Gibbons rolls out ad touting business experience as Ohio Senate primary turns ugly

Ohio Republican Senate candidate Mike Gibbons on Wednesday rolled out an ad touting his own business experience as the race for the GOP nomination in the state turns ugly. 

The 30-second ad features Gibbons talking about his experience brokering multimillion-dollar deals and creating jobs. 

“In Washington, I’ll go to work to bring jobs home by standing up to China, lowering your cost of living by slashing taxes, protect your kids by stopping leftist indoctrination, and keep you safe by securing the border,” Gibbons says. 

“Let’s tell politicians, you’re fired,” he says, concluding the spot. 

The new ad comes less than a week after an altercation between Gibbons and former state treasurer Josh Mandel on the debate stage over business experience.

Gibbons accused Mandel of “never having worked in the private sector,” prompting Mandel to walk over to a standing Gibbon and shout in his face: “Two tours in Iraq, don’t tell me I haven’t worked!”

“You don’t know squat,” Gibbons responded before a moderator pulls the two apart.

At a debate hosted by Nexstar Cleveland affiliate Fox 8 News on Monday, Gibbons voiced his respect for those in the armed services before he said his point was that Mandel had never worked in the private sector, which does not include the military.

Recent polling shows Gibbons leading the crowded field for the GOP Senate nomination in the Buckeye State. An Emerson College-The Hill poll released earlier this month showed him with 22 percent support. Mandel trailed at 15 percent support, while author J.D. Vance came in at 8 percent. Former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken and state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) each received 6 percent support. Another 39 percent of Republican primary voters said they were undecided.