Ohio Democrats seek new party leader as GOP dominates
After a second consecutive statewide beatdown, the Ohio Democratic Party will go back to the drawing board starting this week.
As state party Chairman David Pepper finishes his tenure, cut short after he chose to resign after the general election, party insiders are weighing a run as his replacement in a state that looks increasingly difficult to win after President Donald Trump prevailed again by more than 8 percentage points.
Some GOP candidates outperformed the president in this year’s legislative races on the way to increasing super-majorities in both chambers despite a the nuclear bailout scandal that involves mostly Republicans.
That red wave followed yet another sweep of statewide executive offices in 2018.
Whomever Democrats choose, and how that new leader charts the party’s path, will factor significantly in the political fights to come: a mid-term election with every statewide executive office on the ballot plus Republican Rob Portman’s Senate seat, congressional and legislative redistricting and, four years from now, another presidential election where the Trump name might again be on the ballot.
Party insiders are batting around several names of several candidates — some familiar to Democratic leaders and others not — who are said to be considering the post.
Over the final weeks of 2020, the candidates will jockey for support among the party faithful. The party has 149 seats for elected central committee members from areas around the state and those appointed to the executive committee, but six are vacant. The next chair needs to win 50% of the votes, plus one.
In a memo last week, Pepper asked anyone interested in the job to send the party a letter declaring their candidacy by Monday. The committee will meet virtually Tuesday for its regular meeting, where it could introduce those who have declared interest in the position.
But a vote isn’t scheduled until Dec. 29. In the two weeks in between, the party plans to have virtual candidate forums for executive committee members.
Anyone considering the position doesn’t have to declare their interest, though. As long as they are nominated at the Dec. 29 meeting and receive a second, they would be considered for a vote.
So who is interested in the job?
The official candidate
As of late last week, only Columbus political consultant Antoinette Wilson had officially tossed her name into the ring. Wilson pursued the chair position in 2014, when Pepper was first chosen, and most recently ran Jennifer Brunner’s successful election to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Wilson has circulated a memo outlining her platform, which includes “a rural and urban agenda” as part of an “88-county strategy,” and told The Dispatch that her record for running successful campaigns qualifies her for the job.
“I feel very, very strongly that whoever this next state party chair is coming in, you have to show a record of races, not just that you’ve been a part of, but what have you won,” she said.
Wilson has racked up wins in Franklin County, a county that has grown increasingly blue, over the past few decades, but the Supreme Court race was her first statewide since Brunner’s 2006 election as Ohio secretary of state.
Considering it
Most of the rumored chair candidates circulating around the party say they’re at least giving some consideration to the job. That includes former party Chair Chris Redfern.
Redfern said last week he wasn’t actively pursuing the job he held for about 10 years, prior to Pepper’s tenure, but he’s open to doing it again. He said he thinks Democrats have an opportunity to make up ground because of the unfolding Statehouse scandal around a nuclear energy bailout.
“I want to be helpful. Whether that’s as chairman or someone who continues to provide advice and direction to a new chair or to any member of the party in a leadership position,” he said. “If there’s an opening and if there’s support then I’ll consider it at the time.”
Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce, a former Ohio treasurer and state representative, is “thinking about it” too. He said the party has to figure out which voters are leaving and to do a better job staying connected to Black voters before the final months of an election cycle.
Party Secretary Bill DeMora, a political consultant who has long played an inside role, also said he is weighing a run if Wilson remains unopposed.
“I’m not going to let her run without a race,” he said.
Former state party Executive Director Liz Walters, now an at-large member of the Summit County Council, confirmed she is considering the position as well.
Another candidate with rumored interest, former state Sen. Lou Gentile, who’s from Steubenville, did not return a call seeking comment.
Out of the mix
House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes and lobbyist Derrick Clay both said last week that they would not pursue the job.
Sykes said the party must do a better job “making sure our base voters are taken care of,” particularly Black women, and of speaking to a diverse group of voters with different interests.
Clay said his lobbying business would potentially put him in conflict with elected officials from the party if he were to become chair, so he chose not to seek the job.
Still, he said he believes the party needs to break down its factions and divides, particularly between urban and rural Democrats.
“Who knows who’s going to be chair. If my circumstances were different I would love this job,” he said.