Trump 2020 campaign chief to advise Gibbons in Ohio Senate race

Former Trump campaign chief Bill Stepien is set to join Ohio Republican Mike Gibbons’s Senate campaign, getting involved in one of the most contentious GOP Senate primaries in the country. 

Stepien, who helmed former President Trump’s campaign during the summer and autumn of 2020, will join Gibbons’s camp as a senior adviser, according to a source familiar with the matter. Justin Clark, who works with Stepien at National Public Affairs and served as his deputy on the Trump campaign, is also joining the Gibbons campaign.

Stepien also helped elect former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to two terms and worked in various roles on Trump’s 2016 campaign and in his administration.

Fox News first reported on the hires.

The news underscores the role the former president is playing in the Ohio Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R).

Trump met with several contenders at his Mar-a-Lago resort in the spring, and many of the candidates in the field have lurched to the right in an apparent bid to win his endorsement.

Several of the candidates have also tied themselves to people in Trump’s orbit, including “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance, who is close with tech titan and Trump ally Peter Thiel. Bernie Moreno, who just dropped out of the race, was being advised by Kellyanne Conway, a former senior official in the Trump administration.

Gibbons, a real estate developer and investment banker, first ran for Senate in 2018 and is among the top candidate in the GOP primary field, along with Vance, former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and former Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken.