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Columbus, OH — Today, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released the following statement on Congresswoman Joyce Beatty’s reelection in Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District. 

“Central Ohio has no better champion than Congresswoman Beatty, who will continue fighting for the hardworking families in the 3rd Congressional District and moving our state forward. From championing civil rights to moving our economy forward to protecting the right to choose, Rep. Beatty knows the issues that matter most to the people in her district and will fight like hell to make sure they’re front and center in Congress. I want to congratulate Rep. Beatty and her team on tonight’s victory. ”

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“Nan Whaley will do what DeWine won’t: stand up against those who would turn back the clock.”

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board endorsed Nan Whaley for governor, saying what Democrats have known all along: Ohio needs a governor that leads when times are tough, not one who caves to political pressure. 

The Dispatch editorial pointed out how DeWine has abdicated his duty as Ohio’s governor for the last four years, bending to Matt Huffman’s will and letting the extreme state legislature call the shots. The Dispatch contrasts that record with Whaley’s, who has shown she’s willing to stand up and fight for what’s best for working Ohioans. 

“DeWine has demonstrated a reluctance to lead by not standing up to extremists in his own party. By not doing so, he is failing the people of Ohio and is enabling those pushing divisive and dangerous agendas that can have dire economic and social repercussions. Ohio needs a balance of power in our state government to align to where the public stands. Nan Whaley understands the issues Ohioans face and is willing to fight to solve them. She will do what Mike DeWine refuses to do. She will stand up for all Ohioans. She will lead,” writes the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board. 

Read more from the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board here and below: 

• Ultra-conservatives in the Ohio General Assembly are driving the state so far right past the will of the people that the state is becoming unrecognizable.
• Despite the moral consequence and economic consequence, the current governor, Republican Mike DeWine, refused to use the power voters have given him to curtail those legislative efforts not supported by a majority of Ohioans.
• Democrat Nan Whaley, his opponent and the former mayor of Dayton, is running on an agenda that puts Ohioans and our small businesses first. She recognizes the value of diversity, advocating for Ohio’s workers and quality education from the start.
• Nan Whaley will do what DeWine won’t: stand up against those who would turn back the clock.
• Instead, DeWine has played second or third fiddle to lawmakers who were not elected by voters statewide.
• DeWine has not set Ohio’s tone or tamped down voices in his party who want to drive Ohio to the extreme when it comes to gun laws, gerrymandering and proposed legislation that would only deepen homophobia, racism, sexism, and transphobia (i.e. proposals that would outlaw classroom lessons about slavery and the evils of the Nazi party and on legislation that would require genital inspections for student athletes).
• DeWine has been consistently run over or outshined by members of his own party — most notably State Senate President Matt Huffman.
• “When we look at Mike DeWine, it’s not that he’s conservative or liberal. It is that he’s weak,” Whaley, said when she met with editorial board members from the Dispatch and other USA TODAY Network Ohio newspapers. “When John Kasich was the governor, John Kasich was in charge. When Mike DeWine becomes governor — the same party — Matt Huffman becomes in charge. So that’s not necessarily an issue of party. It’s an issue of leadership.”
• DeWine was invited to the meeting but declined to attend. He has also refused to debate Whaley, marking only the second time since 1978 that Ohio did not have a gubernatorial debate.
• DeWine owes it to the voters of Ohio to defend his record.
  • As a member of the Ohio Redistricting Commission, DeWine did not fight to ensure voting districts were drawn to represent the will of Ohioans who back in 2015 and 2018 overwhelmingly voted to break from partisan gerrymandering which gives one political party an advantage over the other.
  • He did not fight to maintain the state’s strong COVID-19 response, leaving small businesses and school board members to make calls about public safety that should have come from him.
  • Likewise, DeWine has not fought nearly hard enough when it comes to gun control measures, something he pledged to do following the Dayton mass shooting which left nine innocent people and the gunman dead just 20 miles from DeWine’s Greene County home.
• Whaley was among the elected officials and community leaders on stage with DeWine at a vigil just hours after the shooting when the crowd drowned out the governor with chants of “do something.”
  • DeWine did something. He caved, ultimately helping legislators make it easier for more guns to end up in the streets.
  • He signed the state’s “stand your ground” law against the objection of a list of groups that included Ohio prosecutors, Ohio Fraternal Order of Police and a coalition of Ohio mayors that included Whaley, Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and then-Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, who challenged Whaley for the Democratic nomination for governor.
  • DeWine signed into law a bill allowing legally qualified Ohio residents 21 and older to conceal firearms without training or permits.
  • Most recently he signed a bill which drops the training hours a teacher needs to be armed in school from 728 hours to about 24. 
• Whaley, the first woman to win a major party gubernatorial nomination in Ohio history, has made abortion rights central to her political platform that also includes clean energy jobs and “growing the jobs of the 21st century, supporting Ohio entrepreneurs, and raising wages for all Ohioans.”
• Nearly 70% of likely Ohio voters who took part in a recent USA TODAY Network Ohio/Suffolk University poll opposed Ohio’s new abortion law. Exceptions for victims of rape or incest were supported by 84%.
• The governor dodged a question about his support of a near total abortion ban during a recent meeting with the Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer editorial board, indicating that the ball would be in the Legislature’s hands in light of the fact that the issue can be taken to voters.
• Times will be challenging for whomever Ohio chooses as governor.
• DeWine has demonstrated a reluctance to lead by not standing up to extremists in his own party. By not doing so, he is failing the people of Ohio and is enabling those pushing divisive and dangerous agendas that can have dire economic and social repercussions. Ohio needs a balance of power in our state government to align to where the public stands. Nan Whaley understands the issues Ohioans face and is willing to fight to solve them. She will do what Mike DeWine refuses to do. She will stand up for all Ohioans. She will lead.
• We urge you to vote for Nan Whaley for governor.

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Columbus, OH – As voters across Ohio went to the polls this week, they heard all about how J.D. Vance wouldn’t give workers a chance in the U.S. Senate. 

J.D. Vance is an out-of-touch millionaire who has profited from globalization, said “it was not necessarily bad trade deals,” and is now lying about his record of advocating to cut Social Security and Medicare. Read and watch more below: 

DAYTON

WKEF: Labor Leaders Hold Campaign Stop

WHIO: Ohio Democratic Party ‘No Chance Vance’ Event

MARTINS FERRY

Times Leader: ‘No Chance Vance’ tour makes a stop in Martins Ferry

• The Ohio Democratic Party’s “No Chance Vance” tour made a Friday stop in the Purple City, where labor leaders voiced support for Democrat U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan in the race for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat.
• Dave Dilly, a coal miner out of Coshocton and Ohio COMPAC coordinator for the United Mine Workers of America, said Ohio deserves a representative such as Ryan, who is “Ohio through and through” and will fight for the workers of the state. Dilley said Vance has “forgotten about Ohio.”
• “Tim Ryan is very special to me and the coal miners because of what he’s done for us as far as our health care and our pensions. … If it wasn’t for Tim Ryan, there probably would have been 10,000 coal miners without health care, 100,000 coal miners without retirement benefits. For the average coal miner, the retirement benefits are $500 a month, and that would be devastating,” he said, adding that he wants to return the favor and show his support for Ryan.
• Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and secretary/treasurer of the Central Labor Councils, said as an educator the opioid epidemic crisis is a big concern for her and an important issue. She said Vance has not done anything to help the issue, whereas Ryan is working on recovery and prevention efforts.
• “Vance could have put his money into helping with real efforts to combat the opioid epidemic but instead he used the money for his nonprofit (Our Ohio Renewal, which collapsed within two years) to pay his friends and a political advisor,” she said, adding that Ryan has worked across party lines to advocate for an approach that combines treatment, prevention and law enforcement efforts.

WTOV: USW Local 1238 Holds ‘No Chance Vance’ Tour

LIMA

WLIO: Local unions explain why they are backing Tim Ryan during their “No Chance Vance” tour

• Members of the Lima Building Trades, United Steelworkers, and the UAW CAP Council spoke to the media about their thoughts on Republican U.S. Senate candidate, J.D. Vance, during a “No Chance Vance” tour.
• The union officials say that Vance has voiced his objection to bills that have already passed that would create millions of dollars of infrastructure improvements in Ohio and also the growth of the electric vehicle industry. That is why they are throwing their support behind Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan. Especially since, he was one of the co-sponsors of the “Protecting the Right to Organize Act” or PRO Act, which has already passed the U.S. House but is still looking for Senate approval.

Lima News: ‘No Chance Vance’: Labor leaders advocate for Ryan

• Labor leaders across Ohio have joined the Ohio Democratic Party to advocate for workers in the state. The tour is titled ‘No Chance Vance’ in hopes to inform Ohioans why they should choose U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Ryan (D).
• JD Vance (R) is campaigning against Ryan in the coming election. Labor leaders advocated for Ryan on Monday morning at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union 776 Hall in Lima.
• “There is a lot at stake in the United States Senate race,” said McPheron. “Whether hard-working families will be able to get ahead or if out-of-touch millionaires will continue to rig the system for themselves and their wealthy corporate special interest donors. When you love this country, you love the people that make it work. Tim Ryan loves the workers who keep this country running.”

CLEVELAND

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Theodore Decker used his column today to call out phony Frank LaRose and the election lies he’s spouting to further his own political ambitions. Decker rightly points out that LaRose knows better than the election conspiracies he’s been trafficking in, but he’s so hungry to run for Senate in two years that he’ll do or say anything to get himself ahead, even if it’s dangerous to our democracy. 

“Considering his job is largely to ensure the accuracy of elections, LaRose has walked a razor-thin line, thin enough that he’s already lost his balance and planted his foot squarely in slop more than once. His political future, by his estimation at least, demands that he embrace the belief that when it comes to voting, something must be rotten in the state of Ohio. But as secretary of state, he knows as well as anyone that voter fraud in Ohio is ‘exceedingly rare.’ How do we know? Because he said so,” writes Decker. 

“Frank LaRose knows better than the election lies he’s spouting, but he wants so badly to run for Senate in two years, he’s willing to debase what’s left of his reputation and dabble in conspiracy theories. Frank LaRose’s phoniness is no longer just pathetic, it’s dangerous,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

Read more from Decker HERE and below: 

• Considering his job is largely to ensure the accuracy of elections, LaRose has walked a razor-thin line, thin enough that he’s already lost his balance and planted his foot squarely in slop more than once.
• His political future, by his estimation at least, demands that he embrace the belief that when it comes to voting, something must be rotten in the state of Ohio. But as secretary of state, he knows as well as anyone that voter fraud in Ohio is “exceedingly rare.” How do we know?
• Because he said so.
• Yet with no evidence that voter fraud in Ohio is anything more than an isolated and historically tiny problem, the Republican incumbent seeking reelection is still doing plenty of talking about it lately.
• Even though he flat-out said fraud was “exceedingly rare” and that Joe Biden won the presidential election, LaRose also has poked at elections procedures in other states and raised the specter of more widespread fraud through a series of announcements and official actions.
• Earlier this year, he said on social media that a handful of potential cases of fraud were “ONLY THE BEGINNING.”
• In October, he announced a “public integrity” unit to ferret out these instances of voter fraud, a move that critics said was mostly for-show given how minuscule the problem is. As if to underscore that fact, a few weeks later he made another announcement, that his office had referred 75 cases of “potential” voter fraud tied to the 2020 election. And “potential” is the word that matters here.
• Meanwhile, there is a handy little graphic sitting on LaRose’s website that declares “OHIO’S VOTING IS SECURE.”
• But the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband underscores that hyperbole is not guaranteed to be harmless. In Arizona, a judge just stepped in to order sometimes armed, self-appointed ballot box “monitors” wearing body armor to back off. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to see this ending badly for voters, poll workers, or both.
• Fomenting distrust over our elections without evidence has and will have real-time consequences. Treating an American institution with such cavalier disregard in the name of personal political aspirations is worse than reckless. The longer it persists, the more monstrous it grows.

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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released a list of election night parties happening across the state for Ohio Democrats to gather and celebrate victories up and down the ballot.  

“On November 8, Ohio Democrats are going to put our state back in the hands of working people. We’re excited to celebrate across the state as we watch Ohio Democrats get elected up and down the ballot and show our appreciation for the staff, activists and volunteers who helped get us across the finish line,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters. 

Media interested in attending these local events should contact their local Democratic parties. Questions about specific candidates’ plans for election night should be directed to individual campaigns.

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