President Trump tweets, then deletes, wrong date in 'get out and vote' message for Ohio GOP candidate

Deirdre Shesgreen | USA TODAY

President Donald Trump mistakenly urged Ohio voters to “get out and vote” for Republican Rep. Steve Stivers on Aug. 7.

The problem? Stivers is not on the ballot next week.

The Ohio Republican, who chairs the National GOP campaign committee, already won his primary months ago and won't face voters again until November's general election, where he'll be up against Democrat Rick Neal.

Ohio is hosting a closely watched special election on Aug. 7. In that bellwether race, Democrats are trying to flip a long-held Republican seat – now vacant because the incumbent GOP congressman, Pat Tiberi, retired to take a job in the private sector.

In a sign of how worried the GOP is about losing the seat, Trump will be campaigning for Republican Troy Balderson, a 56-year-old state senator, this weekend.

The president apparently conflated the special election with a raft of primaries that will be held in other states on Aug. 7.

The tweet was quickly deleted, and then followed up with a new tweet touting Balderson.

Trump has deleted his tweet telling people to vote for Stivers on the wrong day pic.twitter.com/nRU9iWgjOP — Colin Campbell (@colincampbell) August 2, 2018