Dayton Mayor Whaley kicks off campaign Monday night
Dayton mayor seeks Democratic nomination in 2018.
Dayton Mayor DAYTON — Nan Whaley, who is seeking re-election this year, announced Monday that she is running for the Democratic party nomination for governor in 2018.
Whaley, a Democrat, said Republicans running state government have failed to partner with local communities.
“I think that’s what’s really holding Ohio back,” Whaley said. “In Dayton and in the Dayton region, we are beating the national job average but if you look at the state for 50 straight months, we have not beat the national job average. I think we’re not leveraging all of our potential by the state being a partner with communities.”
She criticized the GOP view that tax cuts will spur economic growth.
“I don’t think the answer is to completely cut the wealthiest (tax) bracket and keep on thinking that suddenly that is going to make us grow. If that’s the case, we’d be beating national job growth and we’re not doing that,” she said.
When pressed on whether she’d raise state taxes, Whaley responded: “I think everybody should pay their fair share and I don’t think that’s happening right now.”
Whaley is joining three other Democrats who have already announced they’re running: former state representative Connie Pillich of Cincinnati, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, and former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton of Akron.
Whaley, 41, moved to Dayton from Indiana to attend the University of Dayton, earning a chemistry degree in 1998. She started the UD College Dems chapter and served as chair of the statewide Ohio College Democrats group.
Whaley, who lives in Five Oaks neighborhood with her husband, Sam Braun, worked for the Montgomery County Democratic Party and county auditor’s office.
Whaley stepped out of staff work and into elected office in 2005 when she won a seat on the Dayton City Commission. She A.J. Wagner for the mayor’s seat in 2013.
Says state needs to partner with cities
Whaley points to the following successes in Dayton: paid parental leave for city workers, pre-school for 4-year-olds funded by a city income tax hike, stabilized population within the city and nearly $1 billion invested in downtown Dayton.
Whaley attributed the success to working with partners across the community. Investing in young people and working with partners will lead to a stronger workforce, she said.
“Look, I love being the mayor of Dayton. It’s been the best experience of my life and I love this city. And I get really frustrated by the lack of partnership with the state,” she said. “I feel like in these times when you’re called to do more, you have to do more. We need people in Columbus that know where the rubber meets the road. I don’t know that these folks even know where the road is.”
Whaley said if elected governor, her top issues would be education, working with local governments to create jobs, and tackling the opiate addiction crisis.
Ohio leads the country in fatal drug overdoses and Montgomery County sees two deaths every day.
“The statistics are just staggering,” Whaley said. “For us, I think we need to deal with this like a natural disaster. It is an emergency and an epidemic where we have to put resources fast and quickly on the ground. I can tell you from Dayton’s perspective, our first responders are exhausted. We saw a 15 percent increase in ambulance runs just last month.”
Whaley said nearly every Ohioan knows someone affected by the opiate addiction crisis. On a personal level, Whaley said that in 2008, a young she she babysat as a kid died of a heroin overdose at age 24. “It was really early in the crisis and I remember thinking ‘who is on heroin? Who overdoses from heroin?’”
Kickoff event in downtown Dayton
At least 300 people attended a Monday fundraiser at Warped Wing brewery downtown, including the mayors of Brookville and Miamisburg and a variety of Montgomery County elected officials. The fundraiser comes exactly one year before Ohio’s primary election (May, 8, 2018).
Paraphrasing Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dayton Commissioner Matt Joseph said Ohio voters should ask themselves if they are better off today than they were four, 10, 25 years ago, and the answer for too many people is no.
“Nan has a wide opening to jump in there, show the successes she’s had in Dayton and extrapolate that out to the state level,” Joseph said. “I think the time is right.”
The strong turnout for her fundraising reception shows that people are hungry for a new change of direction at the state level, Joseph said.
Flanked by her family, husband and city commission colleagues, Whaley told her supporters that Ohio is a diverse state, but its residents share doubts, fears and frustrations.
The politicians in Columbus and Washington, D.C., have made Ohioans feel invisible, many of whom are having to juggle two or three jobs just to get by, Whaley said.
While running for president, Gov. John Kasich claimed the state was in the midst of a rebirth that he called “the Ohio Miracle,” Whaley said.
“Even Gov. Kasich now admits Ohio has fallen into a recession,” Whaley said. “The Ohio Miracle, my friends, is nothing more than the Ohio mirage.”
Getting her name out there
To capture the governor’s office, Whaley will have to win her party’s nomination, build her statewide profile, raise $20 million and beat the Republican opponent. Well-known and well-funded candidates on the GOP side include Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Jon Husted, U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci of Wadsworth and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor.
“I think it’s going to be a blast. I’m really excited about it. I’m terrified too, right? It’s a really big state. But, look, I love the chance to get to talk to Ohioans about how I think Ohio can be better,” she said. “I am so honored I get to do this work. I get to get up every morning, think about how we can fight for Ohio and make our communities and our state better. There is nothing better than that.”