- Republican candidate J.R. Majewski announced Saturday that he is withdrawing from the House race.
- This comes after Business Insider reported that he called Special Olympics athletes “retarded.”
- He faced swift opposition from Republicans and calls for him to leave.
J.R. Majewski, the controversial Republican House candidate in Ohio, announced Saturday that he is suspending his campaign weeks before the March 19 primary.
The move comes just weeks after Majewski faced backlash for calling Special Olympics athletes “fucking retarded,” as Business Insider first reported last month.
“It is inevitable that the deep state will do whatever it takes to fight me,” Majewski said in a statement, without addressing recent controversy over his comments. Until just a few days ago, he had stubbornly refused to withdraw from the race.
During an appearance on a conservative podcast in February, Majewski joked about “Democrats living in mom's basement,” including a derogatory term for people with special needs.
“Discussing on the Internet is like participating in the Special Olympics,” he said. “No matter how well you perform, you are still… after all, still retarded.”
Mr. Majewski apologized, but was later rebuked by the Lucas County Republican Party, which encompasses much of the Toledo-area congressional district in which he was running.
Republican Senate candidate Matt Dolan also condemned Majewski's comments, putting him in a tough spot against opponents Bernie Moreno and Frank LaRose, both of whom endorsed Majewski in December. requested that support be withdrawn. Neither campaign responded to requests for comment Friday about their endorsements.
But Majewski's controversy extends beyond his recent inflammatory comments.
After winning the Republican nomination for president in 2022, he was found to have lied about his mission in Afghanistan, and has previously endorsed the QAnon conspiracy theory. He also said he brought 60 to 70 people to Washington, D.C., on January 6, but said he did not enter the Capitol.
His decision to withdraw from the party is likely to be greeted with a sigh of relief from the national Republican leadership. Many feared he would lose his party's competitive seat, given his 13-point loss to Democratic Rep. Mercy Capture in 2022.
A group aligned with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other leaders endorsed state Rep. Derek Mellin to run for office, a decision that was made after a previous candidate, former state Rep. Craig Riedel. The decision was made in the wake of a video being filmed defaming former President Donald Trump.
