2022 Focus Candidates
Indivisible Central Ohio 2022 Focus Candidates
You may have seen this post in our Facebook group. If you’re not on Facebook or haven’t seen the post, please read the important announcement below!
This is a critical election year. It’s not a stretch to say that democracy itself may be on the line. As such, we’re doing something different here at Indivisible Central Ohio. Rather than spending our time and energy on a candidate endorsement process, we have put together a list of the highest-priority focus races. We are highlighting candidates in those races who we believe based upon their records and statements will protect democracy by opposing gerrymandering and supporting voting rights. We all have limited resources and time, so if you’re considering where to spend your precious volunteer time or where to make targeted donations, we recommend focusing on these candidates.
This list includes races that are projected to be close and that could determine control of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House and control or strength of control of the state legislature, as well as statewide executive and judicial races critical to redistricting and voting rights. We will continue to monitor races as we approach Election Day and will adjust this list, if necessary.
How were these races chosen?
The Congressional and state legislative races were chosen based on competitiveness as rated by Cook Political and on data from Dave’s Redistricting (DRA). The statewide executive and judicial races were chosen based on their potentially critical impact upon future redistricting and voting rights actions. The following is a breakdown with more details for each race.
Candidates for US Congress: Tim Ryan for U.S. Senate (rated lean R by Cook Political Report), Greg Landsman for OH1 (rated a toss-up by Cook), Marcy Kaptur for OH9 (rated a toss-up by Cook), and Emilia Sykes for OH13 (rated a toss-up by Cook).
State Executive Branch: Nan Whaley/Cheryl Stephens for Governor/Lt Governor, Chelsea Clark for Secretary of State, and Taylor Sappington for Auditor (critical races for control of the Ohio Redistricting Commission and future legislative maps), and Jeff Crossman for Attorney General (a critical race for state legal actions on redistricting and voting rights).
State Judicial Branch: Jennifer Brunner for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Terri Jamison for Ohio Supreme Court, and Marilyn Zayas for Ohio Supreme Court (critical races for current and potential court cases involving redistricting).
State Legislative Branch: Tina Maharath for SD3 (D+3), Mary Lightbody for HD4 (D+6), Richard Brown for HD5 (D+1.5), Russell Harris for HD10 (D+1.5), and Anita Somani for HD11 (D+6) (district partisanship estimates are from Dave’s Redistricting, with included districts being between D+7 and R+7).
What are we doing to help these candidates?
We are registering progressive-leaning voters across the district who will help to elect our highest-priority focus candidates and more.
We also have been writing postcards to help Ohio Supreme Court candidates and state legislative candidates (eg, Anita Somani). We have also been writing letters via Vote Forward to voters in OH1, OH9, and OH13.
More actions will be coming as campaign season heats up. Stay tuned! If you have questions, feel free to comment on the post linked above, or reply to this email.