It’s primary day in several states across the country, and though the most closely watched race in Ohio is the one that will decide the GOP Senate nominee, another race in the Buckeye State made headlines on Tuesday – but for much different reasons.
The US House District 2 Republican Primary is a crowded one, with 11 candidates vying for the nomination for the seat currently being held by Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who has been in Congress since 2013 and who is retiring after this term. One of them is entrepreneur Derek Myers.
On Tuesday, as voters took to the polls in Ohio to decide their nominees, Myers’ campaign sent out an email, not in the form of a last-minute pitch to get people to go and vote for him, but to… concede the race.
“Tonight did not go as we had hoped, but as we know, this race is decided in the primary. I want to give my congratulations to the Congressman-Elect…”
Read the rest below, along with the retraction email:
How it started at 3:18ET, when the Derek Myers campaign conceded the Ohio primary that is still going on.
How it’s going 9 minutes later: pic.twitter.com/A2tpUVEN61— Jason Calvi (@JasonCalvi) March 19, 2024
There was even… a video released early. Here’s what the last sentence in the tweet below said:
“Problem is: He accidentally posted it at 4pm and absolutely none of this is real. This is just him standing alone in a room.”
Watch:
Ohio candidate Derek Myers pre-recorded a concession video.
In it, he pretends he’s answering an interview question from the local news, and plays fake party noise in the background to make it sound like he was at a real election night party.
Problem is: He accidentally… pic.twitter.com/6rNxRuAo6F
— Conor Rogers (@conorjrogers) March 19, 2024
Considering how embarrassing this all was for his campaign, I’d say Myers handled it about as well as he could have, issuing the following statement in the aftermath:
“The concession email was sent in error as it was being loaded into the media distribution portal, as a draft, in the event of a loss. Accidentally, the ‘send now’ button we clicked instead of ‘draft.’ The winning email was also drafted, but was not sent in error, thankfully. Anyone who works in communications knows it’s not uncommon to have speeches and releases prepared in the event of each outcome, especially on such an impotent night. It’s simply good strategy,” Myers said in a statement.
“Whatever the results return this evening, I’ll be thankful for this journey. And yes, the media will be getting a release sometime after the results roll in, declaring a victory or concession.”
A good-natured explanation from Ohio GOP House candidate Derek Myers on his concession email mishap: pic.twitter.com/nTO3Wmjkp3
— Liz Elkind (@liz_elkind) March 19, 2024
“Impotent night”? Yikes.
As it stands now, things don’t look too good for his campaign, with him being in second to last place with 26 percent reporting. So that premature concession email and video he issued well ahead of poll closing time might have been prescient after all…
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