Renacci Picks Political Outsider and Pro-Trump Film Producer as Running Mate

Contact: Eileen McShea
(440) 477-8869
[email protected]

Wadsworth, OH - Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci plans to clean up the corruption Mike DeWine has brought to Columbus and he knows just the man to help him do it. That man is Joe Knopp. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because Joe isn’t a politician. He’s a conservative Christian businessman and filmmaker, whose path in life has taken him from homelessness as a child to candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

Knopp’s remarkable life story has shaped his faith-driven, conservative values and fuels his commitment to answer the call to service—a commitment which began during his time on active duty in the U.S. Air Force at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force base.

Like Jim Renacci, Knopp is self-made. Both men grew up poor.  But while Renacci had a solid family foundation, Joe spent his earliest years barely surviving.  Joe’s mother struggled with severe substance abuse, which led to a period of homelessness for Joe before he found refuge in an orphanage at age 7—where he grew up.

After high school, Joe served on active duty in the Air Force from 1993-99 and graduated from Wright State University with a degree in finance.  Later, Knopp applied his finance education to secure the funds to write and produce a series of high-profile films. In 2018 he produced “I Can Only Imagine” starring Dennis Quaid, which remains the fourth highest-grossing music biopic in American film history.  In 2019, Knopp produced the pro-life feature film Unplanned and followed that by writing and producing the documentary The Trump I Know - during which time he developed a very close relationship with President Trump and the Trump family.

Renacci’s campaign for Governor is grounded in a commitment to delivering the effective conservative leadership Ohio needs and to ending the culture of corruption and government overreach that has defined Mike DeWine’s disastrous term in office.  Renacci is confident that Joe Knopp is the Lieutenant Governor he needs to help get the job done.