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ICYMI: Akron Beacon Journal Editorial Board Endorses Rep. Emilia Sykes For Congress

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Akron Beacon Journal Editorial Board endorsed Rep. Emilia Sykes for Ohio’s newly redrawn 13th Congressional seat, saying “Sykes is ready for the task of representing all of us in Washington, D.C., and saving our democracy.”

The Beacon Journal editorial points to Sykes’ leadership on issues important to voters in the district, from keeping healthcare affordable to reducing infant mortality, working across the aisle to deliver these important priorities across the region. Sykes’ record serves as a stark contrast to her challenger, who is nowhere to be found on the campaign trail and is trying to distract from her extremist views by lying about Sykes in racist tv ads. 

“Emilia Sykes of Akron, a former Ohio House minority leader who was first elected in 2014, is a highly qualified candidate. We are confident the Democrat will listen to the needs of Akron-Canton constituents if she moves from the Statehouse to Congress and work across the aisle to get things done,” writes the editorial board. 

Read more from Akron Beacon Journal’s endorsement of Rep. Emilia Sykes HERE and below:

  • Emilia Sykes of Akron, a former Ohio House minority leader who was first elected in 2014, is a highly qualified candidate. We are confident the Democrat will listen to the needs of Akron-Canton constituents if she moves from the Statehouse to Congress and work across the aisle to get things done.
  • While the Republican is a Stark County native, her dedication to the Akron-Canton area is also in question. A year ago, she had a Sandusky address and was hoping to challenge Democrat Marcy Kaptur in the 9th Congressional District in Northwest Ohio.
  • And it should be troubling to Republicans that Gesiotto Gilbert can’t state on the record whether she believes it’s true or false that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. The Washington Post has identified her as one of 299 Republican election deniers running for office this November.
  • In this time of extreme political partisanship, The Beacon Journal largely is discontinuing the candidate endorsements that were once a staple at election time. We realize many voters don’t necessarily want advice on how to vote, instead following either left-wing or right-wing political coverage.
  • But in this case, we really must call out Gesiotto Gilbert. She is a Trump extremist who is eager to disparage Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, but has nothing specific to say about the 13th District.
  • In the voter guide provided by the Beacon Journal, in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Akron and Hudson, Gesiotto Gilbert did not provide biographical information or respond to questions. Sykes did.
  • Sykes has been accessible and spoken about issues that matter to the 13th District, which includes all of Summit County, northwestern Stark County and a sliver of Portage County.
  • She noted the importance of health care affordability to area residents, while acknowledging that Summa Health is Summit County’s largest employer and that other hospital systems are also major employers in the district. Sykes sees her support for the Affordable Care Act — which Gesiotto Gilbert strongly opposes — as key to ensuring residents have access to care and that health care providers thrive.
  • Sykes has worked for years on the infant mortality issue in the Ohio House, with one early victory being the release of $1.5 million in Medicaid funds for Akron-area nonprofits addressing the issue. She has repeatedly advocated for more solutions.
  • Republicans have distorted Sykes’ views on crime, maligning her for support of bail reform. She is a co-sponsor of House Bill 315, which is unpopular with bail bond agencies, but has bipartisan support, and even praise from a conservative think tank. A Buckeye Institute researcher conceded that too many people awaiting trial are sitting in jail for “petty, nonviolent offenses” because they can’t afford cash bail.
  • Sykes’ work on protecting crime victims includes introducing a bill eventually signed into law that ensures people suffering domestic violence in dating relationships can obtain civil protection orders from the courts.
  • If elected, Sykes said she is determined to build relationships with Republicans — even if she were to find herself in the minority — so that she can make government work for her constituents.
  • We think Sykes is ready for the task of representing all of us in Washington, D.C., and saving our democracy.

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Can You Tell Frank How To Get, How To Get To The BOE? 


Columbus, OH — We think Frank LaRose knows his ABCs and 123s, but it looks like he may need help from a few friendly monsters this Halloween to tell him how to get to the Franklin County Board of Elections. 

As Secretary of State, you’d think LaRose would know where the Board of Elections is located in the most populous county in the state. But just yesterday, LaRose tweeted a video featuring a Republican candidate (an extremist candidate who was called out last week for antisemitic comments, by the way) telling voters to go to the wrong address to vote. And LaRose didn’t take the video down until the media called him out for it. 

  • Watch the full video HERE

“We assume Frank was too busy thinking about his impending Senate run to actually listen to the extremists he was supporting, but for the Secretary of State to post misinformation about one of the most important elections in Ohio history is disqualifying. If Frank is so checked out from being the Secretary of State, he should simply remove his name from the ballot and stop using the office to play political games,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes. 

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ICYMI: Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Bar Condemns Ad Attacking Democratic State Supreme Court Nominees

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, a number of outlets, including the Ohio Capital Journal, are reporting on the Ohio Bar Association asking the Republican State Leadership Committee to take down a misleading ad pointed at the three Democrats running for the Ohio Supreme Court. In its letter, the Ohio Bar Association asserts that the ad: “grossly oversimplif(ies) their (Democrats’) opinions just to score political points” and “serves to erode public trust and confidence in the judiciary.”

The Ohio Democratic Party is calling on the Republican Justices running for Supreme Court to tell the Republican State Leadership Committee to take the ads down immediately. 

“Republican politicians running for Supreme Court are desperate to distract from their terrible records of playing politics with the Court and betraying the people of Ohio. So now their political cronies have taken to running ads that are so misleading, the Ohio Bar Association is weighing in and asking that they be taken down. Republican Justices should condemn these ads immediately and call on their political allies to take these disgusting ads down,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.  

Read more from the Ohio Capital Journal here and below: 

  • The Ohio Bar Association is urging the Republican State Leadership Committee to take down a campaign ad criticizing the three Democratic state supreme court nominees. In a letter signed by campaign advertising committee chair Paul Hervey, they argued the ad “serves to erode public trust and confidence in the judiciary.”
  • “Ads like these perpetuate what we believe to be widespread misperceptions about the role of judges in our system of government,” Hervey said in the Bar’ Association’s letter to the RSLC
  • “While we are all free to disagree with a law or find fault in a judge’s legal reasoning,” he added, “it is misleading and a disservice to voters to grossly oversimplify their opinions just to score political points.”
  • Hervey concluded the letter by calling on them discontinue or revise the ad. While he voiced support for the organization to advocate for its chosen candidates, he urged them “to do so without using misleading terms or rhetoric that further damage public trust in the independence, integrity and impartiality of our judicial system.”
  • In early September, the Bar sent out a press release regarding its clean campaign pledge. The agreement commits candidates to take “personal responsibility” for the content of their ads and statements they or their backers make during the campaign.
  • Brunner, Zayas and Jamison all signed it. Their Republican opponents did not.

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ICYMI: Cleveland.com & The Plain Dealer Endorse Rep. Emilia Sykes For Congress

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer Editorial Board just endorsed Rep. Emilia Sykes for Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, saying “Voters in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District should send Emilia Sykes to Congress.” 

Sykes handily earned the endorsement of one of Ohio’s largest newspapers over extremist Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, who wants to ban abortion, refuses to say whether Joe Biden won the election and who bought three different houses just to run for Congress. Gilbert refused to participate in the endorsement interview process after routinely attempting to distort Sykes’ record with racist television ads and after failing to promptly file required financial disclosures in the congressional race. 

  • Listen to the full endorsement interview here 

“Voters in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District should send Emilia Sykes to Congress. Early voting in the Nov. 8 election has begun,” writes the editorial board. 

Read more from the Cleveland.com/Plain Dealer editorial board here and below: 

  • No one can doubt that state Rep. Emilia Sykes is unafraid to roll the political dice. As a minority within a minority within a minority within a minority — an urban Black female Democrat in an Ohio House that is mostly rural, white, male and Republican — Sykes has made the majority sit up and pay attention. In 2018, the Akron native demanded Statehouse security bias training after she and other Black women lawmakers and staff were followed and questioned despite their security badges.

  • Sykes, 36, the former Ohio House minority leader, is term-limited after serving eight years, and has set her sights on Congress in a closely contested U.S. House district that tilts slightly Democratic. Ohio’s revamped 13th District, as redrawn for this election, includes Summit County, northern Stark County and a slice of Portage County.

  • Both candidates are lawyers who grew up in the region. But the race offers voters a stark contrast on a seminal electoral issue: Was the 2020 election stolen? Sykes says no and vowed in the endorsement interview to oppose “election deniers and folks who, quite frankly, don’t want America to continue on as we have enjoyed it for the last couple of hundred years.” Gesiotto Gilbert, when Eaton asked whether the 2020 election was above board, failed to answer the question, diverting to a critique of President Joe Biden.

  • Voters in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District should send Emilia Sykes to Congress. Early voting in the Nov. 8 election has begun.

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Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action, Stands with Chair Walters, Ohio Democrats to Lay Out Stakes of November Election

Cincinnati, OH — Today, Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action, stood with Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters, Mayor Aftab Pureval, Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey and Councilmember Greg Landsman, candidate for Ohio’s 1st Congressional District, to lay out the stakes of November’s election. 

“For four years, when given a choice between doing what’s right and doing what’s politically expedient, DeWine caved every time. Ohioans deserve better. They deserve a leader like Nan Whaley and leaders like those joining us here today who will put the interests of Ohioans over their own personal, political interests and never back down from a fight,” said Watts. 

Ohio Republicans have pushed a number of measures that make Ohioans less safe, including:

  • A bill that would put more guns in our classrooms, signed into law by Mike DeWine over objections of Ohio law enforcement, teachers and students.
  • A bill that waives requirements for background checks, licenses or training to carry a gun, which makes Ohio law enforcement officers less safe. 

“Ohio can do better. We can elect Nan Whaley, Greg Landsman and Ohio Democrats up and down the ballot who will look out for us and our loved ones. Who will keep their promises to ‘do something’ to combat gun violence. And who will finally stand up to the gun lobby once and for all,” said Chair Walters. 

“DeWine and his Republican friends in the state legislature are only making our jobs harder. By caving to their gun lobby donors, radical Republicans are making our state less safe,” said Mayor Pureval. 

Ohio Democrats are offering a better way forward: keeping Ohio families safe from gun violence instead of caving to the gun lobby and putting more guns in our schools and on our streets. 

“We deserve leadership that will make our streets safer for all of us – law enforcement officers and the communities we serve. That’s why I’m supporting Nan Whaley, Greg Landsman and Democrats up and down the ticket to put our state back on the right path and make our communities safer,” said Sheriff McGuffey. 

“I couldn’t be more excited to get to work putting Ohio families first next year in Congress, and I know our rest of our candidates feel the same,” said Councilmember Landsman.

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