Can an old-school Republican win Ohio's Senate primary? Matt Dolan is ready for the test

Editor's note: This is one in a series of profiles about the Republicans running in Ohio's U.S. Senate primary. Read our story about businessman Bernie Moreno on our website. You can read more about Secretary of State Frank LaRose here. You can find coverage of Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown's reelection bid also on our site.

Matt Dolan refuses to stand by and let his opponents call him a RINO.

The state senator from Chagrin Falls is running for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown this year. In a Republican primary overshadowed by Donald Trump, Dolan has a lane all to himself. He's not cozying up to the former president, and he admits GOP voters won't embrace every single thing he's done.

Dolan's Republican critics like to compare him to former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney or call him a Democrat. But he contends his work in the Legislature, which cut taxes and expanded school choice last year, is more than enough proof of his conservative credentials.

And unlike his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, where he came in third in the GOP primary, Dolan has rolled up his sleeves to take his rivals to task.

"I think Republicans are seeing me as somebody who can execute and get things done," Dolan said in an interview. "You also see somebody who is consistent. I don't pretend that they're going to like everything I've done in the Legislature, because my focus isn't what's best for my political career. I focus on what's best for Ohio."

Dolan is running in the March 19 primary against Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno. He's armed with millions of dollars out of his own pocket and says he's the GOP's best chance at kicking Sen. Sherrod Brown out of office. But an Emerson College poll released last week showed Dolan in third place among the primary candidates, with 42% of voters still undecided.

Then there's the elephant in the room: Republicans like Dolan are falling out of fashion in Ohio.

Who is Matt Dolan?

Dolan is serving his second term in the Ohio Senate, where he's known as a top budget architect who chairs the Finance Committee. He spent six years in the House representing parts of Cuyahoga County and Geauga County in northeast Ohio. Outside the statehouse, he's a partner at a law firm where he specializes in municipal law and real estate − although he's not currently practicing or representing clients.

Dolan's father owns the Cleveland Guardians, something his opponents like to quip about at every opportunity. Larry and Eva Dolan collectively donated $2 million last year to a super PAC supporting their son. Ahead of the first GOP primary debate, Brown told Fox 8: "I wish he'd spend the money he's spending in this race on a power-hitting right fielder for Cleveland."

Dolan said he serves on the Guardians' executive committee but doesn't have a day-to-day role. Despite that, Trump chastised him during the 2022 race for the team's decision to change mascots from the Indians to the Guardians.

"Matt's a very nice man, believes what he believes, but he is not going to rally the base behind him, and he cannot be on the ticket with President Trump," said Moreno, who got Trump's endorsement. "President Trump's already made it clear where he stands with Matt Dolan, and it's not positive."

Still, Dolan presents himself as a champion of the former president's policies. He wants to reinstate the "remain in Mexico" program that required asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for immigration hearings. He also criticized efforts under President Joe Biden's administration to forgive student loan debt and incentivize the purchase of electric vehicles.

In the state Senate, Dolan backed the August election on the failed proposal to make it harder to change the Ohio Constitution. He also supported legislation that will restrict health care for transgender minors and ban transgender girls from female sports. He voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of the bill.

At times, however, Dolan has strayed from the party line. He advocated for gun reforms that would expand background checks for those under 21 and allow judges to take firearms from people in court-ordered mental health treatment. He also opposed Ohio's ban on most abortions after six weeks because it does not include exceptions for rape or incest.

Still, he campaigned against the November ballot issue that enshrined abortion access and other reproductive rights in the constitution.

"Issue 1 − which pretty much dismisses Frank (LaRose) from this Senate race because he was the face of Issue 1 and it failed miserably − tells me we need to have a reasonable position on abortion that I may not even agree with," Dolan said. "But we have to reflect what people want."

Dolan has said he would support a federal abortion ban with exceptions if policies like Ohio's new amendment become par for the course.

Dolan: Republicans need to 'put an agenda forward'

In another year, Dolan would have the ideal resume for a Republican candidate: A wealthy attorney with years of experience in public office. But thanks to Trump, many GOP voters have grown wary of longtime politicians and turned to newcomers like Sen. J.D. Vance.

Dolan's supporters don't buy into that.

"Someone who is in the private sector or in business for a long period of time, we don't look on that as a negative," said Lydia Mihalik, a former Findlay mayor who works in the DeWine administration. "When you are dealing at that level in the U.S. Senate, with some really big issues that affect and impact the country, you want someone with the experience and the knowledge and the commitment."

At the end of the day, Dolan is not a MAGA Republican. He supports U.S. aid for the war in Ukraine, which aligns him with the more hawkish members of Congress. He says without hesitation that Biden won the 2020 election and believes the Republican Party needs to move forward. Dolan also did not endorse Trump in the presidential primary, saying there should be a "rigorous debate" about the nominee.

"I think if Republicans don't put an agenda forward that is showing how it's going to make Americans' lives better − that America will be stronger, that our border will be secure, that our economy will be flourishing, small businesses and individuals will be able to grow − if we don't talk about those things, it doesn't matter who the Republican nominee is," he said. "We're in trouble."

Dolan contends he's best equipped to take on Brown in the general election: He outperformed Trump in Cuyahoga County twice and said he can appeal to independent voters in Democratic strongholds that Brown dominates. But he ultimately needs to sell that message to Republican primary voters, who tend to be more partisan.

"Would Matt Dolan be a better general election candidate for the Republican Party going up against Sherrod Brown? I think absolutely," said University of Akron political scientist David Cohen. "But that's probably not what the Republican Party is going to get."

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Who is Matt Dolan? GOP state senator runs in Ohio Senate race primary