Ohio Senate hopeful on Biden’s East Palestine trip: ‘A day late and a dollar short’

Ohio Senate candidate Frank LaRose (R) said that President Biden’s recent trip to East Palestine, Ohio, where a 2023 train derailment caused a toxic chemical spill, is “a day late and a dollar short.” 

LaRose, who is running in the Ohio Senate Republican primary, does not think that Biden’s visit to East Palestine has changed any minds of the locals who suffered health and environmental effects following last year’s derailment. 

“No, I don’t think so,” LaRose said during his Saturday appearance on Fox News. “He was a day late and dollar short, it was well-known liberal, Woody Allen, that said 80 percent of success is showing up. So I guess on the Woody Allen grading scale, Biden gets an F.” 

The Ohio Secretary of State is another GOP member who has gone after Biden for visiting the site, for the first time, one year after the train derailment. Biden visited East Palestine on Friday. During his remarks, Biden praised the local community for their perseverance in light of the incident and railed against “corporate negligence” that led to the derailment. 

“Listen, the president needs to be there to help coordinate responses,” LaRose said. “When I was there in East Palestine just a few weeks ago, I was hearing from people that are still living with the ramifications of this.” 

LaRose is running in a competitive Republican primary up against state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) and Trump-endorsed businessman Bernie Moreno. The winner will face Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in the November contest.

Former President Trump, Biden’s likely rival in the November election, has repeatedly criticized Biden for not visiting East Palestine. Trump visited the town last February. 

“Biden should have gone there a long time ago — for him to go now is an insult to those who live and work in East Palestine, and the Great State of Ohio, itself. I can’t believe anyone wants him there?” Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social.

The White House has mentioned repeatedly that the Environmental Protection Agency officials were on the ground hours after the Norfolk Southern train derailed and that members performed door-knocking initiates to check in on locals.