Ohio is becoming an increasingly popular destination for ambitious out-of-state Democrats. And as we all know, it’s not because of the weather.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, whose district includes Silicon Valley, spoke Monday at the City Club of Cleveland. His speech, which his aides touted as a “major economic address,” compared the country’s current state of political affairs to the “Gilded Age” of the late 19th century, when businesses had a large role in government policy.
Khanna is hardly a household name nationally. But he’s a close political ally of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and of Nina Turner, the former Ohio state senator whom some pundits see as a possible Cleveland mayoral candidate someday.
Khanna’s Ohio appearance has shades of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’ recent trip. Walz visited Ohio last week as part of a cross-country tour of Republican congressional districts in red states that used to vote for Democrats. (Read my story detailing Walz’ time in Ohio, including his hopes to spark the liberal equivalent to the conservative Tea Party movement from last decade.)
Khanna previously has held town hall-style rallies in Republican-held congressional districts in his home state. His nationwide tour has a JD Vance theme – his Monday speech in Ohio, Vance’s home state, was followed by a Tuesday appearance at Yale University, where both Khanna and Vance went to law school.
In an interview following his speech, Khanna said he’s not in Ohio running for president. He does have some extra plausible deniability to explain why he came here, though. His wife, Ritu, is a Cleveland native from a prominent local family.
“Ohio isn’t a battleground state right now. But I do think we need to make it a battleground state,” Khanna said.
In his speech, Khanna argued for an expanded social safety net and for policies through which he said the government could encourage business investment in economically distressed areas.
He also referenced some of the tech figures who have an outsized influence in politics today, including Vance’s mentor and political benefactor, Paypal founder Peter Theil, and Elon Musk, the billionaire who’s now part of the Trump administration.
Khanna said he has known Thiel and Musk for years. He called Musk a “tech genius” who “should stick to cars and Mars.”
“I say it’s time to turn the tables,” Khanna said. “It’s time to put Silicon Valley in the service of America, not America in the service of Silicon Valley.”
U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign money
A federal campaign finance deadline fell this week. It showed who’s investing early in Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted’s bid to keep his new elected office.
Husted raised about $1 million from January through April, and, after expenses, has $950,000 in his campaign bank account, according to his campaign’s federal report.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of his donors:
- Among those who gave Husted’s campaign the maximum direct individual donation of $7,000: Gary Cooper, the chief operating officer of Cooper Farms, the major egg producer in Western Ohio; Charles “Chip” Gephardt, a GOP political operative from the Cincinnati area; Steve Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, the massive private equity firm; Albert Ratner, the retired Cleveland businessman and philanthropist; Robert Castellini, the Cincinnati Reds owner; Ross Perot Jr., a Texas businessman who’s the son of the 1992 presidential candidate.
- Two Ohio Republicans who left Congress earlier this decade dipped into their leftover campaign funds to give to Husted. Anthony Gonzalez, the former Ohio State University football star and congressman who opted not to seek reelection after voting in January 2021 to impeach then-President Donald Trump, gave Husted $5,000 via his political action committee, AEG PAC. Steve Stivers, the former Columbus-area congressman who quit Congress to become CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce in 2021, gave $2,000.
- Husted’s corporate political action committee contributors included some Ohio-based companies: Air Transport Services Group; American Electric Power, Cardinal Health Cos., Cleveland-Cliffs, KeyCorp, Kroger, M/I Homes, Nationwide Insurance and Wendy’s. Other corporate contributors include PACs for fossil fuel interests (Chevron Employees PAC, Duke Energy, Vistra); military contracting (Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics PAC and Sierra Nevada); finance (JPMorganChase), pharmaceuticals (Johnson & Johnson) and transportation (CSX Corp.).
Husted’s campaign touted its fundraising numbers in a news release, pointing out Husted only has only had been raising money for a couple months. Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Husted, his former lieutenant governor, in January to fill the remainder of Vance’s term after Vance was elected vice president.
Husted must stand for election in 2026.
New property tax reform campaign brewing
There’s a new effort afoot in Columbus that’s pushing for reforms to Ohio’s property tax system following the historic valuation increases.
A pair of business groups, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Realtors Association, have founded the Ohio Taxpayer Protection Coalition. The initiative includes the Ohio Association of County Auditors, the elected officials who administer the state’s arcane system of assessing and collecting property taxes.
It’s not uncommon for business groups to push for lower taxes. But the campaign is unusually public-facing for that type of advocacy – thanks to its snappy name and social media presence. Tom Zaino, the group’s executive director, said that’s by design.
“We’re really trying to, from the grassroots up, address these issues,” Zaino said. “And of course, we’re working with the General Assembly, but [also] putting pressure on the General Assembly to make some of these needed changes.”
The group has testified in favor of three bills:
- House Bill 28, which would eliminate a type of levy called a “replacement levy” that almost always results in tax increases even though its name might imply that it won’t. The bill is before the Ohio Senate after the House passed it last month.
- House Bill 186, which would give a property tax credit to homeowners who live in communities where property taxes’ effective rates have dropped low enough to no longer get the benefit of the state “reduction factor,” which is supposed to prevent increases in property value from resulting in equally large increases in property taxes.
- Senate Bill 66, which would make more types of voter-approved school district taxes subject to the reduction factor. This technical change is meant to discourage schools from pursuing tax levies that circumvent the reduction factor, a strategy that can mean more money for school districts but higher taxes for homeowners.
Zaino said the group is backing legislation that aims to bring down future property taxes rather than reforms that take away existing funding for schools. On that note, the group hasn’t taken a position on a provision House Republicans added to the state budget bill that could take billions in leftover money from school districts’ bank accounts and return it to taxpayers.
Zaino also said the group is aware of preliminary, longshot citizen-led efforts that would amend the state constitution to radically overhaul property tax laws but isn’t involved with them.
“Our focus is to try and provide immediate relief to homeowners and taxpayers, and the way to do that is through statutory law changes,” Zaino said.
Mark the calendar
The legislature’s next session is April 30.
In the news
Tim Walz tries to spark a liberal Tea Party movement with trip to Ohio and other red states
Case Western Reserve becomes latest Ohio university to have international students get visas revoked
Cleveland Browns get $600 million bond package in House budget, but not without fourth-quarter drama
