An Ohio conservative caused a lot of confusion on Tuesday after his campaign party prematurely sent out concession statements while voters were still casting their ballots.
Derek Myers, a Republican candidate competing for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, mistakenly issued a concession statement before the polls closed.
Myers was one of 11 candidates fighting for the seat after Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) decided to not run for re-election.
The release was sent out around 3:00 p.m. on Monday, while the polls did not close until 7:30 p.m. Shortly after, his team sent out another email, retracting the statement, claiming that a technical issue was to blame.
Myers’ campaign team sent out a third release, explaining that the camp had prepared both a victory and concession statement ahead of Tuesday night’s election. Another mistake for team Myers was that no one proofread before sending the third release, which mentioned that it was “an impotent night.”
“The concession email was sent in error as it was being loaded into the media distribution portal, as a draft, in the event of a loss. Accidentally, the ‘send now’ button we clicked instead of ‘draft.’ The winning email was also drafted, but was not sent in error, thankfully.
Anyone who works in communications knows it’s not uncommon to have speeches and releases prepared in the event of each outcome, especially on such an impotent night. It’s simply good strategy,” Myers said in a statement.
“Derek Myers” – who apparently sent a concession e-mail by accident while voting was still going on – now refers to this evening as an “impotent” night.
What a maroon! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/uOUCFFXbHP
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) March 19, 2024
“Whatever the results return this evening, I’ll be thankful for this journey. And yes, the media will be getting a release sometime after the results roll in, declaring a victory or concession.”
Politicians are often busy, so it made sense that he would prerecord potential responses. What usually doesn’t happen is they fake an election party in the background to appear like they are being interviewed and then accidentally hit the send button.
Ohio candidate Derek Myers pre-recorded a concession video.
In it, he pretends he’s answering an interview question from the local news, and plays fake party noise in the background to make it sound like he was at a real election night party.
Problem is: He accidentally… pic.twitter.com/6rNxRuAo6F
— Conor Rogers (@conorjrogers) March 19, 2024
Safe to say, social media had a field day with the mix-up.
When I have fake arguments in the shower by myself, I win them. We lead very different lives, Derek Myers. https://t.co/gOeYmQGH51
— ☕️ Katie Porter’s White Board ☕️ (@OhDangitEvie) March 20, 2024
Unfortunately for Myers, he not only lost the election but only received 1.5% of the votes, making him dead last. Candidate David Taylor won the election and will be going head-to-head with Democratic candidate Samantha Meadows in November.
This was not the first time Myers made news. Last year, he accused ousted former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) of inappropriately touching him while alone in his office, resulting in being denied a job.
