Ohio’s Senate seat stays Republican. Rob Portman replaces Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), who is retiring. Lee Fisher, the Jewish Lt. Governor, effectively bowed out of the race days ago.
In pro-Israel terms, this looks a lot like Indiana, which, as I noted earlier, has gone to former GOP Sen. Dan Coats. In both cases, a senator seen as especially friendly to Israel — Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) in Indiana’s case — retires, and both candidates for the open seat have close ties to the community. Portman’s most recent government job was U.S. Trade Representative, under the last Bush administration.
