OHIO RENAISSANCE
Moving the "Buckeye State" From Red to Purple
By Steve Schear
When Liz Walters became chair of the Ohio Democratic Party in January 2021, most of the political intelligentsia believed Ohio had turned red for the foreseeable future. In both 2016 and 2020, Trump won Ohio by eight points.
Walters began to understand the importance of politics as a senior in college. She grew up in a single-parent home with her mom, a nurse, and her grandparents. Her grandfather had cancer, and wanted to finish his life at home, but although he was a veteran with a pension, he couldn’t afford home health care. His illness bankrupted the family. That made Walters realize the importance of public policy and its impact on people’s lives.
Then came Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, inspiring Walters with the potential of political activism. After finishing grad school, she became a community organizer on Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. She’s been organizing ever since.
Under Walters’ leadership, the tide in Ohio has turned. There is purple lapping at the shores of Lake Erie, along the Ohio River, and everywhere in between. The reason - the ODP’s volunteer-centric approach to organizing.
The Focus on Volunteers
Last year, the ODP recruited nearly 4,000 volunteers to work on two initiatives on the state’s ballot in August and November. Coordinating closely with Ohio’s democracy coalition for August and the state’s reproductive rights coalition for November, ODP volunteers made over 1.7 million phone calls and knocked on more than 550,000 doors. Volunteers were one of the primary reasons that the GOP’s anti-democratic and anti-abortion August initiative lost by 14 points, and why the November abortion rights initiative won by 13 points.
Credit for resurgence of the ODP goes to Walters and her leadership team. Tim Ryan lost by six points to J.D. Vance in 2022 in the U.S. Senate race, despite having 75 full-time staff. While Ryan’s campaign was strong, ODP leaders decided to rethink their approach. “We decided to trust in volunteers,” says Walters. “Local leaders know our communities, and they’re more invested in their communities. We don’t use a top-down approach to organizing.” Instead, volunteers are at the center of the ODP’s work.
The 2023 initiative battles were a boon for the party, testing its organizing model and building the network that will be key to winning in Ohio this year. The ODP started building a strong volunteer year-round organizing operation network though their County Action Network (CAN) approach. Their goal is to have CAN lead organizers in every Ohio County.
In August 2023, the ODP hosted a huge volunteer summit to build the party and to get ready for the November election. Under the leadership of Walters and Andrew Vashchenko, its former organizing director, the ODP developed a sophisticated and efficient organizing plan. CAN is now active in 62 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and is still growing. Canvassing will happen in all or most of those 62 counties.
In 2023, though the ODP had only eight paid staff, they contacted 650,000 voters. By contrast, Tim Ryan’s much larger paid staff reached the same number of voters. The ODP’s far more efficient operation happened because of its effective use of volunteers.
This year, ODP has continued its strategic use of volunteers. When GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose began removing voters from the rolls, the ODP organized phone banks, reaching out to purged voters to get them re-registered. Volunteers are also collecting signatures for an anti-gerrymanderng initiative that could help Democrats win the state legislature in the future. And they will soon begin canvassing for Sherrod Brown and the Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
Little Known Ohio Races That Could Make a BIG Difference.
Most activists know that Sherrod Brown’s re-election is essential to holding the U.S. Senate. However, few know that Democrats have a chance to take over Ohio’s partisan state Supreme Court, which has three seats on the November ballot. If the Dems win all three, they will control the court 4-3. It would be the first time since the 1980s Dems held the majority.
Controlling the Ohio Supreme Court will be critically important next year. If the anti-gerrymandering initiative passes in November — and it has a very good chance — implementation will depend on the composition of the state Supreme Court. In addition, the interpretation of the new state constitutional right to abortion will be in the court’s hands.
Ohio Democrats have three excellent judicial candidates: Incumbent Justices Melody Stewart and Michael Donnelly, and Court of Appeal Judge Lisa Forbes. The abortion issue should also help Democrats, since at least two Republicans candidates are known for anti-abortion positions. Though Democrats will benefit from the ODP’s organizing capacity, they are lagging Republican Supreme Court candidates in fundraising. The ODP’s Build the Bench campaign aims to boost funding for judicial candidates.
Building Competent State Parties — a Key to Success
For decades, the national Democratic Party has neglected its state parties, focusing instead on winning federal elections. As a consequence, most state parties are underfunded and lack both competent leadership and a well-developed network of organizers and activists. Strong, well-led state parties are one of the best ways for us to win elections year after year. Such parties can build the infrastructure and maintain the data and relationships necessary to turn purple states blue and keep them that way. Grassroots support of state Democratic parties can go a long way down the road to lasting electoral power.
Liz Walters and her leadership team, with their focus on organizing volunteers, have created precisely the kind of state party we need. They are a model that deserves to be replicated throughout the country.
l agree wholeheartedly that the DNC has for decades neglected the state Democratic parties in pursuit of Federal elections. I hope that is changing. At least in the western part of PA where I live, the Biden Campaign has hired some people who were working locally in politics and not parachuted in people from Outer Oshkosh to run their campaign. The election in November is too critical to ignore local experience and knowledge.
I'm in NC, and I can confirm that having a dynamic chair of the state party makes all the difference in the world. Anderson Clayton, NCDP chair rocks!! And like in OH, grassroots organizing is key!