans lost their races. How did he do it?
In a phone interview with the Daily Signal, LaRose spoke about how he “invested the time over many years to build deep relationships in diverse parts of Ohio.” He also discussed the importance of focusing on “the basic nuts and bolts things that people care about,” which he feels he’s done in his current, term-limited role.
The Ohio auditor will be busy, as both LaRose and outgoing Auditor Keith Faber have previously discussed tackling Ohio’s Medicaid fraud involving home health care centers—an issue LaRose says he’ll be working on.
LaRose’s agenda includes “catching crooks that are stealing your tax dollars, making sure that they face justice, and working to make government more efficient so that they’re not taking more money out of your pocket,” as he also stated throughout his campaign.
“If you steal our tax dollars, I’ll make you a felon, and if you waste our tax dollars, I’ll make you infamous,” he said in his victory speech following the election.
“When people pay their taxes, it’s a form of public trust. And anybody that would betray that trust, I’m going to catch them, and we’re going to make sure that they face justice. It also means partnering with various other levels of government at the local level—but also at the federal level, with the anti-fraud task force, working with the president’s administration on fighting fraud.”
Ohioans may have voted for Democrat Gov.-elect Amy Acton, but LaRose is not deterred by having to do his work in a Democrat administration. Instead, he stressed the independent nature of his new role.
“The state auditor, for that matter any of the constitutional offices, are independent, separately elected offices,” LaRose said, noting it will be his job “to hold the governor accountable.” He also stressed that his boss is “the taxpayers of the state of Ohio.”
In reflecting upon the election, LaRose praised the American system, adding that the “voters made a different choice.”
“We run our elections so well that even the loser knows they lost,” he said.
“We need to do it so well, so honestly, so transparently, so by the books, that even those candidates that come up short see those results on election night, recognize that they were honest, and then call and congratulate their opponent. And that’s what happened in all of these cases.”
LaRose’s win is not only impressive in light of Ohio’s statewide races, where Democrats took every office, but because he was the only Republican to win statewide in several states, including the once solidly red state of Texas.
Does this make LaRose a formidable candidate for higher office in the future? He lost the primary in 2024 to now Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, but he has never lost a general election. But as LaRose made clear in his interview, he is focused on being “Ohio’s chief accountability officer.”
“Too many people in public service are daydreaming about the next job. Do the job you have. The voters of Ohio have just given me a very important responsibility, and I’m going to pour my whole self into that,” he said.
“My job will be to hold government accountable at all levels, and what that means is restoring trust so that people know that when they dutifully pay their tax dollars, they’re going to be spent honestly and efficiently. [It also means] holding politicians accountable. And again, any politician who wastes your money, I will make them infamous; any politician that steals your money, we’ll put them in jail. That’s the role of the state auditor, and I will roll up my sleeves that embrace that role,” LaRose added.
He did offer advice for Republicans in future elections, however.
“I think our challenge as Republicans [is to] make sure that the pendulum swings back to the right. So, that can happen in two years, that can happen in four years, that can happen in eight years,” LaRose said. This will be up to us to lay out a clear vision, not just how terrible our opponents are. I think that people get a little sick of that.”
He said the GOP stands for free market principles, the rule of law, strong national defense, public safety, and human freedom.
“When the Republican Party stands on principle and talks about what they’re for, and has real policy solutions to challenges that people face in their lives, then we’ll be successful.”
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
