A battle for control of the Ohio Republican Party is pitting the chairman who oversaw the GOP's resurgence in 2010 against Republican Gov. John Kasich.
Ohio's GOP is considered among the nation's most powerful party operations for mobilizing voters in favor of state and national candidates.
Chairman Kevin DeWine has characterized Kasich's efforts to oust him as a distracting and expensive "elephant in the room." He says it could jeopardize the party's efforts to deliver the battleground state for President Barack Obama's Republican challenger this fall.
Kasich allies want the governor to control the party. They ran a slate of candidates March 6 intended to seize a majority of the state central committee and vote DeWine out later this spring.
Both sides claim they can win such a showdown.