Dems tap 1st female chair, first Black executive director

COLUMBUS » The Ohio Democratic Party is hoping that two historic picks last week — its first female chair and its first Black executive director — can restore its candidates’ fortunes against the state’s dominant Republicans while also healing internal party divisions.

The choices of Summit County council member Liz Walters as chair and Malik Hubbard as interim executive director followed a bitter clash with groups representing the party’s Black legislators and youth voters.

The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and Ohio Young Black Democrats accused the party of taking advantage of Black Ohioans, as one put it, as “just a hook-up for votes,” without giving them a significant role in decisions. They insisted on representation within party leadership.

Now both Ohio’s major political parties are now run by women. Republicans elected Jane Timken to a third term as chair on Friday.

Walters, of Akron, inherits a party that hasn’t claimed a single statewide executive office since 2006. She succeeds retiring Democratic Chair David Pepper. She pledged, in selecting Hubbard on Friday, to “hit the ground running on day one, fighting for a better, more inclusive Ohio” and to strengthen the party from the inside.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, called Hubbard “an impressive hire” with the knowledge and experience the party needs to begin its “next chapter.” Hubbard worked for Brown during the senator’s “Dignity of Work” tour in 2019.

Hubbard was hired to quickly ramp up a transparent transition process that will include the hiring of a permanent director, Walters said.