The moderator quickly interfered to ease tensions by directing Mandel back to his seat. The candidate began to sit down when Gibbons repeated, “You don’t know squat.”
“Two tours in Iraq, don’t tell me I haven’t worked,” Mandel repeated. “You back off. Watch, watch. You’re dealing with the wrong guy. You watch what happens, p*ssy. You watch what happens.”
Candidate J.D. Vance called the exchange ridiculous and told his two opponents to sit down.
“Josh Mandel is an unhinged, unfit, and flailing — because he’s losing,” Gibbons said in a statement. “We can’t leave this race to child-like candidates. We need an adult in the room and Josh Mandel has proven that he is not capable of being that for Ohioans.”
Josh Mandel is unhinged, unfit, and flailing – because he’s losing.
We can’t leave this race to child-like candidates. We need an adult in the room and Josh Mandel has proven that he is not capable of being that for Ohioans. #OHSen pic.twitter.com/xLgdca7gxR
— Mike Gibbons (@MikeGibbonsOH) March 18, 2022