GOP CONVENTION | Mandel looking ahead to 2018 Senate run

CLEVELAND — While Josh Mandel is serving his second term as Ohio treasurer, it's obvious he and others are looking to 2018.

That's when Mandel, a Republican, can again challenge U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat. In 2012, Brown beat Mandel by 6 percentage points in one of the highest-profile, most-expensive Senate races in the country.

Mandel, who has already made moves to run again in two years, was the host for the Ohio delegation's first breakfast at the Republican National Convention.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the main speaker, said Ohio made a mistake in 2012 not electing Mandel and that the state's voters would have a chance to correct that wrong in two years.

Bernie Kosar, retired Cleveland Browns quarterback who also spoke this morning, called Mandel "U.S. Senator" before correcting himself.

The only mention Mandel made about the Senate was that while we want to elect a Republican as president, "what I'm focused on is to help Rob Portman" get re-elected this year to the U.S. Senate.

Portman,a Republican, is being challenged by ex-Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat.

As for Mandel's comment, he didn't mention Donald Trump by name. During the primaries, Mandel was the lone prominent Republican in Ohio to not endorse Gov. John Kasich. Mandel supported U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.