Liz Walters, an elected official from Summit County, became the new chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party on Thursday, positioned to lead Democrats through a challenging reorganization after the state’s steady lurch to the right since 2012.
The Summit County councilman was elected without opposition after political consultant Antoinette Wilson bowed out of the race following her nomination and endorsed Ms. Walters.
Andre Washington, the director of Ohio’s A. Philip Randolph Institute, was elected to serve with her as vice chairman.
“The work ahead for our party is hard, and no doubt you’re going to have many tough conversations ... but ultimately our purpose is about people. We have to keep people at the center of our organization and the center of our plans,” Ms. Walters told the state’s top Democrats.
Ms. Walters was the pick of Sen. Sherrod Brown, the state’s top elected Democrat, and Joe Rugola, the executive director of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, who controls a substantial voting bloc on the party’s 148-member executive committee.
“I was on the losing side five or six years ago when David Pepper was elected state chair; I had supported somebody else. I know what it is to lose in a state party fight. I appreciate how [Ms. Walters and Ms. Wilson] came together and I’m optimistic about 2022 and the governor’s race and the whole state ticket,” Mr. Brown said.
She also had the backing of the Ohio Young Democrats and Ohio Young Black Democrats. The latter group said that while it supported Ms. Walters it also decried a culture of “backdoor” decision-making within the state party.
During the campaign for chairman, Ms. Walters faced questions about her decision to keep her seat as president on the Summit County Council and her apparent early support for House Hill 6, the nuclear bailout that’s at the center of a massive statehouse corruption scandal.
Democrats have griped that the party didn’t leverage the scandal — which ensnared the Ohio House’s former top Republican, Larry Householder, and GOP operatives — to the advantage of statehouse candidates in 2020.
Ms. Walters takes over for former Cincinnati City Councilman David Pepper, who announced after the Nov. 3 election that he was resigning his post to make way for new leadership.
What began as a six-way race was down to just Ms. Walters and Ms. Wilson on Thursday.
The new chairman faces the challenges of making the party more competitive for gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races in 2022, building a bench of talent up and down the ballot, uniting the leadership of 88 local parties, and bringing rural and black Ohioans into the Democratic fold.
“I think this is a turning point for us,” said U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty of Columbus, the new leader of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“I was glad to hear both candidates in the last few weeks — it did not start that way — talk about black America, talk about the needs of an African-American program as we get people registered to vote and as they vote. That’s something I’m going to hold everybody accountable to.”
President Trump twice carried Ohio by 8 points following President Obama’s two wins here. Republicans also dominated in the 2018 midterms, winning all statewide executive offices, and have easily defended their super-majorities in the General Assembly.
Besides Mr. Brown, one Democratic bright spot has been the Ohio Supreme Court, where Democrats have won three races since 2018, inching them closer to a majority on the state’s highest court.
First Published January 15, 2021, 1:14 a.m.
