Democratic News

COLUMBUS — As the Ranking Member of the House Government Oversight Committee, State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) today condemned the party-line vote to advance House Bill (HB) 149 out of committee. The legislation would require certain Ohio judicial candidates to run in partisan elections, cherry-picking some elections while leaving out others.

House Democratic lawmakers Reps. Jeffrey A. Crossman (D-Parma) and Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown) today testified before the House Rules and Reference Committee on their resolution to expel disgraced former Republican Speaker Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) from the Ohio House for his alleged role in a $60 million public bribery and corruption scheme to pass and prevent a referendum on a billion-dollar corporate bailout in 2019. 

COLUMBUS – House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) today celebrated citizen-led ballot initiatives ahead of the Aug. 8 special election for Issue 1, the politician-proposed constitutional restrictions that would end majority rule in Ohio and make it virtually impossible for citizen-led ballot initiatives to qualify for the ballot. 

Democratic lawmakers on the House Civil Justice Committee, including Ranking Member Rep. Tavia Galonski (D-Akron), Rep. Jeffrey A. Crossman (D-Parma) and Rep. David Leland (D-Columbus), Tuesday voted in opposition to an amendment to House Bill 286 that would allow for a change in jurisdiction for certain public corruption cases from the Franklin County Prosecutor to the defendant’s county of residence. 

State Reps. Adam C. Miller (D-Columbus) and Casey Weinstein (D–Hudson) today introduced legislation that would create a Hate Crimes Bureau within the Attorney General’s office in response to a recent increase in hate crimes in Ohio.

Ohio House Democrats hosted the first of their Freedom to Vote Tour events in Cincinnati Wednesday night. The tour, which has additional stops in Columbus, Akron, Cleveland and Toledo, gives Ohioans the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns on House Bill (HB) 294, controversial anti-voter legislation that would roll back ballot access and intentionally make the process more confusing for voters.

State Rep. Erica C. Crawley (D-Columbus), the Ranking Democrat on the House Finance Committee, released the following statement on the latest Senate changes to the state budget, House Bill 110:

COLUMBUS – House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) today released the following statement following Governor Mike DeWine’s decision to veto 44 provisions of the Ohio state operating budget.

COLUMBUS—State Rep. Lisa Sobecki (D-Toledo), Chair of the Ohio Democratic Women’s Legislative Caucus, released the following statement after the Lebanon City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban abortion within the city limits of Lebanon.

COLUMBUS– House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) today calls the U.S. Supreme Court's recent rulings destroying student loan forgiveness, gutting affirmative action, and legalizing discrimination against members of the LGTBQ+ community a complete and utter setback for equality and full access to opportunity.

State Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) today announced his nomination to the Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Education Commission. The Commission, which was created at the end of the 133rd General Assembly, is tasked with gathering and disseminating information on the Holocaust and genocide and propose new initiatives to fill the gap in current education programs.

COLUMBUS– House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) released the following statement in response to today’s sentencing of former Republican House Speaker Larry Householder for his crimes committed in Ohio’s largest corruption scandal.

House Democratic lawmakers Reps. Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown), Jeffrey A. Crossman (D-Parma) and Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) held a Statehouse press conference today to announce a resolution to remove Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) from office and to discuss other Democratic legislation that would root out corruption and begin to restore integrity to the Ohio House. After Democrats announced the press conference Tuesday, House Republicans rushed to introduce an expulsion resolution of their own.

House Democrats, led by Rep. Lisa Sobecki (D-Toledo), the Ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, voted in opposition Wednesday to House Bill (HB) 157, legislation that would prohibit the collection of income taxes from workers who aren’t physically in an office inside the city or village limits. 

COLUMBUS – House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) calls today’s Moore v. Harper ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that rejects the so-called “independent state legislature theory” that gives unchecked power to gerrymandered state legislatures a victory for the constitutional authority granted to the state’s courts and to the people of Ohio.

State Rep. Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) yesterday joined legislators across the Midwest for the first meeting of the Forum on Social Justice’s Steering Committee. The purpose of the new nonpartisan forum is to provide legislators with opportunities to discuss and address a wide range of racial and social justice issues, including economic equity, systemic racism, discrimination, racial disparities in public health, education, corrections, police reform, voting rights, and more.

COLUMBUS – House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington), on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, vows to protect women’s reproductive rights and defeat Issue 1 in August.