COLUMBUS – The Ohio Democratic Party hopes two historic decisions last week – its first female chairman and first black executive director – can restore the fate of its candidates against the state’s dominant Republicans while healing internal party divisions.
The decisions of Summit County Councilor Liz Walters as chairman and Malik Hubbard as interim executive director followed a bitter clash with groups representing the party’s black lawmakers and youth voters.
The Ohio Legislature Black Caucus and Ohio Young Black Democrats accused the party of, as one legislature put it, exploited the Black Ohioans “Only one connection for voting” without giving them a significant role in party decisions. They insisted on representation within the party leadership.
Walter’s election on Thursday means both major Ohio political parties are now women-led. Republicans elected Jane Timken for a third term as chairwoman Friday.
Under Timken’s leadership, the GOP has retained control of both the state’s legislatures and every statewide executive office, and delivered Ohio’s 18 votes to President Donald Trump, who won the state by 8 percentage points last year.
Akron’s Walters inherits a party that has not claimed a single national executive office since 2006. She manages to retire the Democratic chairman David Pepper. She promised to select Hubbard on Friday to “On the first day we went out and fought for a better, more inclusive Ohio.” and strengthen the party from within.
Andre Washington, a union representative and president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute State Chapter, who is also Black, was elected first vice chairman.
US Senator Sherrod Brown, the state’s best-elected Democrat, is called Hubbard “An impressive rental” The party must begin with the knowledge and experience “next chapter.” Hubbard worked for Brown during the Senator “Dignity of work” Audio tour in 2019.
Hubbard has been tasked with rapidly pushing a transparent transition process that includes hiring a permanent director, Walters said.
Timken, a loyal ally of outgoing Republican President Donald Trump, also leads a party that is deeply divided. The wedge created by Trump’s actions prior to the siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, which led to his second impeachment last week, was evident in a statement announcing Timken’s re-election not even by name of the president was mentioned.
Timken said she didn’t take anything for granted.
“Despite these successes” she said in a statement, “Ohio is still a battlefield state and there is still a lot to be done.”
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