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Columbus, OH – In case you missed it, the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP) held a virtual press call with Black leaders condemning J.D. Vance for comparing abortion to slavery.

J.D. Vance continues to face backlash for his extreme position and out-of-touch comments cheering on the largest rollback of women’s rights in half a century – including calling rape “inconvenient.” Vance has tried to avoid talking about abortion since the ruling – despite praising the decision as an “amazing victory.”

The full video of the press conference can be viewed here. Below is a summary of the remarks from the press conference:

• State Representative Juanita Brent, Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President: “We have seen a huge threat on the access to health care when it comes to women having abortions here within the state Ohio…As we look at this decision, we look at the ignorance that candidate J.D. Vance has decided to put out there comparing abortion to slavery…This person has decided to compare one to the two.”
• State Representative Catherine Ingram: “The idea that he would talk about slavery and talk about the disproportionate impact on Black females. How dare he…I don’t want his apology as a Black female in the state of Ohio…How dare you insult Black women and all women.”
• State Representative Terrence Upchurch: “It is infuriating that J.D. Vance compared abortion to slavery. Plain and simple, J.D. Vance doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Women having control over their own bodies is what this issue is about. And comparing abortion to slavery is dangerous and out-of-bounds.”
• State Representative Candidate Erika White: “Comparing abortion to slavery isn’t the only out-of-touch thing J.D. Vance has said on abortion. He’s even called rape ‘inconvenient’ and when asked if he supports abortion in the cases of incest said that ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.’

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, a Cleveland.com analysis dug deeper into Dave Yost’s disgusting handling of a horrific case involving a 10-year-old central Ohio girl who was raped and forced to travel out of state to get an abortion after Republicans implemented an extreme six-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. Andrew Tobias of Cleveland.com recaps all of the ways Yost mishandled the case, from questioning the story of the victim without any facts to back it up to refusing to apologize to further underscoring the consequences of Yost’s six-week abortion ban for Ohioans.

“Although partisanship and the intensely differing views on abortion will lead some to defend Yost, at best, he looked foolish speculating on national television about a sensitive topic about which he clearly was not informed. At worst, it’s easy for critics to cast him as being callous or even professionally irresponsible, given his office’s work, which includes supporting rape survivors and often getting involved in local criminal cases. Victims’ advocates said Yost’s decision to publicly doubt the story could prevent future victims from coming forward, given the still prevalent social stigma that they may not be believed, ” writes Cleveland.com’s Andrew Tobias.

Earlier this week, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters called on Yost to resign. Read more HERE.

Read more from Cleveland.com HERE and below.

• A textbook political adage for elected officials is if you’re going to speak out about something controversial, make sure you’ve got your facts straight. And if you somehow make a mistake, try to limit the damage by owning up to it, or at least shutting up until it blows over.
• Attorney General Dave Yost fell short on both counts last week after he went on national TV to help sow doubts about a story about a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who traveled to Indiana in June to get an abortion. The tragic story was confirmed the following day when a Columbus man was arrested and accused of the crime, leading to widespread debate, including criticism of how Yost, as the state’s top law enforcement official, chose to speculate about a sensitive case on cable news.
• For a brief recap, Yost’s national involvement in the story began on July 11, when he went on Fox News for a primetime interview to discuss whether or not the incident really happened. The story was first publicly reported by the Indianapolis Star in a July 1 article, quoting an Indianapolis doctor who said she treated the girl after a referral from a colleague in Columbus. As the story gained wider attention, some media critics noted the story was difficult or impossible to confirm, while conservatives noted the doctor’s past public advocacy for abortion rights.
• Yost leaned into those doubts two days later on Fox News, where the segment kicked off with a chyron saying the story had “major red flags.” And in his remarks, Yost, while holding open the possibility the story could be true, said it was “especially telling” that as the state’s top law-enforcement official, no agency had reported the crime to his office, which plays a major role in investigating rape cases.
• But on Wednesday, the Columbus Dispatch reported the arrest. Court documents say Gerson Fuentes, 27, confessed to police after he was arrested the day before and that Columbus police were notified of the case on June 22. 
• But Yost, rather than show regret for how things had transpired, doubled down on his earlier comments, saying in a round of media interviews that he only was doubting the way the story was initially reported.
• Although partisanship and the intensely differing views on abortion will lead some to defend Yost, at best, he looked foolish speculating on national television about a sensitive topic about which he clearly was not informed. At worst, it’s easy for critics to cast him as being callous or even professionally irresponsible, given his office’s work, which includes supporting rape survivors and often getting involved in local criminal cases. Victims’ advocates said Yost’s decision to publicly doubt the story could prevent future victims from coming forward, given the still prevalent social stigma that they may not be believed.
• First, it helped smoke out some clarity on how the medical exemptions in Ohio’s broadly written new heartbeat law, which bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, may apply in real life. Because the law is so new, only going into effect following the U.S. Supreme Court decision, and since no specific medical conditions are explicitly spelled out as exemptions in its written language, it was not previously known how state officials might interpret it. The lack of clarity can make some doctors risk-averse, since breaking the law could cause them to be charged with a felony.
• Finally, it likely will help shape the terms of public debate, as Democrats and abortion-rights advocates point to the consequences of Ohio’s abortion restrictions notably not including an exemption for rape victims.
• Republicans have seen other scandals roll off their backs, like the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow online charter-school scandal in 2018 and the 2020 corruption scandal surrounding House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law.
• But abortion and protecting children are more visceral, hot-button political issues. And Ohio Democrats say the way Yost conducted himself has energized their supporters.
• “Both since the Dobbs decision came down and last week in response to Yost’s abhorrent media appearances,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters said this week as she called for Yost’s resignation, something he’s certain to ignore. “He kind of stepped right into a pit of his own demise on this, in my opinion. It shows he is callous. It shows he is unfeeling. And it shows he is prioritizing national media appearances over the health and welfare of the citizens he has taken an oath to protect and defend.”

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Columbus, OH – J.D. Vance continues to face fallout for flip-flopping on accepting corporate PAC money and for his abysmal fundraising numbers showing his campaign in debt. It’s just the latest reversal for Vance, who has also changed his position on Trump, antisemitism, racism, gun violence prevention, being a member of the elite, defending members of the elite, trade deals, Big Tech and white privilege.

Several new reports even revealed J.D. Vance’s campaign is still raising money to repay its primary debt – over two months after the primary – and before soliciting donors for the general election ahead. Vance may even be pocketing the funds himself to repay the $700,000 he loaned his campaign.

“J.D. Vance is a phony who will lie to anyone to further his own ambition. With his campaign still struggling to repay primary debt, Republicans sounding the alarm, and polls moving away from him, it’s clearer than ever that J.D. Vance is floundering,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Read highlights below:

Cleveland.com: Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance makes about face on accepting corporate PAC money
Andrew Tobias
July 20, 2022

• While running in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate earlier this year, J.D. Vance flatly said he would not accept any contributions from corporate PACs.
• But a campaign finance report Vance’s campaign filed on Friday shows that Vance, since winning the Republican Senate nomination in May, has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from corporate PACs in the energy, insurance and real-estate industries.
• While on Steve Bannon’s podcast in January, Bannon, a far-right political figure in ex-President Donald Trump’s orbit who has positioned himself as a populist, quizzed Vance on the subject.
• “Not yet. We haven’t taken any yet,” Vance said. He paused briefly before cleaning up his answer by adding: “Sorry. I’m not going to take corporate PAC money.”
• But Friday’s campaign-finance report shows Vance accepted money from at least 11 corporate PACs, including those tied to name-brand companies. Among those that gave $5,000 contributions to Vance’s campaign committee: Continental Resources Inc., an Oklahoma oil-and-gas company; Rock Holdings, a Michigan-based company owned by Cleveland Cavaliers Dan Gilbert; Philips 66, the Houston-based energy company; Marathon Petroleum Company, Nextera Energy, based in Florida and Koch Industries.
• Also giving to Vance’s campaign were PACs for General Dynamics, the military contractor, which gave $1,000, and ExxonMobil, which gave $2,000.
• In addition, Vance’s campaign-finance report shows he took $6,000 from corporate PACs — for First American Financial Corp and Traveler’s Insurance — that specifically designated the money to help Vance pay off campaign debts. Vance’s campaign and its affiliated committees have accumulated $1 million in total debt, $700,000 of which is a personal loan Vance made to help seed his campaign.

The Vindicator: Vance changes tune in accepting corporate PAC money
David Skolnick
July 21, 2022

• J.D. Vance, the Republican Senate nominee who said in January that he wouldn’t take corporate political action committee money, accepted more than $40,000 from those entities in the second quarter while focusing fundraising efforts on retiring his primary election debt.
• The decisions highlight Vance’s financial challenges in the Senate race with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, his Democratic opponent, despite emerging as the winner of a bitter Republican primary and seen as the favorite candidate in a GOP-controlled state.
• When asked Jan. 6 by Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast if he took any corporate PAC money, Vance said: “Not yet, and we haven’t. We haven’t taken any yet.” A couple of seconds later he told Bannon: “Sorry, I’m not going to take corporate PAC money.”
• But with Vance’s various campaign committees raising considerably less than Ryan, the Republican nominee has changed his tune.
• Also, with Vance’s Senate campaign and Ohioans for J.D., a joint fundraising committee with his leadership PAC, showing it owes almost as much as it has in surplus, Vance’s main financial focus is on retiring his primary election debt with raising money for the Nov. 8 general election being secondary.
• Vance’s Senate campaign would have had a deficit if not for $700,000 he gave it while Ohioans for J.D. would have only a $91,626 surplus as of June 30 if it paid the outstanding debt it owes.
• Ohioans for J.D. transferred about $170,000 in the second quarter to his Senate fund to retire other campaign debt.
• The contribution link on Vance’s campaign website seeks money for Vance Victory — a joint fundraising committee created June 3 with his Senate campaign, the Ohio Republican Party and Working for Ohio, Vance’s leadership PAC.
• It states the first $2,900 of any contribution is “designated for 2022 primary election debt retirement” for his Senate fund.
• The next $2,900 is “designated for the general election” for the Senate fund, the next $10,000 toward the ORP and the final $5,000 for Working for Ohio.
• The same financial division with the primary debt prioritized was on an invitation to a June 28 fundraiser in Cincinnati with a $20,800 maximum ticket and a $5,800 minimum ticket as well as an invitation to a July 12 Zoom fundraiser with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, with no ticket amounts listed.
• That same financial breakdown is on a Monday fundraiser invitation in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a former NRSC chairman, with tickets ranging from $500 to $5,000.

Roll Call: Ohio Senate candidate Vance asking donors to help pay debts
Kate Ackley
July 19, 2022

• As Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance fell far short of his Democratic opponent Tim Ryan in recent campaign donations, one of the Republican’s chief fundraising vehicles says it prioritizes paying off the campaign’s debt from the May 3 primary he won. 
• The campaign’s biggest creditor: Vance himself. 
• He loaned his campaign $700,000 for the primary, Federal Election Commission filings show.
• Vance Victory, a joint fundraising committee that splits donations between Vance’s Senate campaign and two other committees, states in its formula for dishing out donor funds that the first $2,900 of an individual contribution would be “designated for 2022 Primary Election debt retirement.” The next $2,900 would go to Vance’s campaign for the general election, with the next $10,000 to the Ohio Republican Party and the following $5,000 to Working for Ohio, Vance’s leadership political action committee.
• Vance’s campaign declined comment. 
• In addition to the $700,000 that Vance lent his campaign for use in the primary, the campaign owed $183,000 to campaign vendors and supporters, such as $372 in travel costs owed to the campaign fund of Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, according to a recent FEC filing.
• The joint fundraising committee “could raise funds to retire primary debt, including debt owed by the campaign to the candidate,” said campaign finance lawyer Brett Kappel. 
• Vance, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump in his bid for the seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Rob Portman, had $628,000 in his campaign account on June 30 after raising $1 million from April through June. Ryan, meanwhile, had $3.6 million after raising $9.1 million, filings to the FEC last week showed.

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“Ohio’s Attorney General has failed the duty of his office to provide legal clarity.”

Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, an Ohio Capital Journal opinion column took Dave Yost to task for failing to provide legal clarity for Ohio physicians looking for guidance on the law after Yost rushed to implement a six-week abortion ban mere hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Doctors say they don’t know if a young patient automatically qualifies for an abortion in Ohio because Yost keeps talking out of both sides of his mouth. Making matters worse, many physicians admit they are worried about losing their license if they provide critical healthcare to women and young girls if procedures are later found to be illegal.

Yost couldn’t wait to implement the extreme six-week abortion ban, but when it comes to issuing guidance or going on record on the consequences of this radical law, he’s nowhere to be found.

“At what age does pregnancy no longer qualify as an automatic medical emergency, in Attorney General Yost’s legal opinion? Doctors must know, because doctors don’t have the luxury of taking a guess here. They not only face felony criminal charges as a consequence for the decisions they make, they also face civil liability from lawsuits, and the potential loss of their medical licenses. Their freedom and their entire livelihoods as medical professionals are on the line. This is not a guessing game of chance. And it’s not a political football, ” writes Ohio Capital Journal editor David DeWitt.

Read more from Ohio Capital Journal HERE and below:

• When Ohio Republicans created law putting health care professionals under the threat of felony criminal charges for providing abortion care, they made no exceptions for rape or incest, including in cases of children who’ve been sexually assaulted.
• In an analysis, the non-partisan Ohio Legislative Service Commission said the law makes no age-based exceptions. “Ohio’s abortion prohibition applies regardless of the circumstances of conception or the age of the mother,” it said.
• That conflicts with what Yost is now claiming. But between April 2019 and July 2022, Yost — Ohio’s chief legal officer as attorney general — declined to offer legally vet and then offer clear guidance on the ban for health care providers. This week, his office doubled down on its refusal to provide such guidance.
• “Please share with me where we are required to put out guidance on certain laws,” Ohio Attorney General spokesperson Bethany McCorkle said when asked why the AG’s Office hasn’t put out guidance for doctors facing the risk of felony criminal charges for doing their jobs. This, from the office that regularly puts out guidance on things such as senior citizens avoiding telephone scams.
• Two OB-GYNs said that from a medical standpoint, there’s nothing that would make 10-year-olds as a group automatically eligible for abortion exceptions under the Ohio law for medical emergencies. Such pregnancies are risky, they told the Capital Journal, but so are a lot of others, for patients of all ages.
• In his position as attorney general, there are substantial steps Yost could take to clear up the confusion he helped create  — and the law more generally, said Maria Phillis, a Northeast Ohio OB-GYN.
• He “could issue guidance to the state and its agencies and even the general public to say, ‘Hey, this is actually how this law should be applied,’” she told the Capital Journal. “So if he thinks just being 10 years old is a sufficient medical necessity to require an abortion, he can make that statement and make that clarifying guidance.
• “He’s the attorney general. He can say, ‘We don’t think we should prosecute anyone in an abortion of a 10-year-old.’ He can say, ‘I don’t think we should prosecute any physician for making a decision under this law.’ But he’s not doing that.
• Despite being asked several times, aides to Yost and Gov. DeWine, a former attorney general, haven’t said how old their bosses think a person has to be before the new law requires them to have their rapists’ babies.
• At what age does pregnancy no longer qualify as an automatic medical emergency, in Attorney General Yost’s legal opinion? Doctors must know, because doctors don’t have the luxury of taking a guess here. They not only face felony criminal charges as a consequence for the decisions they make, they also face civil liability from lawsuits, and the potential loss of their medical licenses. Their freedom and their entire livelihoods as medical professionals are on the line. This is not a guessing game of chance. And it’s not a political football.
• This is a law he moved to implement almost immediately. But in three years since the law was made, in 11 weeks since the Supreme Court’s draft opinion was leaked, and in the nearly four weeks since he had the law implemented, Ohio’s Attorney General has failed the duty of his office to provide legal clarity.
• Instead, he’s only kicked more mud into the waters. This is professional malfeasance, and a complete abdication of his responsibilities. Ohio’s abortion ban is bad law. It always was bad law. The terrible consequences were warned about by doctors and experts, and that testimony was ignored by Ohio Republicans.
• Now the consequences are playing out with devastating impacts on people’s lives.
• But this is the law Ohio Republican lawmakers made, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed, and Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost implemented. They do not get to shirk responsibility. They do not get to gaslight. The pain and suffering of this bad, thoughtless law is on their heads.
• Doctors should not be criminalized for providing critical health care to their patients. But now they’re forced to navigate that looming threat every day.
• The very least Yost could do at this point is provide clarity to the health care professionals he’s helped turn into potential felons. But instead, at a crucial juncture, Yost is failing profoundly to perform the essential functions of his elected office.

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Columbus, OH — Today marks two years since FBI agents arrested former House Speaker Larry Householder and a bunch of his fellow Republicans in the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history. The GOP-led scheme has cost Ohioans hundreds of millions of dollars and continues to cost them $287,000 every single day.

And Ohioans still don’t have answers about what Mike DeWine knew about the scandal – even though the scandal continues to inch closer and closer to his office. From his meeting with Mike Dowling and Chuck Jones to the resignation of top staffer Dan McCarty to FirstEnergy donations to his daughter, DeWine seems to have something to hide.

While Republicans like DeWine continue to try and “no comment” their way out of the FirstEnergy Bribery scandal, Democrats are fighting each and every day to make sure that doesn’t happen. That’s why we’ve sued Mike DeWine over his refusal to turn over records connected to the scandal and resubmitted public records requests to get to the bottom of what DeWine knew and when.   

“Two years later, Ohioans are still losing $287,000 every single day because of this GOP-led scandal. Instead of coming clean, DeWine continues to dodge, dip, duck and dive away from any questions involving the largest public corruption scandal in state history. This leaves Ohioans to wonder –  what’s DeWine hiding?” said Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Matt Keyes.

• More about Ohio Democrats’ lawsuit HERE 
• Find our unanswered public records requests to DeWine HERE.
• Find the preliminary injunction HERE.
• Find the records Ohio Democrats have successfully obtained from the DeWine administration HERE.

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