Cleveland Businessman Gibbons Plans Run for Portman Seat

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland area businessman, announced his candidacy Tuesday morning for the U.S. Senate.

Gibbons is the latest candidate to announce he would seek the Republican nomination to succeed U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who said in January he would not seek reelection to the seat he won in 2010. 

According to the news release announcing his candidacy, Gibbons launched the company that became Brown Gibbons Lang & Co., which helped “dozens of homegrown Ohio companies expand and add jobs, providing strategic and financial advice and much-needed capital.”

Gibbons also has been managing partner of the Cleveland Crunch professional soccer franchise, co-owner of Cheboygan Tap & Tool, and co-owner of Northern Lake Properties. 

“I’ve achieved my American Dream. I’m running for Senate to help more people achieve their American Dreams,” he said in the announcement.

“I’m a businessman, not a politician. I’m blunt, plain-spoken, and I tell it like it is,” he continued. “I’m running for Senate because this isn’t the time for career politicians or party insiders. The last thing we need is another go-along-to-get-along rubber stamp in Washington.”

Gibbons is running for Senate to “get the economy back on track,” control “runaway federal spending,” secure the nation’s borders, “stand for life” and protect Second Amendment rights, he said in the release. 

“I believe that America is the greatest country in the history of the world, but we need to stand up to the cancel culture and the lies of those who seek to divide us,” he said. “I believe that families matter. Churches matter. Neighborhoods and small towns matter.”

Gibbons was Ohio finance co-chairman for Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 and a contributor to the president’s re-election campaign in 2020, Gibbons joins a field of prospective or declared candidates for the GOP nomination that already includes former state treasurer Josh Mandel, former Ohio Republican Party chairwoman Jane Timkin, Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-6 Ohio.

Potential candidates for the Democratic nomination include U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, and state Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-34 Akron, who is minority leader in the Ohio House of Representatives. 

Last week, Youngstown native Dr. Amy Acton, former director of the Ohio Department of Health, said she would not seek the seat.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.