Ohio congressional candidate J.R. Majewski appeared on WarRoom: Pandemic with Stephen K. Bannon and Always Right Radio with Bob Frantz this week to corroborate Majewski’s record of military service, something political opponents and media figures have recently assailed.
Majewski is a Republican Air Force veteran running to unseat 40-year U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09) in a district that encompasses many of the state’s northwestern and north central communities including Toledo. The newly redrawn House district is one of five that former President Donald Trump won in 2020 but to which a Democratic incumbent seeks re-election.
Claims that Kaptur and left-leaning journalists are making about the Republican’s Armed Forces experience stem from an Associated Press report that ran a week ago headlined “Ohio GOP House candidate has misrepresented military service.” The article purports to rely on service records to show that, during Operation Enduring Freedom, Majewski served not in Afghanistan as he said but at Kadena Air Base in Japan and then in Qatar as a “passenger operations specialist.”
Shortly after the AP report appeared, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) cancelled $960,000 worth of broadcast-ad buys to support his run. Kaptur called her opponent’s assertions about his service “an affront to every man and woman who has proudly worn the uniform of our great country.
In his initial statement last week, Majewski disputed allegations he deceived anyone about his service, producing a document demonstrating he is eligible to to reenlist, something the AP suggested he could not do because of a disciplinary issue. During his WarRoom appearance Tuesday evening, he and Bannon discussed how a noncommissioned officer, identified in media appearances as Master Sergeant Jason, publicly supports Majewski’s account of his wartime experiences. Jason has attested to having deployed to Afghanistan and having seen Majewski there “a handful of times” as part of a mobile unit.
Majewski told Bannon that he and Jason had not spoken in well over a decade and that he would have made his narrative public sooner if doing so were possible. The candidate said that the AP misinterpreted military documents that did not contain all of the information the news organization would need to make its sweeping conclusions. While he lamented the lingering impact that the Afghanistan story has had over the last several days, he voiced confidence that voters will ultimately side with him.
“The district knows that this is a witch hunt, they know what Marcy Kaptur’s behavior is [and] they know that the [Associated Press] at some point were going to launch their ‘October surprise,’” Majewski said. “I think what bothers people here is that Marcy Kaptur, at the end of the day, is still my congresswoman and instead of stifling this and coming to my aid, knowing that my DD2-14 [discharge form] needed to be updated, she perpetuated it. She spent thousands of dollars in promoting this through TV and Google and the people here in the district know that.”
Majewski said he remains undeterred in pressing forward with his campaign activities, including launching video promotions and making frequent in-person contact with voters.
“I have absolutely no fear about what’s going on here in the 9th district because I’ve been working really, really hard and I’ve been shaking every hand, hugging everyone and giving them really good, local, home-cooked barbecue,” the veteran said, with a crowd of supporters applauding behind him. “This is the way that you win voters.”
Bannon told Majewski that Kaptur, who has refused to debate the GOP candidate, should not be so complacent in light of intense inflation that has devalued the earnings of many Buckeye Staters.
“This is all the created crisis that she’s responsible for — and the Biden regime,” the host said. “So they’re never going to debate you in front of those good folks right there — hard-working citizens. They’re going to try to destroy you personally, so that’s why you’ve got to fight back in the hardest way possible.”
Speaking with Frantz, based at WHK Radio in Cleveland, Majewski expanded upon his earlier remarks, noting that he received imminent danger pay as part of his military work, granting him the official description of “combat veteran,” something else his adversaries have questioned.
“That seems to be a common mistake,” Frantz reflected in his conversation with Majewski on Wednesday. “People seem to think you have to engage in firefights to be in a combat zone. There are a lot of people in combat zones, making them combat veterans, who don’t actually fire weapons but who are there in various other roles like yours.”
The NRCC could not be reached for comment about where the organization now stands regarding the candidate. Majewski told Frantz that hearing they pulled the ad spending “hurt more than these [media and Democratic] claims, to be honest” but “Washington, D.C. doesn’t vote in the 9th district, the people here do.”
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “J.R. Majewski” by J.R. Majewski.
