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The Ohio Democratic Party is the Ohio affiliate to the national Democratic party.In contemporary times, its primary political principles are commitment to tempering capitalism with programs of social welfare. Some other issues have included include support of Labor Union, civil rights, multilateralism, secularism, multi-culturalism, the jobless recovery, environmentalism, public education, and taxation which does not favor the wealthy. The official Ohio Democratic Party Principles state that it values opportunity and equality for all its citizens, and respects both the self-reliance of individuals and the benefits of teamwork, to meet the challenges of a fair and just society.
History
The Ohio Democratic Party traces its origin to the Democratic-Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1793. The Democratic Party itself was formed from a faction of the Democratic-Republicans, led by Andrew Jackson. Following his defeat in the election of 1824 despite having a majority of the popular vote, Jackson set about building a political coalition strong enough to defeat John Quincy Adams in the election of 1828. The coalition that he built was the foundation of the subsequent Democratic party.
Ohio politics was largely dominated by the Ohio Republican Party until the economic policies of Herbert Hoover combined with over speculation in the market led to the Great Depression. The suffering of the 1930's, set the stage for a government could more actively assist it's citizens. Franklin D. Roosevelt won a landslide election in 1932, campaigning on a platform of "relief, recovery, and reform". FDR's New Deal programs focused on job-creation through public works projects (creating 10 million new jobs), created insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market and created social programs like Social Security. The political coalition of labor unions, minorities, liberals, and southern whites (the New Deal Coalition) allowed the Democrats to control the government and Ohio for much of the next 30 years. It was the civil rights movement that ultimately heralded the demise of the coalition. Democrats had traditionally solid support in the south, but this electoral dominance ended in 1964. In the 1964 election, many southern voters threw their support to Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who had opposed civil rights legislation. The Ohio Democratic Party had great success into the mid-1980s, when Democrats held the following offices:
State Executive
U.S. Congress
State Legislative
State Judicial
Even with its successes, Ohio Democrats did not fare well on a national level. John Glenn, a popular U.S. senator from Ohio, astronaut and national hero, ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1984, ending up with a huge campaign debt. Howard Metzenbaum, Ohio's other U.S. senator at the time, although a powerful force in the Senate, never achieved national name recognition.
As Democratic incumbents have retired, they have largely been replaced by Republicans, aided by the controversial practice of gerrymandering.
Current Democratic Officeholders
Current Democratic strength lies mainly in the northeastern part of the state, the traditional pro-union, Democratic bastion, dominated by manufacturing and the cities of Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron, and Canton. Democrats are in the majority in the cities of Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati but those majorities are often offset by conservative strength in the surrounding suburbs. The impoverished Appalachian region of Ohio is traditionally Democratic and sometimes swings for the Democrats. Electoral strength is reflected in the mayoral offices of Ohio's major cities (which formed the heart of the Ohio Delegation to the 2004 Democratic National Convention), with the following Democrats in the most prominent mayoralties:
Six of the 18 members of Ohio's delegation to the United States House of Representatives are Democrats:
- Ted Strickland -- His southeastern Ohio district was a target of the Republican legislature's redistricting effort in 2001, but managed to survive. Strickland has expressed interest in running for governor in 2006.
- Marcia C. Kaptur
- Dennis J. Kucinich -- Kucinich ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Kucinich endorsed John Kerry, the nominee. Kucinich was the only candidate other than Kerry to receive votes at the convention.
- Stephanie Tubbs Jones -- Jones was the chairwoman of the party's platform committee at the 2004 convention and is co-chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
- Sherrod Brown -- Brown, a young, telegenic Democrat, is considered one of the stars of the Ohio Democratic Party. In 2001, the Republican legislature threatened to redistrict him out of office, but when Brown threatened to run for governor in 2002, they preserved his district. Brown has not tossed his name in the ring for the 2006 gubernatorial race.
- Timothy J. Ryan
Democrats are a minority in the Ohio State Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives. The party's leaders in these chambers are:
Senate
House of Representatives
- Leader: Chris Redfern
- Assistant Leader: Joyce Beatty
- Whip: Dale Miller
- Assistant Whip: Lance Mason
Former Democratic Ohio Attorney General Lee Fisher, whose wife served on the Ohio delegation to the Boston convention, lost the attorney general's office in 1994. In 1998, he was nominated for governor, but lost that race as well. He has hinted that he might be interested in re-entering statewide electoral politics. It has been surmised that he is referring to the 2006 gubernatorial race.
Prominent Ohio Democrats of the Past
- Vern Riffe: speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1975-1995
- James M. Cox: Governor of Ohio, Democratic nominee for President of the United States (1920), U.S. representative, publisher of the Dayton Daily News, founder of Cox Communications
- Dick Celeste: Ohio state representative, Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Governor of Ohio, U.S. ambassador to India
- John J. Gilligan: U.S. representative, Democratic nominee for United States Senate (1968), Governor of Ohio
- Michael DiSalle: mayor of Toledo, Governor of Ohio, candidate for Democratic nomination for President of the United States (1960)
- Frank Lausche: Governor of Ohio, U.S. senator
- Martin L. Davey: U.S. representative, Governor of Ohio
- A. Victor Donahey: Ohio State Auditor, Governor of Ohio, U.S. senator
- Allen G. Thurman
- Atlee Pomerene
- Stephen M. Young
- Howard Metzenbaum
- John Glenn
Jerry Springer and the Ohio Democratic Party
Some Ohio Democrats are hoping that popular talk show host Gerald N. "Jerry" Springer will come to their aid in coming years. Before becoming a television personality, Springer was a politician, serving as city councilman and mayor in his home town of Cincinnati. He also made unsuccessful attempts at the governorship and a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Springer declined to enter the 2004 race for the United States Senate against incumbent George Voinovich, saying that his television contract would interfere with campaigning. He still expresses interest in the 2006 race for the governorship and has stated that if he chooses to run, he will quit his television show at least 18 months before the general election.
Springer has contributed large sums to the 2004 Democratic effort and was named 2004's Democrat of the Year by the Ohio Democratic Party.
Party Symbols
On January 15, 1870 a political cartoon appearing in Harper's Weekly titled "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast, for the first time symbolized the Democratic Party as a donkey. Since then, the donkey has been widely used a symbol of the party, though unlike the Republican elephant, the donkey has never been officially adopted as the party's logo. The Ohio Democrats use the same symbols as the national Democratic party, such as the donkey. In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Democratic party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the rooster, as opposed to the Republican eagle.
See also
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