Secret recording: Top GOP recruit says Trump endorsement isn't all that

Former President Donald Trump’s endorsement is widely viewed among Republican candidates as the golden ticket to the nomination.

But at least one prominent GOPer weighing a bid in a competitive state has privately conveyed he thinks the former president's seal of approval is overstated.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a potential candidate in the race to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, recently told a group of Ohio Republicans at a closed-door political event that while Trump’s endorsement “matters,” it doesn’t carry the same weight it used to. He pegged the proportion of Republican voters who would “vote for whoever” Trump endorses at just 20 percent.

"There is another 20 percent that care about who he endorses but that’s not going to be the decision maker. And then there's probably another 60 percent of the party that doesn't care who he endorses,” said LaRose, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by POLITICO.

LaRose said he suspects that, should he enter the race, he would earn Trump’s support. But he didn’t think that “begging for it” would prove useful.

“There's also this game some play where they hire a bunch of former Trump people and then they think, ‘Oh, if I hire this person, I'll get their endorsement.’ The president is generally smarter than that, he’s not going to fall for that,” LaRose said at a Cuyahoga Valley Republicans event in late April. “He's going to endorse the candidate who has the best chance of beating Sherrod Brown.”

LaRose is considering entering the Republican primary to take on Brown in the 2024 Senate election in Ohio. Brown is seeking his fourth term but is widely seen as one of the more vulnerable Democrats up this cycle. Moderate Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno for the GOP’s have already announced they are seeking the nomination.

Trump hasn’t endorsed in the contest. But he did publicly encourage Moreno, whose daughter is married to former Trump White House official and freshman Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), to get in the race.

The recording offers rare insight into how top Republicans running for office privately think about Trump and that sway he has in the party. It also provides a window into how political courtship can work. In his private remarks, LaRose said he believed Miller, who he called a personal friend, is trying to help his father-in-law win Trump’s support.

“Max has been making trips down to Mar-a-lago saying hey Mr. Trump, President Trump, can you endorse my father in law? Notice that [Trump] didn't endorse him but he said nice things about him,” LaRose said in the recording.

“Knowing how this goes,” he continued, “I can even picture it in my mind they're sitting in the president's office in Mar-a-Lago and he says, ‘You know, I'm not ready to endorse yet, you got a lot more time, you don't have strong name ID, you haven't any raised money yet, I'll just say some nice things about your father in law on Twitter or Truth Social or whatever and then let's talk about an endorsement six months from now.’”

LaRose declined to comment. A person close to LaRose, who was granted anonymity to speak about the secretary’s comments, said he “simply said what we already know.”

“Endorsements are great, but you won’t unseat a 48-year incumbent politician with a list of endorsements. We need a candidate who can win, and we need to wage a contest of ideas and vision that not only unites the entire Republican party but also a majority of Ohioans. If he runs, that’s what he’ll offer,” the person said.

A person close to Moreno, who was also granted anonymity, disputed LaRose’s characterization of Miller lobbying Trump and noted that Moreno has built his own relationship with Trump.

Few, if any, GOP candidates would openly downplay the significance of Trump’s endorsement. At the GOP event, he said that the 2022 midterms proved that the Trump endorsement doesn’t carry as much weight as it once did.

“Here's an example, there is a new U.S. senator from Alabama — we can agree it's a pretty conservative state. She won the primary in ‘22 and didn't have the Trump endorsement. She was the better candidate,” LaRose said. “The guy Trump endorsed came out to be a dud of a candidate and so Katie Britt won the primary and got elected as U.S. senator from Alabama. So it's entirely possible even back in ‘22 that the best candidate regardless of the endorsement is the one that wins.” Trump eventually endorsed Britt before her Senate primary runoff.

LaRose himself was endorsed by Trump in his 2022 race for Ohio secretary of state. It was notable then, because in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill and attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results, LaRose criticized lawmakers who shared conspiracy theories about voting and said it was “irresponsible to fearmonger about elections administration.”

“And certainly, if you have the largest megaphone in the world, you should think very carefully before you say something that would cause people to lose faith in elections,” he went on to say.

LaRose, for his part, has not endorsed Trump’s current presidential campaign. Neither he nor Dolan have said whom they would support. So far, Moreno is the only candidate who has endorsed Trump.

Trump has conveyed to aides he is less concerned with putting his stamp of approval on other candidates when he is running for president himself. He has been working the phones and meeting with state leaders in an effort to earn endorsements of his own.