MANSFIELD — It’s a tough time to be a Democrat running for county-wide office in Richland County these days.
After the votes were counted Tuesday night in a midterm election that only generated 51 percent local participation, there are only two Democrats left standing in countywide offices.
Neither of them — Treasurer Bart Hamilton and Common Pleas Court General Division Judge Phil Naumoff — were on the ballot this year.
When newly elected Domestic Relations Judge Beth Owens sits on the bench in January, local Republicans will hold 15 of 17 countywide seats.
That includes state Rep. Marilyn John (R-Shelby) who was unopposed on Tuesday in her bid for a second term in Columbus.
There was a definite “red wave” across Ohio on Tuesday as Republicans swept to wins in the races for governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer. The GOP also claimed all three seats up on the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Senate race to represent the state in Washington, D.C.
However, at least there were Democratic candidates in those races. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan waged a strong campaign against political newcomer J.D. Vance in the Senate race, earning almost 47 percent of the vote.
Ryan, like other statewide Democratic Party candidates Tuesday night, was hurt by relatively lower turnout in the county’s most urban counties — Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas and Montgomery.
Across the state, voter participation was around 51 percent. The turnout in those five blue counties was 50 percent or less, including only 45 percent in Lucas.
But the Richland County Democratic Party, with the exception of Kirsten Pscholka-Gartner in the race for Domestic Relations judge, had zero candidates in countywide races on Tuesday night.
Cliff Mears (commissioner), Pat Dropsey (auditor), Brent Robinson (Common Pleas Court General Division judge) and Steve McKinley (Juvenile Court judge) were unopposed on the general election ballot.
Sports adages come to mind. You can’t win if you don’t play. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.
That continued a troubling trend for local Democrats. In 2020, eight of 10 Republicans for countywide office were unopposed in the general election.
Local Democrats also need more help from voters in the city of Mansfield, the largest municipality in the county. The party has had recent success in the city, holding four of the eight voting seats on City Council.
(Editor’s note: There were five Democrats. But 5th Ward Council member Aurelio Diaz left the party to become an independent after he was elected in 2021.)
As reported earlier, countywide voter participation was 51.12 percent with 41,696 of 81,566 registered voters casting ballots.
But numbers were much lower in the City of Mansfield, where only about 39 percent of voters cast ballots on the Mansfield City Schools levy renewal race. Just 8,534 registered voters in the city school district cast votes among 21,915 registered voters.
Clearly, countywide Democratic Party candidates need greater turnout in the City of Mansfield.
With a crucial municipal election coming up in 2023 in Mansfield, local Democrats will need to figure it out quickly in terms of candidates and turnout.
In November 2023, city voters will elect a new mayor, law director and finance director with current office-holders being term-limited out.
There will also be elections for City Council president, At-large, 2nd Ward, 4th Ward and 6th Ward seats.
Two new municipal court judges will be elected, as well as a new municipal court clerk of courts and members of a charter review commission.
There is strong leadership in the local Democratic Party, witnessed by a packed house in April when U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Mansfield native, spoke at the annual Joseph H. Mudra Legacy Dinner.
During his speech, Brown urged local Democrats to do what he did when he started his political career — knock on doors, be active in the community and “show up all year long.”
“We don’t do better in Richland County just because we should … because we’re smarter or better looking or whatever we are,” he said.
“We do better in Richland County and win some of these races because you knock on doors, because you understand that progress doesn’t roll on the wheels of inevitability.
“It rolls because you organize, you canvas, you make phone calls, you register voters, you never give up. It rolls because you dedicate your lives, a big part of your lives, to making a difference for this community,” Brown said.
This analysis is not offered as a criticism of local Democrats. The simple fact is local democracies work best when there is competition in the marketplace of ideas often found in elections. A lack of competition provides none of that.
Let’s face it. There is little or no media or public scrutiny on unopposed candidates. In today’s busy world, there is simply not enough bandwidth to closely vette candidates who have no chance of being beaten.
And the May primary is just six months away.
(Richland Source City Editor Carl Hunnell helped to cover his first election in Ohio in 1979. More than 40 years later, he still has a passion for local government and politics.)
