WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the Jan. 6th Committee outlines how then-President Donald Trump tried to pressure state election officials into overturning the results of the 2020 election, Ohio’s Republican secretary of state said he would’ve ignored the attempts.
What You Need To Know
- Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said he “would’ve followed the law” if then-President Trump and his allies contacted him in late 2020 as part of a pressure campaign to overturn the election results
- LaRose welcomed Trump’s endorsement earlier in 2022 and continues to speak highly about the former president’s policies
- LaRose spoke with Spectrum News while visiting Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, one day after state election officials in Georgia and Arizona testified to the Jan. 6th Committee that Trump tried to get them to overturn the 2020 election results
Frank LaRose is Republican through and through.
He welcomed former President Donald Trump’s endorsement for his reelection bid earlier this year and speaks highly of Trump’s policy record.
But LaRose, who has been secretary of state since 2019, told Spectrum News that had Trump or his lawyer Rudy Giuliani contacted him after the election in 2020, and applied similar pressure that other election officials faced, he would have disregarded it.
“No question—I would’ve done my duty. I would’ve followed the law… I would never compromise my integrity, or the oath of office that I’ve taken, regardless of who’s asking,” LaRose said in an interview Wednesday while he visited Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, Republican officials in Georgia and Arizona testified before the Jan. 6th Committee and described a relentless campaign by Trump and Giuliani to pressure the leaders into overturning the election results in their states.
Trump won Ohio by eight points in 2020 and never questioned the results there.
LaRose often boasts that audits of that election show Ohio’s results were 99.98% accurate. He also won’t say outright that the election was stolen, which is something Trump calls on all his supporters to do.
But even as Trump continues to push the baseless claim, LaRose has embraced his support.
During a May 1 campaign rally for J.D. Vance, the Trump-endorsed Ohio U.S. Senate candidate who also backs Trump’s false claim, LaRose told the crowd, “President Trump knows how important election integrity is as well.”
Spectrum News asked LaRose why he’s comfortable having Trump’s support, and complimenting Trump’s stance on election integrity, when it’s provable that he’s casting conspiracy theories and continuing to campaign on the fact that a free and fair election was stolen.
“It’s the old Ronald Reagan quote that ‘the person who agrees with me 80% of the time is my ally,’” LaRose said.
Later in the interview, he explained: “I agree with President Trump in what he was able to accomplish and where we differ, that’s fine. There’s room for people to have differences of opinion and still support one another. And that’s exactly what happened here. I was proud to earn his endorsement and I’m proud to be running for reelection with his endorsement.”
LaRose faced a primary challenger in the primary election who fully backed Trump’s lie that the election was stolen, but LaRose easily beat him by double digits.
LaRose is one of many Ohio Republicans trying to find a balance between supporting Trump, who remains the party’s leader, while also not fully embracing his baseless claims.
