Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medda Mutual dotcom slash Ohio by the law offices of PorterWright Morris and Arthur LLP.

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The twenty twenty two election got a whole lot more interesting and more expensive.

This week, an inaugural conversation with the new chair of the Ohio Democratic Party and a look back at a pre pandemic big event on a future catastrophe.

All this weekend, the state of Ohio.

Welcome to The State of Ohio, I'm Karen Kasler saying the country is becoming increasingly polarized, Republican US Senator Rob Portman of Ohio announced this week he won't run for reelection.

It's gotten harder and harder to break through the partizan gridlock and make progress on substantive policy issues.

And that has contributed to my decision.

Portman is in his second term in the US Senate.

He was first elected to Republican former Senator George Voinovich, a seat over Democratic former Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher.

In 2010, Portman beat former Governor Ted Strickland for reelection in 2016, another year where Republicans won big in Ohio.

Portman was also a congressman starting in the early 90s and worked in both the George H.W.

Bush and George W. Bush administrations.

Portman was also on the short list as a possible running mate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.

Portman gained a reputation for being a potential swing vote and close Senate debates, such as voting against a total repeal of the Affordable Care Act in July.

Twenty seventeen.

But Democrats disagree with labeling Portman as a moderate, pointing to his other votes to repeal and replace the ACA, voting against expanding background checks for gun sales in 2013 and confirming President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominations.

Portman will remain in office for his final two years and will participate in former President Trump's impeachment trial.

Though this week Portman voted with Republicans against going forward with it on constitutional grounds.

But Portman says he will remain impartial during the trial.

And I'm going to focus on what's the best thing to help bring America back together.

And some have said, well, you're not allowed to think about that because this is a judicial proceeding.

It's not.

It's a political proceeding.

An open Senate seat is a rare opportunity, but an expensive proposition.

Lieutenant Governor John Husted, former Congressman Pat Tiberi and former Gov.

John Kasich have all said they will not run to replace their Republican colleague.

But the list of potential candidates considering a run is long for both parties.

For the Republicans, it no longer features Congressman Jim Jordan, who says he's not running but could include Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timkin, former state treasurer and twenty failed US Senate candidate Josh Mandel and former congressman and failed twenty eighteen candidate for governor Jim Renesmee.

Though he may be thinking of challenging Gov.

Mike DeWine again on the Democratic side, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley has already said she's not running for reelection to that office.

And Youngstown area Congressman Tim Ryan and former Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman are saying they're interested, along with a new name in political circles, former Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Amy Akton.

This week, I got a first chance to talk with the new chair of the Ohio Democratic Party about all this and more.

It's been an interesting start of your tenure as chair.

I mean, you walk in and all of a sudden you have a U.S. Senate race that's totally different than what you expected, I guess.

Yes, in less than a week, we went back to from a state that had really competitive races and a good opportunity to suddenly we're probably top top two or three on the national battleground map for twenty twenty two.

So it definitely was a I think like everyone around the state, we were a little surprised, but it's also really exciting.

This change of plans, though, obviously for twenty twenty two, you were gearing up for a race anyway, so how does the sudden departure of the incumbent Republican change what you were planning on doing so on the party side?

You know, I don't the answer to that is I don't know that it changes our plans much.

We always knew we had a deep bench and that there was a lot of talent around the state that was going to be ready to run statewide in twenty two, regardless of the decisions on the Republican side.

I think and understandably, there's a lot of Democrats around the state who are taking a look at this and saying, all right, well, maybe I'm going to rethink my what I'm going to run for.

And that process is going to shake itself out.

And I'm confident we're going to come through with a dynamic ticket.

But on the party side, our role has been or our focus has been in the first week and now in the second week and onward is really about building an organization that's going to be ready to support our eventual nominees and give them the best chance they can to win.

And that's really us being rooted in organizing, holding Republicans accountable and building up the infrastructure we need around the state to to succeed.

You do have some names to people who have said that they are at least considering it, some names that have been talked about for a while, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, Congressman Tim Ryan, former Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman saying that he's also potentially interested.

And a new name that's come out here, former Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Amy Akton.

So I want to ask you, can you confirm that she is indeed being floated as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate for 20 22?

I've seen her name in the press like you.

I've not ever spoken to Dr. Akton.

So I will tell you that with with all of our candidates, we are here to talk to anyone who's interested.

We are going to have an open process.

And I'm confident that the right candidate will emerge in the end as our nominee.

When you start talking about a race is big and as rare an opportunity as an open US Senate seat, is that the time to start thinking about a rookie candidate, so to speak, even if that rookie has high name I.D.?

Listen, I think you see around the country, right, that there's just no one way to do it.

I think in open Senate races in other states and open Senate races we've had in the past, it's been a it's a mixed, sometimes long term established public servants.

You have a great record and a great profile are the best candidate.

Sometimes people who no one has seen on the political front before emerge as a candidate, too.

But ultimately, for us as an organization, our focus is on the work to ensure that whoever is the nominee has what they need to win.

Is it and it's probably too early to ask this, but is it the your plan to endorse a candidate or for a contested primary, just go forward not only with the Senate race, but also with the governor's race potentially?

Yeah, you know, that's a great question.

And I think early on, it's probably too early for us to say.

I think the our party and all of our stakeholders from the like, the grassroots activists to our elected leaders really want to see moving forward a party that's open and transparent.

So our process, as we figure it out, will be open and transparent.

There is an under under our bylaws, there's a way that folks can call for endorsement.

And if that happens, we'll go through the process and in an inclusive way within the party.

But sometimes primaries happen and sometimes that's for the better.

It makes the candidate stronger, helps them refine their message, lets voters get to know them.

And it really usually means that the person who's ready to go is the one who emerges.

How do you get all the money that you're going to need to run all these races starting?

I mean, obviously, starting now, you've got to start raising all that money.

It's going to be expensive.

That's right.

And listen, I think for for the party itself, our mission is to, like I said, be focused on building an organization that is ready to help deliver a win for whoever the candidates are.

And sometimes that means for party party fundraising.

And I'm sure Chairwoman Timkin will probably say the same thing.

It's can be a little different.

It means that we talk to different donors, different institutional players who understand the value of organizing and building infrastructure in a way of supporting candidates that they like, whoever that candidate ends up being.

And so we have a path.

We're going to get there.

We're going to be working really hard with our in-state funders, our national partners, to show them what we're working on and ask them to buy into it.

And this is not going to come overnight.

It's going to be the just like the campaign plays out over the next two years.

Our work will play out over the next two years.

But I know we're going to get there and have what we need to succeed.

Our commitment on the part of Democrats to put together a select it's diverse.

I mean, I know that that's something that at least as the whole election process for you to become chair.

That was a question that was being asked by members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.

Yep, that's absolutely true.

I think, yes, we are committed to having a diverse slate, having a dynamic slate and want to make sure that all those people who step in to run know that they can count on the party as a partner in that work.

That's really the trick for us, is if we want our best and brightest to run, we want the talent that's been working hard in a state house or working hard in a city or to county level to know that when they get into a race, the party is going to be there to organize and help provide the infrastructure they need to win.

And I think our commitment to to that diverse ticket is about ensuring that we have an open and inclusive process.

As we get through the decision, those people make their decisions about who wants to run, but then also being sure that we're ready to support all those candidates with the same level of excellence and strategy that that every candidate on the ticket can count on.

When you look at the Ohio map over the last two presidential cycles, Republicans really ran the tables almost, so to speak.

But you did pick up a couple of Ohio Supreme Court seats.

But Republicans really have a stronghold, especially in rural areas where Donald Trump won by massive numbers.

So you've got to now potentially go up against a candidate for US Senate, somebody like Jim Jordan, who's been very aligned with President Trump.

How do you get people in those rural areas to come on board with whoever you're going to be putting on the ticket?

I'm going to answer your questions two ways.

One is with an answer, and the second was with another question, I think, for us.

Right.

If you look around the state and look at the numbers and the turnout, we actually saw an increase in Democratic performance in all these places, too.

That's not being reported because obviously Trump did manage to find voters that we didn't think would participate and they never voted before and they they didn't vote down ballot.

Right.

And that's kind of how you see our successes at the Supreme Court be so profound because so many of those Trump surge voters walked in, voted for Trump and walked out.

So I posed the question to the Republican Party, how are they going to keep those voters engaged in a year when their own primary is their own party, is impeaching their own sitting governor?

I think they're going to have a lot of work to do on that front.

That's really and our work remains the same.

Organizing community, talking to voters.

We have to be better at being out in all of these communities over and not six weeks before an election, not two months before an election, a year or two years before an election.

That's our work to do.

I think the Republicans have a big challenge for them, too.

Sounds like you think that if Donald Trump is not on the ballot, it really changes the way people might potentially vote.

It could definitely.

That's that is a real a real piece for us that that's not something we can count on or we can bank on.

We have to go do our work and make our case regardless.

But I think the Republicans have a big challenge in front of them.

My colleague Jo Ingles had heard some reports and actually tweeted out some reports.

That there was a housecleaning of sorts going on at the Ohio Democratic Party, that there are people who are being let go, and I want to ask you what exactly is going on at the Democratic Party?

Are people being let go?

Are new people being brought in?

Is there an overhaul going on there?

Well, I think like any in any transition for a chair, there's just going to be naturally some shift in strategy.

But on direct personal personnel matters, we just don't comment on that.

You can't tell me if there are a number of people being let go or even maybe why other than this transition period.

No, we just don't comment on personnel matters.

And we're never have we won't in the future.

Is there a restructuring, though, potentially going on with the Democratic Party as you're coming in as a new perspective?

There's definitely going to be, and I think we saw that through, you know, the the discussions in the race for chair.

All the candidates that ran had really good and interesting ideas about how the party needs to adapt both to the modern campaign ecosystem, to the needs of our candidates, and also to the reality of where the state is, and so that there will be a realignment of strategy and structure and we'll be working on our stakeholders to really outline what that is in the next month or two.

One of the big issues that you're looking forward to campaigning on, I mean, not just the national issues, but also specifically state level issues.

For instance, nuclear bailout law.

House Bill six didn't seem to get a whole lot of play in the 20, 20 elections.

And yet that's an issue that a lot of people have thought had been would have been a big deal, especially with a corruption scandal attached to it.

So one of the big issues that you're going to be looking at to campaign on is Democrats.

So I think for the party, our job is to work hard to hold Republicans accountable.

And exactly on your point on HB six, is it one example of money in ways that Republicans run on jobs in the economy and then govern toward special interests or social issues that aren't priorities for Ohio voters?

And so I think there's a whole litany of things in that space that we will be focusing on.

And as a party organization, we'll be working hard to hold Republicans accountable.

I think forward looking our slate of candidates will be very committed to helping everyday Ohioans and putting them, putting them at ease that there's somebody on their side in state government or in the federal in the US Senate who respects the dignity of work, who thinks that their time and their their work should have value, that it shouldn't be so hard to to survive or even to get ahead in a state.

And I think our candidates will reflect those values across the board.

There's been a struggle over the years.

I think this is in the Republican Party as well.

How do you reach out to the grassroots levels?

I mean, when you start looking at where Democrats have gotten their votes there in specific urban areas, but yet you hear Democratic candidates often talk about 88 county strategies and that sort of thing.

So how do you how do you bring in is it your goal to really bring in those grassroots efforts and really have an 88 county perspective, even though you really are concentrated in just a few?

I mean, listen, the party our work is all 88 counties.

And I think part of the third piece and I don't Republican facing this, too, but oftentimes when we're looking at this work, we kind of make these false choices where we say, well, we either have to work in the three cities in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati or work other places.

And the truth is you have to do all of it.

The state is demographically, geographically complex.

We've got 13 media markets, as you know, so there's no single path for us.

We have to do multiple things at the same time and do them fairly well.

And not to oversimplify it, but if you look at the you know, the history in most recent elections in the state for Democrats, we need to do as well as Hillary Clinton did in the cities as well as corporate Rich Cordray did in Appalachia and as well as Biden did in the suburbs.

And with that combination, we have a very clear path and mandate forward for electing Democrats statewide, but we have to do it all together at the same time.

You've got your work cut out for you.

I mean, it's been a long time since Democrats have really won big, especially on a statewide level.

How do you make that happen in this environment and beat your your predecessors who really didn't make that didn't reach that goal?

Yeah, I think, you know, my previous chairs have all had incredible accomplishments in their own right and done really good things for the party.

I think moving ahead in Ohio and how we accomplish that goal is both things that I think are happening everywhere, making the party more inclusive, intentionally diverse, intentionally dynamic and making space for all the different people that call themselves Democrats around the state who maybe haven't felt there was a place for them in our party organization.

That's really a really important part of this, is building that coalition that can help us win and that can move our state forward.

But I think the other another piece of this that's really important for us looking to the future is also recognizing that there are a lot of ways in which the party institutions and I think this is probably not unique to Ohio, this is true with a lot of state parties around the country.

How are we adapting to the world we're in right of?

People aren't reading.

Not everybody's getting their news from the newspaper anymore.

So how are we how are we changing how we invest in message on social media?

Not everybody is going to be volunteers that come in and do a five hour canvasing shifts on the weekend.

So how are we using technological tools like apps to make sure that everyone has access to activism in a way that works for them?

I think these are really our challenges as we look to the.

Two years, four years, six years as to build a much more nimble and modern organization that meets the world where it is, you think you have to overcome a perception that you're not an organized, coherent organization.

I mean, when you start talking about vetting candidates, there have been candidates that have been on the statewide ticket.

I'm thinking in 2014 that I think a lot of people thought, hey, where did this guy come from?

Is there a concern that you have to overcome that perspective?

I mean, listen, the I think we can learn a lot from the past first.

Absolutely.

And we have to remember those valuable lessons about the that year is a perfect example of why we're going to have an open process in twenty twenty two, twenty, twenty one and twenty two, because those processes serve a purpose.

But I think the the truth is everyone in our party is united around wanting to do better by the state of Ohio.

And that is what we'll keep at our center.

It will keep the people that we're fighting for at the core of our work, and we'll be able to move forward together.

For the first time in history, both of Ohio's major political parties are headed by women.

And both Liz Walters and Jane Timkin are the first ever to chair their respective parties in Ohio.

For the last few weeks, the numbers of Ohioans hospitalized with covid-19 have been dropping to levels not seen since November, before the numbers started spiking into record territory around Thanksgiving and early December.

Seven days of Koven hospitalizations under three thousand five hundred led Gov.

Mike DeWine to pull back on the state's 10:00 curfew this week, relaxing it to 11 p.m. to five a.m. and he said after two weeks, he'll revisit that.

If we go for seven straight days below 3000, get this number down.

The three thousand.

We will keep that for two weeks and seven below.

Seven days below twenty five hundred, there will be no curfew, Ohio's restaurants and bars have complained the 10:00 p.m. curfew has been costly because most sporting events are not over that early.

For the next few weeks, more age groups will be eligible for the Kobad vaccine, along with employees of school districts with the goal of getting kids back into in-person or hybrid learning by March 1st.

But the state's teachers unions are concerned.

In a joint statement signed by leaders of the Ohio Education Association, Unions and Canton, Columbus, Dayton in Youngstown, Ohio, Federation of Teachers Unions in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and the Independent Akron Education Association, the unions wrote, quote, We are disappointed that Governor DeWine has decided to use the distribution of a lifesaving vaccine as a bargaining chip holding this precious commodity hostage while pitting parents, administrators, teachers and other school workers and students against each other.

The statement goes on, We should not rush to reopen before it is safe, especially when adding mere weeks beyond March 1st could allow for full vaccinations of school employees.

Luckily, schools don't open up just because a superintendent signs a letter.

Schools open up when teachers, staff and parents collectively decide it is safe to do so.

In full disclosure, the Ohio Education Association is an underwriter of this program.

Flashback to the first week of March as the pandemic was hitting Ohio and Columbus, the Arnold Sports and Fitness Festival was dramatically scaled back.

Dayton would soon learn that March Madness will be canceled.

School kids didn't know it then, but they were in their final days of in-person learning for the next few months on March 8th.

Hundreds of people concerned about climate change turned out Otterbein University in Westerville, north of Columbus, for a town hall from an unlikely alliance of former high profile lawmakers.

Democratic former US secretary of state and presidential candidate John Kerry laid out the grim numbers on rising emissions and temperatures that led him to develop World War Zero, calling them a catastrophe.

And Kerry said getting the world to push back against climate change deniers and enact policies toward net zero carbon emissions is the greatest economic opportunity the US has ever had.

And he said it's past time to talk about that.

It's an opportunity to build out new infrastructure in our country, to build a new grid for our energy, to take clean energy from one part of the country and send it to the other, to use artificial intelligence and quantum computing and put together a future that is different than people think.

The fastest growing job in America today is solar power technician, second fastest growing job, wind turbine power technician.

So moving to electric vehicles, moving our transportation, moving how we provide sources of heat and energy to our homes, all of it is an opportunity for what America does best, discover the future, define the future in the future.

Republican former Ohio governor and presidential candidate John Kasich, who noted he had vetoed a bill to roll back Ohio's renewable energy standards, said there needs to be more shifting toward wind and solar energy or serious efforts taking carbon out of coal that's burned and more battery technology, especially in the United States.

We have to speed it up and America has to lead.

I mean, can you imagine that America is not at the table?

I mean, in my lifetime, I've never seen an America that wasn't at the table for good.

And I'll tell you this.

I love that Gretta Sunberg, a young girl, a young girl.

Think about this for a second.

A young girl shows up outside the parliament holding a sign and goes on strike.

She's 15 years old.

She's gotten older now.

I think she's 16 now.

And she inspired a young people's revolution all across the planet because she said, I can make a difference.

You know what the question is for all of you are you, you and you and you, are you willing to make a difference and make it uncomfortable for people who are not putting this planet first?

Because our whole life is about providing a better future for our children.

And Republican former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just come from his namesake sports and fitness festival in Columbus at that time said the message has to be based on what's happening now, not in the future.

And it must be simple, like explaining to people the significance of lifting five hundred and fifty pounds.

They didn't understand how much weight is that really.

But when you say this is an equivalent of a huge professional refrigerator, then they said, oh my God, because someone can lift up.

That's really amazing.

So you got to put it in human terms so it doesn't just go over our heads and they use language that is to impress each other rather than to go into to tell you what to do.

As a matter of fact, most of the environmental conferences that I have went through it that I went to didn't even tell the people what they need to do.

They didn't even need to tell them the simple things they.

What you can do is look at the label when you buy a bit of clothing and see where it's made because it's made overseas, if it is from Europe or from Asia, wherever it comes from.

You are contributing to global climate change because the ships are shipping the stuff over in the 15 biggest ships, cargo ships in the world are bigger polluters than all of the cars combined.

So you are contributing.

So think about when you look at the label, maybe you have to pay a little bit more when it's made in America, but you are then becoming part of the environmental crusade.

Rather than going and becoming part of the problem, if they want to come to become part of the solution, that's what it's about.

So just go and buy more things to the made in America.

The trio didn't have a lot of specific suggestions to the audience, but Kerry said holding leaders accountable was the biggest thing they could do and also could help preserve democracy.

That was supposed to be the first stop on a World War Zero tour, but the pandemic forced everyone to make other plans.

John Kerry is now the special presidential envoy for climate for the Biden administration, which announced a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on US lands and waters this week.

The other two former politicians remain visible, but in other ways, Schwarzenegger has been active on Twitter, encouraging people to get the covid vaccine.

And Kasuke remains a CNN contributor and says, as mentioned earlier, he will not run for U.S. Senate.

And that's it for this week.

Please check out the Ohio Public Radio and Television State House News Bureaus website at statenews.org.

And you can follow us on the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the statewide broadcast of the state of Ohio comes from medical mutual, providing more than one point four million Ohioans peace of mind with a selection of health insurance plans online at Medda Mutual dotcom slash Ohio by the law offices of PorterWright Morris and Arthur LLP.

Now with eight locations across the country, PorterWright is a legal partner with a new perspective to the business community, Morad PorterWright.com and from the Ohio Education Association, representing 100 24000 members who work to inspire their students to think creatively and experience the joy of learning online at O H E A dot org.