Ohio
Equality Candidate
Victoria Wulsin OH-02
You may have seen Jean Schmidt’s (R) rants on the House floor, where she demonstrated her support of the war in Iraq by demeaning and lashing out at Congressman and former Marine Jack Murtha. But Schmidt is also vocally against equal rights and used gay issues negatively during campaign ads in the 2006 race against Democratic nominee Victoria Wulsin (which came down to just 2,517 votes!). The November race will be a rematch between these two candidates, with Schmidt’s divisive politics facing Wulsin’s fair-minded, pro-equality views. As a physician and epidemiologist, Wulsin has tremendous public health experience with HIV/AIDS prevention and research and supports banning workplace discrimination and enacting fair hate crimes laws. The race will be competitive again this year, especially with Ohio being a battleground in the upcoming presidential election.
What’s Happening
Working for equality in Congress and in the state legislature
Ohio has four priority U.S. House races this year. We expect that the new Congress will take up important legislation in 2009 that has the potential to provide ground-breaking federal legal protections for LGBT people. Sending pro-equality representatives to Washington, D.C. is more important than ever.
HRC is putting financial resources into Ohio in this very important upcoming election and has already begun to place staff on the ground here.
A regional field director has been based in Columbus, and two regional field organizers have been working on state legislative races throughout the state. Two HRC Campaign College participants are in Ohio working on state and congressional races. Three staff members will be deployed to work on key state and congressional races in the final weeks ahead of the election.
To elect a fair-minded leadership to the Ohio State House, we must have a net gain of five pro-equality state representatives. There are excellent opportunities in all parts of the state, including Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus.
HRC conducted Camp Equality election skills trainings in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. More than 60 camp participants learned the basics of working on a campaign, and many Camp alumni are now active volunteers in federal and state campaigns and will be a vital part of our victory for equality in Ohio this November!
At the state level, Ohio is gradually, but surely, moving toward equality. Last year, the Governor issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination against state employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This year, state legislators introduced a bill to prohibit discrimination in the private sector based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. There are a record number of co-sponsors for the bill in both the Ohio Senate and the House. Passing the legislation, however, will take more work. The State House is just a few seats away from a fair-minded majority; help make the changes that will lead to equality in Ohio.
HRC Endorsed Candidates in Ohio
U.S. House of Representatives
- Steve Driehaus (D-OH-1)
- Vic Wulsin (D-OH-2)
- Sharen Neuhardt (D-OH-7)
- Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9)
- Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH-10)
- Marcia Fudge (D-OH-11)
- Betty Sutton (D-OH-13)
- Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH-15)
- John Boccieri (D-OH-16)
- Tim Ryan (D-OH-17)
Vote
Register to vote: Rock the Vote
Question about where or how to vote? Want to report a problem voting? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE
In Your Area
Upcoming Events in Your Area
Attend an election night watch party!
For more information about HRC’s work in Ohio, please find out more about our Cleveland steering committee at http://cleveland.hrc.org/ , our Columbus steering committee at http://columbus.hrc.org/ , and our Greater Cincinnati steering committee at http://cincinnati.hrc.org/
Ohio’s statewide LGBT advocacy group is Equality Ohio: for more information please visit: http://www.equalityohio.org/
