Editing Rob Portman (section)

===Elections===

==== 2010 ====
{{See also|2010 United States Senate election in Ohio}}
On January 14, 2009, two days after [[George Voinovich]] announced he would not be running for re-election, Portman publicly declared his candidacy for the open [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] seat.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rulon |first1=Malia |last2=Whitaker |first2=Carrie |title=Portman makes it official |url=http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090114/NEWS0108/901140316/1055/NEWS |work=[[The Cincinnati Enquirer]] |date=January 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111065327/http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090114/NEWS0108/901140316/1055/NEWS |archive-date=January 11, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Hallett|title=Portman enters Senate race &#124; Columbus Dispatch Politics|first=Joe|url=http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/14/copy/portman.html?sid=101|publisher=Dispatchpolitics.com|date=January 14, 2009|access-date=August 21, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124131024/http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/01/14/copy/portman.html?sid=101|archive-date=November 24, 2010}}</ref> Running unopposed in the [[United States Republican Party|Republican primary]], Portman benefitted substantially from [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party]] support, and by July 2010 had raised more campaign funds than [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Lee Fisher]] by a 9 to 1 margin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/230830/could-rob-portman-have-9-1-cash-advantage-ohios-senate-race|title=Could Rob Portman Have a 9-to-1 Cash Advantage in Ohio's Senate Race?|last=Geraghty|first=Jim|date=August 17, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120720115633/http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/230830/could-rob-portman-have-9-1-cash-advantage-ohios-senate-race|archive-date=July 20, 2012|work=[[National Review]]}}</ref> Portman campaigned on the issue of jobs and job growth.<ref name="BloombergBusinessweek">{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_45/b4202029083519.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101101225543/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_45/b4202029083519.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 1, 2010|title=Rob Portman's Business Ties Don't Bother Ohio|publisher=BloombergBusinessweek|date=October 28, 2010|access-date=November 24, 2012}}</ref>

Of all candidates for public office in the US, Portman was the top recipient of corporate money from insurance industries and commercial banks in [[2010 United States elections|2010]].<ref name="BloombergBusinessweek" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjGdIhSWI7U| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/hjGdIhSWI7U| archive-date=November 18, 2021 | url-status=live|title=Rachel Maddow examines Dan Coates & Rob Portman's 'Tea Party' cred|publisher=[[MSNBC]]|date=November 3, 2010|access-date=November 24, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Portman possessed the most campaign funds of any [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] during [[2010 United States elections|2010]], at $5.1 million, raising $1.3 million in his third quarter of fundraising.<ref name="politico">Kraushaar, Josh. [https://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28395.html Cha-ching! Campaign cash tops and flops], ''Politico'', October 16, 2009</ref>

Portman won the election by a margin of 57 to 39 percent, winning 82 of [[List of counties in Ohio|Ohio's 88 counties]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://portman.senate.gov/about.cfm|title=Senator Portman, U.S. Senator from Ohio – Official Page|publisher=portman.senate.gov|access-date=February 15, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203092714/http://portman.senate.gov/about.cfm|archive-date=February 3, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a 2010 campaign advertisement, Portman said a "[ [[cap-and-trade]] bill] could cost Ohio 100,000 jobs we cannot afford to lose;" subsequently, ''The Cleveland Plain Dealer'' and PolitiFact called Portman's claim "barely true" with the most pessimistic estimates.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2010/aug/02/rob-portman/portman-uses-outdated-context-claim-cap-and-trade-/|title=Portman uses outdated context to claim cap-and-trade could cost 100,000 Ohio jobs|newspaper=The Cleveland Plain Dealer|date=July 6, 2010|access-date=April 2, 2013}}</ref>

==== 2016 ====
{{See also|2016 United States Senate election in Ohio}}
The 2016 re-election campaign posed several special challenges to Portman and his team—it would be run in heavily targeted Ohio, it would occur in a presidential year when Democratic turnout was expected to peak, and both parties would bombard Ohio voters with tens of millions of dollars in TV, cable and digital ads for the national, senatorial and downticket contests. For his campaign manager, Portman chose [[Corry Bliss]], who had just run the successful re-election of Sen. [[Pat Roberts]] in Kansas. Portman and Bliss chose to run what ''Time'' magazine called "a hyperlocal campaign without betting on the nominee's coattails."<ref>Elliott, Philip and Newton-Small, Jay, ''Time'', April 13, 2016, "Why Republicans Are Looking Farther Down the Ballot," accessed thru {{cite web| url = https://time.com/4292904/downballot-republicans-senate-house/| title = 2016 Elections: Republicans Look Down Ballot| date = April 14, 2016}}</ref>

As Real Clear Politics noted, Portman faced "the thorny challenge of keeping distance from Trump in a state Trump [was] poised to win. Portman, in the year of the outsider, [was] even more of an insider than Clinton ... Yet he [ran] a local campaign focused on issues like human trafficking and opioid addiction, and secured the endorsement of the Teamsters as well as other unions" (despite being a mostly conservative Republican).<ref>''Real Clear Politics'', November 6, 2016, "Things we know at a moment of uncertainty," accessed thru {{cite web| url = http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/11/06/things_we_know_at_a_moment_of_uncertainty_132265.html| title = Things We Know at a Moment of Uncertainty {{!}} RealClearPolitics}}</ref>

Polls showed the race even (or Portman slightly behind) as of June 2016; afterwards, Portman led Democratic ex-Gov. [[Ted Strickland]] in every public survey through Election Day. The final result was 58.0% to 37.2%, nearly a 21-point margin for Portman.

[[Chris Cillizza]] of ''The Washington Post'' argued that the context of Ohio's result had wider implications. "There are a lot of reasons Republicans held the Senate this fall. But Portman's candidacy in Ohio is the most important one. Portman took a seemingly competitive race in a swing state and put it out of reach by Labor Day, allowing money that was ticketed for his state to be in other races, such as North Carolina and Missouri ..."<ref name="best">{{cite news |last1=Cillizza |first1=Chris |author-link1=Chris Cillizza |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=December 21, 2016 |title=The best candidate of 2016 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/21/the-best-candidate-of-2016/ |language=en}}</ref>

''The Washington Post'' said "Portman took the crown for best campaign",<ref name="best" /> while ''Real Clear Politics'' said, "Sen. Rob Portman ran the campaign of the year.".<ref>Real Clear Politics, {{cite web| url = http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/11/06/things_we_know_at_a_moment_of_uncertainty_132265.html| title = Things We Know at a Moment of Uncertainty {{!}} RealClearPolitics}}</ref> Portman himself was generous in praising his campaign manager: "With an emphasis on utilizing data, grassroots, and technology, Corry led our campaign from behind in the polls to a 21-point victory. He's one of the best strategists in the country."<ref>Altimari, Daniela, ''Hartford Courant'', December 21, 2016, "Bliss a Big Winner of 2016 Cycle," accessed thru {{cite web| url = http://www.courant.com/politics/capitol-watch/hc-bliss-a-big-winner-of-2016-cycle-20161221-story.html| title = Bliss a Big Winner of 2016 Cycle - Hartford Courant| date = December 21, 2016}}</ref>