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Columbus, OH — Today, the Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement after Ohio House Committee passage of two dangerous anti-voters bills, one that would fundamentally change how Ohioans vote and another that would make it harder for Ohioans to amend the Ohio Constitution. 
 
“Once again, Ohio Republicans are showing just how scared they are to be held accountable by Ohio voters. We’re urging Ohioans to call their legislators and vote no on these bills that are a direct assault on our democracy. When we stand together, we can send GOP legislators a powerful message: our democracy isn’t up for negotiation,” said Chair Elizabeth Walters. 

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Columbus, OH — In case you missed it, the Cleveland.com editorial board called on the state legislature to reject Republicans’ attempts to make it harder for Ohioans to pass a Constitutional amendment. The editorial board called on Republicans in the state legislature to reverse plans that would make it harder for Ohioans to have their voices heard, adding that killing the anti-voter measure is “what democracy requires.” 

“In fact, stripping away Stewart’s and LaRose’s claims about HJR 6, it’s obvious that the “special interests” that HJR 6 targets are Ohio’s voters. That’s why the legislature should reject this naked attack on democracy in a state whose constitution proclaims that “all political power is inherent in the people” — not in the Statehouse,” wrote the Cleveland.com editorial board. 

Read more from Cleveland.com here and below: 

• The General Assembly’s lame-duck session is rapidly advancing a joint resolution that will ask voters to make it harder to change the Ohio Constitution. But the legislature should be making it easier for voters to seek this remedy, not more difficult. That is what democracy requires.
• The current procedure, written 110 years ago, in 1912, is this: Either the legislature or voters by petition may propose placing a constitutional amendment on Ohio’s statewide ballot. 
• Petitioners must gather the signatures of Ohio voters equal to 10% of the total vote cast in the most recent election for governor. Moreover, those signatures must be obtained in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and within each of the 44 counties, petitioners must gather signatures equal to at least 5% of the gubernatorial vote cast in that county. And strict signature-gathering rules apply. 
• So why make it tougher to amend the state constitution when special-interest amendments are already barred? Two possible answers are suggested by recent events:
• One, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, is that Ohioans who support women’s right to choose abortion are mobilizing to write a ballot issue to reinstate reproductive choice in Ohio. Raising a constitutional amendment’s winning margin to 60% would make it harder for an abortion-rights ballot issue to win Ohio voters’ approval.
• Likewise, voters may petition for a constitutional amendment seeking to amend prior constitutional reforms in how Ohio draws legislative and congressional districts to make partisan gerrymandering harder.
• In fact, stripping away Stewart’s and LaRose’s claims about HJR 6, it’s obvious that the “special interests” that HJR 6 targets are Ohio’s voters.
• That’s why the legislature should reject this naked attack on democracy in a state whose constitution proclaims that “all political power is inherent in the people” — not in the Statehouse.

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Columbus, OH — Frank LaRose, knowing statehouse Republicans don’t trust him, has been on an apology tour for the last year and a half, trying to ingratiate himself to extremists in the legislature so he can run for the U.S. Senate. Part of those efforts include throwing his full weight behind HB 294, a disgusting anti-voter bill that would take Ohio backward and make it more difficult for Ohioans to have their voice heard.

LaRose gave this terrible bill his backing when it included initiatives he was pushing, including being able to update voter registration at the BMV. But now, because statehouse Republicans don’t respect LaRose, the bill has been stripped of his major priorities. So the question for LaRose is: will he continue to cave to statehouse Republicans and support the bill anyway?  

“Frank LaRose’s main role as Secretary of State is to protect Ohioans’ right to vote. But he’s shown he’s willing to sell voters down the river if it helps him politically. So the question for LaRose is simple: will he continue to cave to extremists in the Ohio legislature now that this bill includes none of the priorities he was using to give himself cover? Or will he finally grow a spine and push back against his own party to help kill this terrible bill,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

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Columbus, OH — This weekend, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters penned an op-ed for Cleveland.com discussing the progress Ohio Democrats made last election, the work left to do and the party’s laser-focus on Sherrod Brown’s reelection in 2024. While many pundits and so-called experts are ready to count Ohio Democrats out, Chair Walters warn they do so at their own peril. 

“We elected Democrats in partisan, competitive congressional races for the first time since 2012. We flipped the State Board of Education. And we increased Democratic performance in every single county in the state. We saw that, when Ohio Democrats talk about the issues that matter most to working families and show voters we’re on their side, we can win in Ohio. We’re so proud of the progress we made, and it’s progress we are ready to build upon,” wrote Walters.

 Read more below and the full op-ed from Walters here: 

• On election night, Ohio was the dam that stopped the red wave from crashing into Congress.

• Ohio made the congressional red wave that so many predicted look more like a ripple.

• We elected Democrats in partisan, competitive congressional races for the first time since 2012. We flipped the State Board of Education. And we increased Democratic performance in every single county in the state.

• We saw that, when Ohio Democrats talk about the issues that matter most to working families and show voters we’re on their side, we can win in Ohio.

• There will be plenty of time over the coming days, weeks and months to dissect what happened and why. I know my team and I here at the Ohio Democratic Party will be having lots of conversations with outside partners, digging into the data and working to chart our path forward.

• The truth is, we were facing unprecedented obstacles here in Ohio. From illegal, GOP-gerrymandered maps; to millions of dollars in outside spending from national Republicans compared to very little spending from national Democrats; to a party of long-term incumbents who showed a willingness to embrace lies and extremism to get across the finish line, we had a lot to overcome.

• We’re not done fighting for fair maps. We’re not done fighting for a woman’s right to choose. We’re not done fighting for voting rights. We’re not done fighting for the dignity of work.

• And we’re all so ready to fight for Sen. Sherrod Brown and his critical re-election campaign in 2024.

• Sherrod has proven time and again that he knows how to win Ohio because voters know he’s on their side. Republicans who run against him do so at their own peril. Just ask Mike DeWine, Jim Renacci, and Josh Mandel – three Republicans who have never lost a general election race in Ohio, except to Sherrod.

• Our work is far from over. Count us out at your peril.

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Columbus, OH — Today, WVXU columnist Howard Wilkinson took Matt Huffman and the Ohio GOP to task for their latest attempt to attack our kids and consolidate political power by making the State Board of Education powerless. Huffman’s move would shift most powers of the mostly-elected Board to a cabinet level position so that an unelected bureaucrat could launch political attacks on our students without any accountability. The purely political move comes after Ohio Democrats won three key seats on the Board after last week’s election. 

“If the Republicans’ veto-proof super-majority in the Ohio General Assembly sees any corner of state or local government that does not totally align with their view of the world, they will step in and crush it. They will steamroll over it and make it disappear.The Ohio Senate, led by Senate President Matt Huffman, found a very important corner to obliterate this week — the Ohio Board of Education,” writes Wilkinson. 

Read more from Wilkinson here and below:

• If the Republicans’ veto-proof super-majority in the Ohio General Assembly sees any corner of state or local government that does not totally align with their view of the world, they will step in and crush it. They will steamroll over it and make it disappear.

• The Ohio Senate, led by Senate President Matt Huffman, found a very important corner to obliterate this week — the Ohio Board of Education.

• When the Ohio Senate went into lame-duck session this week, one of the first items on the agenda was to resurrect an idea that has failed in the past but will likely succeed this time because of the overwhelming Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.

• The idea is to strip the state board of education, where 11 of the 19 members are elected from districts, of nearly all of its authority and place it all in a new cabinet-level position called the Department of Education and Workforce.

• And, of course, that would be a department in the cabinet of the recently re-elected Republican governor, Mike DeWine, who rarely has a public disagreement with the GOP legislative leadership over anything. And, even if he did, there is nothing DeWine could do about it. Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the legislature.

• So why now? Why did it suddenly become priority number one for the legislature?

• Does it have anything to do with the fact that, in the general election, candidates backed by the Ohio Democratic Party and Ohio’s teachers’ unions won all three open seats on the Ohio Board of Education, defeating all of the GOP-backed, conservative candidates?

• You’d better believe it does.

• “It’s nothing but a power grab,” said Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. “The state board of education is one place where differing opinions are discussed and the Republicans in the legislature don’t like that.”

• “When they try to do this a week after losing three seats on the Board of Education, my level of cynicism rises,” said Liz Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. “The governor already has enormous influence over public education in Ohio. Why does he need more? It’s all political.”

• Efforts to reach Huffman through the Ohio Senate Majority Office went unanswered.

• “People are going to have to find ways to voice their beliefs,” Cropper said. “We will push back against those that do not benefit children in public education.”

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