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COLUMBUS — The Ohio Democratic Party released the following statement from Chairwoman Rhine McLin in response to today’s events at the U.S. Capitol:

“President-elect Joe Biden is absolutely right: the words of a president matter. For too long, this president’s words have fanned the flames of hatred, chaos and racism, and for four years, Ohio Republicans have cheered him on or shrugged their shoulders and pretended to be ‘late for lunch.’ We join President-elect Biden in calling on the president to go on national TV immediately, condemn the violence and demand that his supporters end their seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol. We will continue to pray for our nation and for our nation’s leaders.”

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COLUMBUS — The Ohio Democratic Party today released the following statement from Chairwoman Rhine McLin in response to Sen. Rob Portman’s comments on his party’s attempt to overturn the will of voters:

“Fueled by conspiracy theories, Ohio Republicans continue to parrot Donald Trump’s false narrative of voter fraud. Sunday Gov. Mike DeWine blamed doubt in the election on ‘changes in technology’ instead of Trump’s barrage of lies and baseless lawsuits.

“Sen. Rob Portman has also fanned the flames of these conspiracy theories by promoting claims of voter fraud. Yesterday Portman both-sidesed the issue by making a false comparison between his party’s desperate attempt to overturn the election results with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones’ 2005 speech, which highlighted significant and documented instances of voter suppression in the 2004 election. Some Ohioans waited in line up to 10 hours, and perhaps more than 170,000 would-be voters left before casting a ballot. The 2004 election in Ohio was universally acknowledged as a disaster, so much so that bipartisan legislation was passed — and signed into law by a Republican governor — to address many of the issues that arose.

“Meanwhile, Portman’s silence on Donald Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks volumes. Some legal experts are calling Trump’s call potentially criminal, but Portman can’t be bothered to speak up.”

In 2005, Tubbs Jones spoke on the House floor to raise her objections about how Ohio conducted its 2004 election, but she expressly stated her objections were not an attempt to change the results:

“It is on behalf of the millions of Americans who believe in and value our democratic process and the right to vote that I put forth this objection today. If they are willing to stand at the polls for countless hours in the rain — as many did in Ohio — then I should surely stand up for them here in the halls of Congress. This objection does not have in its root the hope or even hint of overturning the victory of the president, but it is a necessary, timely and appropriate opportunity to review and remedy the most precious process in our democracy.”

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