Portman previously served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. After resigning from the post in June 2007, Portman said he wanted to spend more time with his wife and children in Ohio, but media outlets including The Washington Post speculated that he left in order to position himself to run for governor or the Senate.
Portman, who represented southwest Ohio and Cincinnati in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2005, enters the race with more than $1.5 million remaining in his House campaign committee fund, which he can now use for the Ohio Senate race, Politico reported.
The 2010 Senate race is going to be "close and tough" for the Republicans, University of Ohio political science professor DeLysa Burnier said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
President-elect Barack Obama won the swing state in November, garnering 51.5 percent of the vote, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's web site. The state also elected Democrat Sherrod Brown to the Senate in 2006.
"The state is trending Democratic, and Republicans were carrying it previously, so this is going to be a really competitive race, especially for Republicans," Burnier said. "Portman, or anyone else, doesn't have it sewn up."
Portman may struggle to overcome his association with the Bush administration -- Bush's approval rating stood at 28 percent on Wednesday, according to a Harris poll -- and his conservative voting record.
"[Portman's] conservative credentials are sterling," The Washington Times wrote in a May 2008 editorial. "As a member of the House from 1993 to 2005, he compiled a lifetime voting rating of 89 percent from the American Conservative Union."
Some Ohio politicians said Portman's chances are high, telling Politico that they predict he will sweep the Republican primary and be the strongest Senate candidate.
"He's great on both policy and politics, and you don't often find that combination," Hamilton County Republican party Chairman Alex Triantafilou told Politico. "His experience in government, his experience in Washington and his understanding of Ohio would make him a tremendous force in the Senate."
Although no other candidates have declared their intention to run, Burnier mentioned Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher as a potentially strong Democratic nominee. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and Rep. Zack Space, D-Ohio, may also run, The Hill reported Wednesday.
Portman officially announced his candidacy for Senate at a press conference in Cincinnati. He stressed his 12-year stint in the U.S. House of Representatives and said that, if elected, he will follow Voinovich's example of working across the aisle to pass important legislation.
"Over the past year or so, as I have traveled across the Buckeye State and listened to Ohioans talk about what matters most to them, I learned that we all have a lot in common: strong family values, a solid work ethic and a commonsense approach to solving problems," Portman said at the press conference.
Voinovich did not make a statement about Portman's candidacy prior to press time, and his office declined to comment.
"Fortuitously, we have some great people in Ohio," Voinovich said in a press conference on Monday in which he announced his plan to resign. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure the next Senator from Ohio is a Republican."
Both Republicans and Democrats were quick to praise Portman following his resignation from the OMB.
"Rob Portman has been an important ally of House Republicans in promoting fiscal discipline, fighting wasteful spending and holding the majority accountable for its promises," said House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a June 2007 statement provided to The Dartmouth by Portman campaign aide Caroline Joseph. "During his tenure at OMB, Rob proved himself to be an effective advocate for fiscal discipline just as I knew he would be."
Several Democrats, including House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said they admired Portman for his bipartisan tendencies.
"I have deep respect for [Portman] and believe that he was an effective legislator and one of the finest public servants with whom I have served in the House," Hoyer said in a statement also provided by Joseph.
An anthropology major at Dartmouth, Portman attended the University of Michigan Law School before working in international law in Ohio and Washington, according to Joseph. He served as an aide in the first President George Bush's White House before running for Congress. After representing Ohio's second congressional district he served as director of the Office of Management and Budget and as a U.S. trade representative.
