Democrats defy calls to remain neutral, endorse Tiara Ross for Columbus Council D7 seat
After tense debate at a packed meeting on July 22, eligible party members voted 106-48 by a show of hands to endorse Ross ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
During the meeting, Vogel and multiple party members reiterated their plea for the party not to endorse either candidate.
Voters want a choice on the ballot, Vogel said.
'If this party gets involved in endorsing in this race, it will send a message to Democrats that they don't have a choice and it will hamper our ability to continue the hard work to mobilize voters across the city,' Vogel said.
An open letter circulated ahead of the meeting called for the county Democratic party to stay out of endorsing in the District 7 council race and got more than 600 signatures, mostly from ordinary voters. Some of the opponents to endorsement packed into the meeting at the IBEW 683 Union Hall, in addition to Ross supporters.
Ross said she would be proud to accept an endorsement.
'I'm asking for you to stand with the candidate who has taken on powerful interests and won,' Ross said ahead of the debate and vote. 'I'm ready for Columbus City Council because I believe in a city that has leaders who will roll up their sleeves and do the work.'
Vogel, a public interest attorney, is more of an outsider to the party establishment than Ross.
Heading into the meeting, Ross already had endorsements from a bevy of powerful local Democrats, including the entire city council, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, and City Attorney Zach Klein.
Klein spoke at the meeting in favor of endorsing Ross, an assistant Columbus city attorney. He said she's been a strong advocate for tenants and criminal justice reform.
The party's screening committee recommended Ross, based on her experience in city government. It was not a unanimous committee decision, said Screening Committee Chair Gretchen James.
Ross narrowly beat Vogel in the citywide May primary 41% to 39% by about 700 votes. Meanwhile, Vogel won in the district they're vying to represent 49% to 31%, according to a Dispatch analysis. They knocked independent candidate Kate Curry-Da-Souza out of the race.
All city residents vote in all nine council districts under an unusual district system the city launched in 2023. Candidates must live in their geographic districts.
The county party has no policy in its bylaws about when to endorse in a race between Democrats, said Brian Shinn, the county party's parliamentarian. He told The Dispatch before the meeting that not having a policy gives the party flexibility.
During the meeting, opponents to endorsement repeatedly said staying neutral would encourage voter turnout and engagement.
A few also mentioned Ross' driving record. In March, it was discovered that Ross had been driving on a suspended license for a speeding ticket and had nearly $3,800 in unpaid city parking tickets.
Ross supporters said she has earned a spot on the city council, noting she won the primary.
Ross told The Dispatch after the meeting that she's "truly honored to have the support of the party."
"I'm disappointed," Vogel told The Dispatch after the meeting. "Tonight we saw political insiders and elected incumbents support the status quo."
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Democrats endorse in Columbus City Council race despite calls to pass
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
12 minutes ago
- CNN
Republican nominee for Virginia governor names new campaign manager
Republican Winsome Earle-Sears is bringing on a new campaign manager as the GOP nominee for Virginia governor seeks to quell concerns about the direction of her campaign ahead of the high-profile off-year election this November. Pennsylvania-based political strategist Corey Barsky will take on the role, CNN has learned. A campaign spokesperson says Barsky will take over for Will Archer, who the campaign announced last week was moving into a different role. Barsky has already been serving as a senior adviser for the campaign. According to his LinkedIn page, he is currently a strategist at the political consulting firm ColdSpark and a 2021 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. The staffing shift comes as Earle-Sears, the state's lieutenant governor, trails her Democratic rival, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, in fundraising and public polling. Spanberger announced last week that her campaign raised $10.7 million in the second quarter, eclipsing the $5.9 million brought in by Earle-Sears. A recent poll by Virginia Commonwealth University found Earle-Sears trailing Spanberger by 12 points, 49% to 37%. Republicans have publicly criticized her fundraising and outreach to donors, including in a Politico magazine story published Wednesday. Core to Earle-Sears election argument is an emphasis on creating jobs and pursuing policies to benefit the working class. She's also leaning on the record of incumbent Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin though her campaign has also noted she cannot self-finance much of her campaign like Youngkin, who had a long business career before entering politics.
Vox
an hour ago
- Vox
Some Democrats may finally be ready to play dirty over redistricting
is a senior politics reporter at Vox, where he covers the Democratic Party. He joined Vox in 2022 after reporting on national and international politics for the Atlantic's politics, global, and ideas teams, including the role of Latino voters in the 2020 election. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to retaliate at Texas by forcing a state referendum or legislation to redraw districts to give Democrats a five- to seven-seat boost in Congress.A new kind of political battle is emerging between America's parties — one centers on the composition of Congress and congressional redistricting. This process usually occurs every decade, after the US Census finishes its work and releases new demographic information that states use to reconfigure how the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are divided among the 50 states. But this month, Texas Republicans are scrambling those norms. Republican lawmakers have begun fielding proposals for the GOP-controlled legislature to redraw their congressional maps in the middle of the decade to give the national party an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. It's a blatant power play — jump-started by President Donald Trump's desire to offset potential losses next year and win a bigger Republican majority in the House for the second half of his term. At the moment, it looks likely that Republicans might lose some ground in Congress, as has been the trend for presidents' parties for the last 70 years. The Logoff The email you need to stay informed about Trump — without letting the news take over your life. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. This mid-decade redistricting effort is not the first time Texas Republicans have aggressively gerrymandered seats to boost their party's representation in Congress, but it is abnormal for redistricting to happen this early, or as a direct response to a president's wishes to gain an electoral advantage. And it doesn't seem like Texas will be the only Republican-controlled state to try this. This sudden gamesmanship is forcing national and state-level Democrats to consider their own tit-for-tat, mid-decade redistricting efforts — and to confront a harsh reality. Many Democrats lack the political will to bend norms in response to these Republican efforts. And those who do will face steep legal and political obstacles, including from their own party. How Republicans are pressing their advantage Republicans have the upper hand on redistricting. In the majority of states across the country, state legislatures have the primary control and power to draw district lines. That includes the three states where Republicans have signaled they will try to redraw maps before the 2026 midterms — Texas, Ohio, and Missouri — all in which the GOP has unified control of the legislature and the governor's office. Through redistricting these states alone, Republicans would be able to gain enough seats to secure a majority after midterm elections. They'd gain about five seats in Texas, anywhere from one to three seats in Ohio, and one seat in Missouri. Republicans currently have a three-seat majority in the House, as a result of resignations and deaths, which shrinks to a two-seat majority if all those vacancies are filled. And there are still more Republican-run states that could be tapped. As Punchbowl News reported this week, five Democratic-held seats could be threatened in Florida if Gov. Ron DeSantis agrees to a mid-decade redraw. And New Hampshire's governor, Kelly Ayotte, could still be convinced by the White House to consider state Republicans' past plans to create another Republican-friendly seat in the state. Other Republican-leaning states — like Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska — are limited from redrawing maps before 2026 by Democratic governors, more moderate Republican legislators and state courts, or the fact that their legislatures aren't in session. Democrats in the three states that will likely create new GOP seats have few options to resist or block redraws. In Texas, Democrats have considered boycotting or preventing the legislature from voting by leaving the state — though Republicans are trying to force them to participate by delaying a vote on flood disaster relief and recovery funding until after their redistricting effort passes. Democrats in Ohio and Missouri have no similar leverage. That leaves out-of-state Democrats as the next line of defense. But they face obstacles there. Democrats are limited by their own advocacy Democrats hoping to strike back have many fewer options. They're limited by the number of states they control, the way those states handle redistricting, and the political will of legislators who view this kind of redistricting as beyond the pale. Democrats have unified control in 15 states, out of which they could probably only gain seats in about nine states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. But politicians trying to redraw districts in any of these states will face steep hurdles. In California, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, independent or bipartisan commissions have the power to draw congressional maps, not state legislatures. Those commissions were set up after years of bipartisan advocacy for fair representation and liberal activism for better government accountability and transparency. They are enshrined by state law or were set up by state ballot measures, and would require constitutional amendments, a statewide referendum, or court challenges to return redistricting power to the state legislature. That includes California — the state with the largest population — where Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to retaliate at Texas by forcing a state referendum or legislation to redraw districts to give Democrats a five- to seven-seat boost. Newsom hasn't yet presented a solid case or plan for how he'd go about doing this, however. And he faces bipartisan opposition to his idea. Other states essentially have prohibitions on mid-decade or early redistricting efforts, Dan Vicuña, a redistricting expert at the government accountability organization Common Cause, told me. The state constitutions of Washington and New Jersey, Vicuña said, contain provisions that limit redistricting to the year immediately following the census, and limit intervention before that time. That leaves Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon as the Democratic states where early redistricting could likely be accomplished with fewer obstacles. Already, some Maryland Democrats are signaling they would try to squeeze one more Democratic seat by redrawing their district lines. National Democrats have said they'll try to gain a seat in Minnesota, though they'll have to wait until state Democrats regain their majority in the senate, where a Democratic lawmaker resigned this week, tying the chamber. Democrats may have no choice but to try redistricting For as much bluster as Democrats are making about trying to retaliate, Republicans are actually taking the steps to do early redistricting. Congressional Democrats, for now, are trying to build support among governors and state lawmakers to engage in this political back-and-forth. According to CNN, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his advisers are exploring legal ways to redraw maps in California, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, and Washington, but those details have yet to be made public. But to stay in the game, Democrats may have to abandon their own rules. The Trump-era GOP has shown their willingness to push the bounds of political norms and bend institutions. There are valid, long-term concerns about what this kind of ad-hoc redistricting will mean for elections and trust in government in the future — what Vicuña described as a 'race to the bottom' — but Democrats, at least in Congress, are accepting that playing fair, or by old norms, isn't enough.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
New Russiagate evidence 'directly point to' Obama, DOJ will decide 'criminal implications': Gabbard
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard alleged the Obama administration promoted a "contrived narrative" that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, after President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of being the "ringleader" of investigations into whether his campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election. "There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard said. "They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true it wasn't." Gabbard's comments come amid the declassification of a trove of documents from the U.S. intelligence community that claim the Obama administration politicized intelligence, and that U.S. intelligence organizations did not have direct information that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to support Trump's election in 2016. "All come back to and confirm the same report: There was a gross politicization and manipulation of intelligence by the Obama administration intended to delegitimize President Trump even before he was inaugurated, ultimately usurping the will of the American people," Gabbard said Wednesday at a White House press briefing. Gabbard also said that the declassified documents have been shared with the Department of Justice and the FBI so they can evaluate if any criminal implications stemming from the materials are warranted. "We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI, to investigate the criminal implications of this for the evidence," Gabbard said. "Correct. The evidence that we have found, and that we have released, directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment. There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact." This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
