55 Facts About Josh Mandel

Joshua Aaron Mandel was born on September 27,1977 and is an American far-right politician who served as the 48th treasurer of Ohio from 2011 to 2019.

Josh Mandel was the unsuccessful Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 US Senate election.

In 2016, Mandel announced his intention to challenge Brown yet again in 2018, but later withdrew from the race.

Josh Mandel was born to a Jewish family on September 27,1977, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Rita and Bruce Josh Mandel.

Josh Mandel's maternal grandfather, Joe, is originally from Poland and is a Holocaust survivor, while his maternal grandmother, Fernanda, is originally from Italy and was hidden from the Nazis by Christian families during World War II.

Josh Mandel attended Beachwood High School, where he was the quarterback of the football team.

Josh Mandel earned a bachelor's degree from the Ohio State University.

Josh Mandel enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, where he served eight years as an intelligence specialist.

Josh Mandel left for his second tour in September 2007.

Josh Mandel was elected to the Lyndhurst, Ohio, city council in 2003.

In January 2005, Josh Mandel sent a letter to Lyndhurst residents, proposing a one-time tax rebate of $400, paying the postage for the letters from his campaign fund.

Josh Mandel was first elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in November 2006.

Josh Mandel represented Ohio's 17th House district, consisting of 17 communities of various sizes in southeastern Cuyahoga County.

Josh Mandel joined State Representative Shannon Jones in an attempt to make Ohio the first state in the nation to divest from Iran, but the legislation was never signed into law due to a compromise between state pension executives and Ohio House leadership, agreed to by Mandel.

Josh Mandel said that the legislation was not a pressing priority for the state and that the General Assembly should spend its time in other ways.

In May 2009, Josh Mandel announced his candidacy for Ohio Treasurer of State via web video.

Josh Mandel's campaign generated controversy in late September 2010 when it ran a TV commercial falsely suggesting that Josh Mandel's opponent, African-American Kevin Boyce, was a Muslim.

The Josh Mandel campaign said that the Ohio Republican Party was responsible for the mailers, which had already been sent via bulk mail.

In October 2010, in response to an Ohio Democratic Party complaint, the Ohio Elections Commission found that Josh Mandel had deceptively depicted Boyce as a Muslim in the ads.

On November 2,2010, Josh Mandel was elected Ohio State Treasurer, defeating Boyce by 14 percentage points to become chief investment officer of state funds.

Josh Mandel was reelected to a second term as state treasurer in 2014, defeating Democratic State Representative Connie Pillich.

In June 2016, Josh Mandel began offering the nation's first ABLE accounts, called in Ohio "STABLE Accounts".

In 2016 and 2017, the Ohio Treasurer's Office under Josh Mandel spent almost $1.7 million in taxpayer-funded television ads, featuring him and Urban Meyer, the head coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team.

Josh Mandel's office made each payment for the ads to individual television stations in an amount less than $50,000 per fiscal year, thus circumventing the need for approval by the state Controlling Board, which must sign-off on state payments over this amount.

Josh Mandel defended the ads, saying they helped increase awareness of an investment program for disabled Ohioans.

Critics questioned the airing of self-promotional ads at a time when Josh Mandel was running for US Senate and said that Josh Mandel's office was trying to avoid scrutiny by structuring the ad buys to avoid Controlling Board approval.

Josh Mandel did not attend an Ohio Senate hearing on the matter.

In November 2018, Josh Mandel made Ohio the first US state to allow taxpayers to pay taxes with cryptocurrency.

Josh Mandel was the Republican nominee to challenge Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 election for US Senate from Ohio.

Josh Mandel officially announced his candidacy for US Senate on March 1,2012.

Josh Mandel earned the endorsement of several prominent conservative politicians, including: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Florida Sen.

Josh Mandel's campaign was singled out by the independent fact-checking group Politifact for its "casual relationship with the truth" and its tendency to "double down" after inaccuracies were pointed out.

Josh Mandel had raised $7.2 million through the first quarter of 2012; his $5.3 million cash on hand trailed Brown's $6.3 million.

Josh Mandel's campaign was aided by over $1 million spent primarily on attack ads by a 501 organization called the "Government Integrity Fund".

The vehicle was involved in a traffic accident on March 5,2013, nearly four months after Josh Mandel's Senate campaign had ended; he was a passenger in the vehicle when the accident occurred.

In December 2016, Josh Mandel announced that he would seek election to the United States Senate in 2018.

Josh Mandel's office said the ads were taped and aired before Josh Mandel was a candidate for US Senate.

In July 2017, Josh Mandel stated his support for alt-right activists and conspiracy theorists Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec after they were criticized in an Anti-Defamation League report.

Josh Mandel dropped out of the race on January 5,2018, citing the need to spend more time with his family relating to his wife's health issues.

Josh Mandel mulled running in the election, and later confirmed that he would run.

In May 2021, multiple fundraisers left the Josh Mandel campaign, citing a "toxic work atmosphere" including being berated publicly by the campaign's financial director.

In October 2021, posting on a far-right conservative website, Josh Mandel claimed that Jewish financier George Soros and the "deep state" were responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, Antifa, and the January 6,2021 assault on Capitol Hill.

Josh Mandel came in second during the primary, receiving 23.9 percent of the votes.

Josh Mandel has backed Trump's widely disproven claims of voting fraud in 2020 presidential election, and supported Trump's attempts to overturn opponent Joe Biden's electoral victory.

Josh Mandel has called Trump's second impeachment a "sham" and pledged to fight for the former president's "America First" agenda.

Josh Mandel has called for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The description of the act as a government takeover of health care, by Josh Mandel, has been labeled by Politifact as "nonsensical" and a "myth".

Josh Mandel has referred to climate change research as "riddled with fraud".

Josh Mandel has vowed to fight attempts to advance clean-air standards.

Josh Mandel has called for what he terms as "aggressive and responsible" energy exploration that protects "the air we breathe and water we drink" while reducing environmental regulation.

Josh Mandel is a supporter of expanded coal plants and has criticized what he has termed as "radical" environmental groups.

In November 2021, Josh Mandel, despite being Jewish, tweeted support for controversial statements by Michael Flynn calling for the establishment of "one religion" in the United States, which would be against the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Josh Mandel followed up with more tweets saying "Freedom of religion = freedom FROM religion" and "America was not founded as a secular nation".

Josh Mandel was married to social worker Ilana Shafran in August 2008 in Jerusalem.

Josh Mandel has been dating Rachel Wilson, a staffer for his campaign, since August 2020.