Taylor Myers
After I graduated from Marietta College in 2015, I embarked on an 18-month journey with former southeastern Ohio Congressman and former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland on his U.S. Senate campaign. We traveled more than 70,000 miles together across the Buckeye State, working to earn Ohioans’ votes. We fell short in our efforts, but I learned a great deal along the way. Throughout the campaign, I met a lot of great folks. I met United Mine Workers members from right here in the Ohio Valley, United Auto Workers (UAW) members from Youngstown and Toledo, and union teachers from Toledo and Dayton. I met mayors from small towns like Chillicothe and Athens, and mayors from big cities like Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. I also got to know U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan.
Executive editor
STEUBENVILLE The way U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan sees it, the United States finds itself at a dramatic turning point.
“We are at a crossroads,” Ryan said Friday. “We’re either going to double down on the future economy and make sure everyone can come along for the ride, or we’re going to double down on the past, on the old economy where there was a lot of income inequality and there were a lot of forgotten communities, and that will make the gap even further because things are moving so fast.”
Ryan, the Howland Democrat who represents the Youngstown and Mahoning Valley areas in the House of Representatives, was speaking during a virtual roundtable on expanding economic opportunity in Appalachia. It marked one of his first appearances since April 26, when he became the first Democrat to say he would seek the party’s nomination for the Senate in 2022.
MAnaging Editor
We all know a lot about what state and federal lawmakers are doing during their elected terms, but what about after they leave office?
I had the chance to find out recently during a couple of pleasant and interesting conversations with former state representative Jack Cera.
The Democrat from Bellaire left the General Assembly at the end of 2020 due to term limits. First elected in 1982, he represented the local area at the state level for 23 years in all 14 years during his first stint in office and another nine years after he was appointed in 2011 to replace Lou Gentile, who had been appointed to the state Senate.
Associated Press
COLUMBUS The Ohio Democratic Party is hoping that two historic picks last week its first female chair and its first Black executive director can restore its candidates’ fortunes against the state’s dominant Republicans while also healing internal party divisions.
The choices of Summit County councilmember Liz Walters as chair and Malik Hubbard as interim executive director followed a bitter clash with groups representing the party’s Black legislators and youth voters.
The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and Ohio Young Black Democrats accused the party of taking advantage of Black Ohioans, as one lawmaker put it, as “just a hook-up for votes,” without giving them a significant role in party decisions. They insisted on representation within party leadership.
Liz Walters emerges as Ohio Democratic Party chair favorite following endorsement from Sherrod Brown, big labor backing
Updated Jan 12, 2021;
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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Democratic bigwigs have thrown their support behind Summit County Councilwoman Liz Walters to become the next chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, with those in charge of powerful blocs of voters saying she has secured enough votes to win Thursday’s election.
That includes an endorsement from Sen. Sherrod Brown – the most high-profile Democrat in the state – and significant backing from labor unions in the race to succeed now-resigned Chair David Pepper.
“Liz Walters has spent her life serving our state and fighting for the Dignity of Work,” Brown said in a statement. “She understands the challenges facing our state and has laid out a comprehensive vision that will allow our party to compete in every community in Ohio, field strong candidates up and down the ballot and show working families in