Watch Phil Heimlich on The Hot Mic Podcast
Where divergent points of view debate and discuss hot topics
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Watch Phil Heimlich on The Hot Mic Podcast
Where divergent points of view debate and discuss hot topics
Available Now on YouTube
When I was running for Congress last year in the GOP primary in Ohio’s 2nd District, I realized that almost every county Republican Party holds an annual “Lincoln Dinner” to honor our 16th president. Some counties have amended the title to the “Lincoln-Reagan Dinner” to also honor President Ronald Reagan. But the Republican Party in my home, Hamilton County, has taken it a step further. It has changed the name of this event to the “Lincoln-Reagan-Trump Dinner.”
My question is: What does Donald Trump have in common with Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan?
At the end of the movie, Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, says, “I didn’t do enough…I could have done more.” In recent days, I keep asking myself the same question, “Could I have done more?” This isn’t in reference to saving lives; it refers to saving the life of our democracy.
Through interviews and surveys, The Enquirer asked 70 Republican candidates in Greater Cincinnati this year about how they would characterize the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and whether they would support Trump if he were convicted.
Only 20 responded, with all but one reaffirming support for Trump and in some way defending his actions during the Jan. 6 attacks. The only one to condemn Trump, Symmes Township Republican Phil Heimlich, has been one of the region’s most vocal Republican Trump critics. The anti-Trump message got Heimlich 5% of the vote and a sixth-place finish out of 10 in the March GOP primary for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District.
The minute Phil Heimlich decided to run as the anti-MAGA candidate in a Trump-loving district, his fate was sealed. He managed to get only 5% of the vote in the 2nd Congressional District GOP primary, good for a middle-of-the-pack finish, according to unofficial election results. He didn’t earn a seat in Congress, but he did earn my respect.
Heimlich, a former Cincinnati councilman and Hamilton County commissioner, cares about democracy. He is a rare-breed Republican these days who has the guts to speak out against Donald Trump’s lies, dangerous rhetoric and misdeeds. When Hamilton County’s GOP chairman was urging candidates to dodge an Enquirer survey about Trump and the January 6 Capitol riots, Heimlich happily answered the questions: The events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 were an insurrection, pure and simple; Trump should not hold office if convicted of the serious felonies with which he is charged; the 2020 election wasn’t stolen.
Those answers aren’t going to earn you many votes in Trump Country, but winning elections isn’t everything. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
If you paid any attention to Heimlich’s campaign, then you’d know his answer to that question too.
Opinion and Engagement Editor Kevin S. Aldridge can be reached at kaldridge@enquirer.com. X, formerly known as Twitter: @kevaldrid. You can message him with any recommendations for handshakes or headshakes.
Out of 11 Republican candidates in Ohio’s 2nd U.S. House district primary, only Phil Heimlich has been willing to stand up for democracy
The reddest district in the state of Ohio could be poised to elect a non-MAGA candidate, former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said on Sunday.
Kinzinger, a frequent critic of Trump who is also known to blow up right-wing conspiracy theories on social media, said in his Substack that there are “some very important primary elections on Tuesday.”
There are no less than 11 Republicans on Tuesday’s primary ballot, all seeking to replace soon-to-be-retired congressman Brad Wenstrup in Ohio’s 2nd congressional district.
With almost all candidates in contested Republican primaries nationwide frenetically trying to associate themselves with former President Donald Trump, one stands out for openly doing the opposite.
In a 12-way Republican race to replace retiring Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, longtime local official Phil Heimlich is running in the state’s March 19 primary as an unabashed critic of Trump, on multiple grounds.
A southern Ohio Democratic Congressional candidate has announced he is dropping out of the race for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District and has thrown his support behind a Republican.
In a statement Wednesday, Joe Wessels announced his withdrawal from the race and has endorsed Republican candidate Phil Heimlich in the March 19 GOP primary.
Joe Wessels, one of two Democratic candidates for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, announced on Tuesday that he is withdrawing from the March 19 primary race and throwing his support behind Phil Heimlich, a self-professed anti-MAGA candidate who is one of 11 Republican primary candidates.
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