CLEVELAND, Ohio – Republican former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has scrubbed his social media accounts, which were well known in Ohio politics for their sometimes incendiary tone.
Mandel, 41, had apparently deleted every post he’s made on both Twitter and Facebook as of Thursday morning. He also set his Twitter account to private, though the nearly 15,000 followers he had beforehand still have access.
Mandel’s Facebook was similarly barren, with zero posts from him and only a couple of photos left online.
It’s a puzzling move that raises questions about what Mandel’s next move might be, especially coupled with the fact he has more than $3.6 million parked in a federal campaign account. In the past, Mandel has been unapologetic about his online posts even in the midst of a heated campaign.
Last year, he quietly filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District, though Republicans close to him said that was only to keep the federal campaign active. The 11th District is Ohio’s most Democratic, currently represented by Marcia Fudge.
Mandel did not return a voicemail seeking comment.
Mandel has mostly been out of the spotlight since dropping out of a second challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, citing a need to be home to care for his wife, who faced health issues. Mandel made the decision in January 2018 without warning to Republican Party leaders, who scrambled to replace him with U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who was then running for governor.
Brown beat Renacci in November, the only Democrat to win election to a partisan statewide office. Mandel left office in January.