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With 11.8 million people, Ohio is our seventh largest state. Our seven smallest states have 14 Senators. Ohio has 2 – one Republican and one Democrat. Ohio also has 16 members of Congress – 13 Republicans and 3 Democrats based on a gerrymander in favor of Republicans. The State Supreme Court has found that all redistricting proposals they have considered are inconsistent with the state constitution. Nevertheless, Ohio Republican may get away with this gerrymander again. In 2022, in could get worse. Ohio will have 15 Members of Congress instead of 16.
When Ohio votes state-wide, it has mostly elected Republicans. In 2016 Republican Senator Rob Portman defeated former governor Ted Strickland 58-37. In 2018, the Attorney General Mike DeWine defeated Director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray 50-47. In 2018, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Congressman Jim Renacci 53-47.
Constitutional Office Contests for 2022
Governor
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley or Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley vs Governor Mike DeWine or one of his challengers.
Secretary of State
City Councilor Chelsea Clark is the Democratic challenger for incumbent Republican Frank LaRose.
Attorney General
State Rep Jeff Grossman is the Democratic challenger for incumbent Republican Dave Yost.
Congressional races
OH 01 R+3 City Councilor Greg Landsman (See Political Note #452) v Inc Steve Chabot
OH 08 R+8 Inc Marcy Kaptur (See Political Note #430) v one of four Republican challengers
OH 10 R+9 One of four Democratic challengers v Inc Mike Turner
OH 13 R+3 State Rep Emilia Sykes v one of 8 Republican candidates
OH 15 R+11 County Recorder Danny O’Connor v Inc Mike Carey
April 14th , 2022 Political Note #460 Emilia Sykes OH 13
2022 General Election
These days Emilia Sykes jokes that she was introduced to politics while still in the womb. She comments….”parents expose their children in utero to classical music….to certain books, but I was exposed to city council meetings.” Her pregnant mother was the first African American woman to serve on the Akron City Council.
Initially, the exposure didn’t take. Emilia Sykes would be a gymnast. She won a state championship in high school, competed in the Jr Olympics. She probably started gymnastics a little late. Her next thought was dancing – Alvin Ailey or some other group. She may have started dance a little late as well.
She went to college less than a half hour away from home – Kent State. There, she graduated Magna Cum Laude after majoring in psychology. She did a study of women’s access to healthcare and investigated crisis pregnancy centers.
Then Emilia Sykes went to law school. That was not a political choice. She went away – to the University of Florida. She got a Master’s Degree in Public Health while she was there. She seemed to be preparing for public service work, but not politics. She was explicit about her thinking: “I watched my parents, who are the consummate public servants, dedicate their lives to serving our community ….. They worked so hard, and still do, without fanfare and going up against unsurmountable challenges.”
Emilia Sykes was looking for surmountable challenges. She was definitely not going into politics. She would work on women’s issues, the issues that African American women faced. Through her work in Akron, providing volunteer legal aid to low-income women at a women’s clinic, she understood the effect the law had on the women she worked with, how it kept them trapped in poverty.
Her parents had an idea for her future. Her Dad was facing term limits for his second stretch representing Akron in the Ohio House of Representatives. He and her mom pressed her to run for the seat that the two of them had held alternately for years. Emilia Sykes was 27 years old. The people of their district in Akron were accustomed to voting for a Sykes. Despite her resistance, her parents convinced her. She could represent the community better than any of the others who had expressed an interest in running. She decided to run and cleared the field.
She had no opposition in the primary. In the general election in 2014, Emilia Sykes got almost 72 percent of the vote. Two years later, in 2016, her total grew to over 77 percent; and to more than 78 percent in 2018. She was not only a leader for Akron, she was a leader among Democrats, chosen as minority leader.
There is a story there, Emilia Sykes tells us. “My age, gender and race are always an issue for me. During my first term, capital police would give me a hard time when I tried to enter the statehouse. I was stopped, searched and questioned regularly about why I was there and even told I didn’t look like a legislator.” Two years later, the same thing happened, this time in a state office building. “You don’t look like a legislator.” This experience brought home to her the daily experiences of black women, men, too. Despite her lapel pin, despite her badge of office, her status was ignored. The trooper said “You look too young,” The trooper didn’t have to say it – “you look too black.”
She reported the encounters. She spoke to colleagues. She wasn’t quite believed, was told she bore some responsibility (Her bag was too big, was one response), or was told she made too much of it. The House speaker, Ryan Smith, rejected her suggestion for some kind of mediation. He called her proposal “harsh”.
Emilia Sykes had another distressing experience with Speaker Smith, more distressing, really. During a debate on a gun bill, Representative Stephanie Howse raised a point about the racial demographics of the districts of the lawmakers sponsoring the bill. Later, she explained she wanted to demonstrate that the proposed law would disproportionately affect people that those particular lawmakers did not represent. Speaker Smith gaveled Howse to silence and told the Sargent at Arms to remove her if she would not stop speaking. Emilia Sykes headed toward Howse as well, alarmed as the Sargent at Arms appeared to be moving the flap of his jacket out of his way.
This confrontation led to another. The Ohio House of Representatives was less orderly than some in its selection of Speaker. Because Republicans could not agree among themselves, they involved members of the opposition in the vote to select a Speaker. Fred Strahorn, then the minority leader from Dayton, routinely urged Democrats to support Smith when the House organized in 2019. Emilia Sykes led a group of Democrats to support the alternative – Republican Larry Householder. Householder was elected Speaker.
Was that a bad choice? Householder was eventually indicted for bribery, for obtaining bribes from corporate interests. Her support for Householder was not made out of pique. Emily Sykes became minority leader as a result of her support for Householder. She had already made substantial legislative progress. In 2018, the legislature passed a bill that was signed into law, to specifically protect women from date-related violence. Since she became minority leader, 40% of the bills passed in the Ohio House have been bipartisan.
Emilia Sykes is proud of the number of bipartisan bills passed. Her most impressive performance may not be in getting bills passed, but in blocking a bill. Republicans introduced the Ohio Election Security a Modernization Act. One analyst supporting the bill described it as making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. That’s the introductory statement that nearly every voter suppression bill’s supporter in the country has made.
On the whole, the proposal was tinkering, but in one important respect. Emilia Sykes might support a voter access bill that ensured large counties would have enough accessible drop boxes so absentee voters would genuinely find it easy to vote. Right now, she and her allies believe that the Secretary of State has the authority to provide as many drop boxes as he deems necessary. He says he does not. The bill that the Republicans describe as balanced would limit drop boxes to one per county. Those drop boxes would be in a county office available only during working hours. That’s one drop box for Cleveland, one for Columbus, one for Cincinnati. That’s also one drop box for Vinton County (pop. 13,045), one for Monroe Count (pop 13,827), and one for Noble County (pop 14,410). There is nothing balanced about that.
Emilia Sykes has been a force in the Ohio House of Representatives. She would be a force in the United States House of Representatives. Her probable opponent (at least, the Republican endorsed by Donald Trump) is Madison Gesiotto Gilbert. A former Miss Ohio in the Miss USA contest, trained to be a figure skater, a graduate of Ohio State with both a BA and a JD, she is an anti-abortion activist who writes a column for the Washington Times and has defended Donald Trump.
Put up some money for Emilia Sykes and help her be elected by this district with an R+3 tilt..
Democrats to support in Republican Tilting or Leaning Districts
INCUMBENTS
MI 08 R+1 Dan Kildee See Political Note #459
IA 03 R+2 Cindy Axne. See Political Note #428
NJ 07 R+3 Tom Malinowski. See Political Note #363
KS 03 R+3 Sharice Davids See Political Note #412
PA 07 R+4 Susan Wild. See Political Note #394
MI 07 R+4 Elissa Slotkin. See Political Note #378
OH 09 R+8 Marcy Kaptur See Political Note #430
PA 08 R+8 Matt Cartwright. See Political Note #70
WI 03 R+9 State Senator Brad Pfaff See Political Note #418
ME 02 R+10 Jared Golden. See Political Note #406
AZ 02 R+15 Tom O’Halleran See Political Note #389
CHALLENGERS
OH 13 R+2 State Rep Emilia Sykes
CO 08 R+3 State Rep Yadira Caraveo
OH 01 R+3 City Councilor Greg Landsman. See Political Note #452
NE 02 R+3 State Senator Tony Vargas See Political Note #453
CA 40 R+4 Physician Asif Mahmood. See Political Note #456
IA 01 R+4 State Rep and Law Professor Christina Bohannan. See Political Note #411
IA 02 R+6 State Sen Liz Mathis. See Political Note #445
MI 10 R+6 County Judge Carl Marlinga
CA 41 R+7 Prosecutor Will Rollins
CA 03 R+8 Physician Kermit Jones See Political Note #439
PA 10 R+9 Army Veteran Rick Coplen
OH 15 R+11 County Recorder Danny O’Connor. See Political Note #129
TX 23 R+13 Marine Vet and Small Business Expert John Lira. See Political Note #424
NC 11 R+14 Pastor and County Commissioner Jasmine Beach Ferrara
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