Economics
In Trump Convention Shadow, Ohio’s Portman Faces Trade Backlash
- Nominee’s rhetoric boosts free trade as issue in Senate race
- Governor’s decision to not back Trump splits party in Ohio
Senator Rob Portman listens during a hearing in Washington on July 30, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Republican Rob Portman overcame charges that free-trade deals he promoted for President George W. Bush decimated industrial jobs in Ohio to win a U.S. Senate seat. Locked in a tough re-election battle, Portman is now fending off the same attacks from Democrats channeling a new spokesman: Donald Trump.
Unwittingly enlisted by campaign ad makers, the Republican presidential nominee is the featured voice in a digital ad for Portman’s Democratic challenger, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.