Props to OH-11’s Least Partisan: Barnes, Smith, Brown, Corey

There’s a big difference between candidates who push for bold policies that represent the priorities of the people, versus candidates throwing open-ended, sweeping insults toward the other party as a whole, which alienates the minority party who live in the district as well as half the country who is right-leaning. Sometimes politicians from the other party need to be called out for their bad policies or bad behavior, but it’s important for criticism to be specific, fair and limited, or else we run the risk of becoming even more divided and unstable as a country. That’s why I’m giving props to candidates running in Ohio’s special primary for Congressional district 11 who focus on what they stand for and demonstrate a dedication to being a public servant more than a partisan mud-slinger.

I’ve reviewed the social media feeds and campaign websites for all the candidates in this election to see who attacks the other party the most, and who rises above the fray.

The Least Partisan

John E. Barnes Jr., former State Rep. – In 787 tweets since 2009, there’s not one mention of “republican” or Trump. Same for his website. He raises concerns about “disruptive elements” and “dark forces” without targeting the opposite party, although his campaign video does overlay this message over an image of hyper-partisan Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as Q-Anon, KKK and the 1/6 Capitol mob. On Facebook, he states his plan to “oppose any restrictions to the ballot box” without casting blame on anyone. His priorities are bringing funding into the district to improve the economy and defending democracy, although his website focuses on his accomplishments rather than a detailed policy agenda going forward.

In his last legislative session in 2018, he was primary sponsor on 28 bills. 4 of those had nearly unanimous and bipartisan support: prohibit fees for correcting criminal record information, require state higher ed to adopt sex offense policies, specify disabled person’s state ID card does not expire, create driver’s license reinstatement fee amnesty initiative. Another had a bipartisan cosponsor, while the rest were referred to committee with no cosponsors. None of his bills were introduced with single-party cosponsors.

Shirley Smith, former State Senator and State Rep – In 394 tweets she only mentions “republican” twice, once to highlight her appointments by the other party as proof of her “ability to work across the aisle”, and once to say the Republican Party should commit Trump for having serious mental health issues. She tweets about Trump 19 times, calling his behavior “embarrassing” and “ridiculous”, and condemning “destruction that Trump is causing this country”. Her multiple appointments under Republican majorities are evidence of good will working with the other party, and she has limited her criticism to the former president while avoiding any insults toward the other party.

When she was last a legislator in 2014, she was primary sponsor on 7 bills: 3 had several bipartisan cosponsors, 1 had 1 cross-party cosponsor, 2 had only party-line support, and 1 had no cosponsors. The bipartisan bills were about voter access and criminal records, which both passed into law, and about child support which didn’t leave committee.

Shontel Brown, County Councilor – In 439 tweets she never mentions “republican” nor “gop”, and neither does her website. Her only tweet mentioning “Trump” is in reference to her Democratic opponent criticizing Joe Biden. Her campaign video touts the ousting of Trump but doesn’t attack him or his party. On Facebook she pointed out Republicans voted against the American Rescue Plan and once shared an image saying “Every single house republican voted against helping you,” but that’s about all I could find on her social media. Her priorities are to end gun violence, help economic recovery and improve health care costs and access.

Dr. Seth J. Corey, Pediatrician – In 5,500 tweets, no mention of “republican” and only 4 mentions of “Trump”, none explicitly critical. He highlights debate around Trump’s position on right to try experimental medicine, likens Trump’s position on drug prices to both Sanders and Warrens, and notes Trump’s interest in FDA reform and biotech. His website criticizes “elected officials” and “Cleveland politicians” for the overdose death count and child poverty, but doesn’t mention either party. On Facebook he criticized Governor DeWine once for allowing medical providers to deny providing certain treatment on moral grounds. His top priorities are jobs, quality healthcare and environmental safety. He commits to “putting people before politics”. Although he lacks political experience, his comments show no partisanship, but rather an independent dedication to priorities regardless of party.

Moderately Partisan

Jeff Johnson, former State Senator and former City Councilor – in nearly 3,000 tweets, “republican” or “GOP” only comes up 15 times, criticizing “idiocy of the unmasked Ohio Republican Legislators”, Senator Tim Scott’s comments that America is not racist, and Democratic Mayor Frank Jackson for hiring a Republican campaign manager. He criticizes “Republican judges” for restricting voting rights of ex-felons in Florida and for overturning Cleveland’s Fannie Lewis law. He’s criticized Frank LaRose for limiting drop boxes, saying he is “part of the problem” and “a TRUMP Republican”.
He’s tweeted about Trump 42 times, calling him misleading, deceptive and lacking credibility. He’s criticized his funding cuts, transgender military ban, his comments on police use of force, and his negative comments about Baltimore. Twice Johnson said, “Trump cares for Trump” and called his debate performance a mess. Once he tweeted about agreeing with Trump’s position against subsidizing wealthy sports leagues.
His website generally sticks to his priorities, but notes the number of state legislatures with Republican majorities in a paragraph about voter suppression, though without directly blaming them. His party criticism tends to be infrequent and specific.

Johnson was last Senator in 1998 (not to be confused with Senator Bruce Johnson). The archive search pulls up around 24 bills that he sponsored as introduced, 8 of which had bipartisan co-sponsors while the rest had only party-line support. The two that passed both chambers were hepatitis C awareness month and bacterial testing of waters adjacent to public swimming beaches. He also co-sponsored 7 other bills that year as passed by the Senate while in the minority party.

Tariq Shabazz, Navy veteran – In 3,520 tweets since 2011, he mentions “republican” or “GOP” 3 times. During 1/6 Capitol attack he said, “Republican officials must be held accountable for their lack of accountability regarding this President. They continued to allow his abuses of authority to go unchecked and now we are truly facing a potential episode of him truly undermining the will of the people.” He also criticized their position on criminal justice reform and for not agreeing to accept the results of the election, and suggested they lack a “shred of dignity.” His tweets mention Trump 23 times, alleging that he “views the military as expendable”, “fans the flames of racism” and would “let all in need die due to not having access to essential health care.” He calls Trump “unhinged” for having an Iranian officer killed, and also calls him polarizing, disrespectful and unqualified.
His website pushes for reparations, prison reform and Medicare for All, and doesn’t mention the other party. Although his party criticism is minimal, he doesn’t commit to bridging divides either, and doesn’t have political experience to demonstrate how partisan he would be either way.

Sweeping Party Blaming

Nina Turner, former State Senator and former City Councilor – Her website and top campaign video stick to her priorities and don’t mention the other party. However, she tweets a lot: 60 thousand times since 2010! Only about 0.1% of those tweets were critical of “republican” or “gop”. She blamed Republicans for “obstructionism” on pandemic stimulus funding but also generally, “dishonest talking points” and “GOP theater” during debates, “continued efforts to suppress the vote”, “voter fraud in Florida”, as well as positions on corporate tax cuts, minimum wage, and funding for education, infrastructure and Medicaid. She rightly criticizes gerrymandering, but says “If you can’t win, cheat! #GOP” even though Democrats have gerrymandered districts as well. She has also said, “The GOP never lets the truth get in the way of a good story”, “don’t believe the GOP fear-mongering!”, “It is crystal clear what the GOP are doing in Alabama . They have reached back 2 Jim Crow Playbook!”, “GOP answer 2 everything is bomb & talk tough.”, “The GOP candidates seem to hate government. Why on earth are they running for POTUS? You can’t lead what you hate.”, “You continue a fiscal policy that tramples on the backs and necks of the working class, deliberately starve government to perpetuate a lie”, “unadulterated power grab by the “we lost so let’s rig-the-system” GOP in Wisconsin”, and “WTH GOP? Modern day poll taxes are in full effect in Florida!” After watching the Fahrenheit 11/9 documentary, she said, “It is crystal clear that the GOP leadership should go to jail, & some Democrats are going to hell.” She’s been critical of her own party too, showing independence over party loyalty, although in a few tweets she criticized Democrats for siding with Republicans. Her criticisms have mostly been on specific issues or in specific places, and infrequently toward the opposite party as a whole.

She’s tweeted about Trump 47 times (still a tiny fraction of her 60k tweets), mostly in support of Bernie Sanders who she campaigned for. Several times she points out that Trump can’t be fully blamed for issues she says predate him. However, she has called Trump a “demagogue”, a “disaster”, and “repulsive” for mocking a disabled person. She said “Trump is vile to everyone who doesn’t serve him, but it’s clear he saves his most vicious contempt for Black women who are unafraid to call out his lies and corruption.” She blames him for undermining democracy.
She also has conciliatory tweets like, “Democracy’s true Party affiliation is not D or R: Democrat/Republican. It is RT: Right Thing!!!”, “People are hurting and they want to talk that Democrat/Republican nonsense. Not the time”, “we can still love each other and disagree” and “My brother is a conservative Republican and I love him dearly!!!”

As a State Senator as of 2014, she was primary sponsor of 18 bills that year, 7 of which had bipartisan cosponsors, including 2 that became law to honor an Army Private on part of I-271 and an amendment regarding parental rights. The rest had only party-line cosponsors.

Her massive amount of posts makes her unique among her competitors; her thoughts are highly accessible but also vulnerable to an unusual amount of scrutiny. It’s clear that she’ll call out the other party with sweeping blame on some occasions, although generally in response to specific events. Importantly, she also has tens of thousands of tweets that aren’t attacking the opposition, her campaign materials do not emphasize party blaming, and she has demonstrated some bipartisan legislative work.

Will Knight, businessman – In 9,100 tweets since 2010, he mentions “republican” 7 times, “gop” 10 times, and Trump 35 times. He accuses Tusli Gabbard of being a “Republican playing Dem”, alleges “Republican voter fraud in Ohio and the GOP is working to suppress voter rights”, laughs at “Republican minority outreach” with a picture of predominately white interns, and criticizes Meghan McCain for “the same old talking points” after he hoped for “new republican ideas”. He’s called Trump a racist, a clown, crooked and disrespectful. He says “#trump He’s never cried in his life… He feels nothing for anyone.” He calls the party “out of touch” and says “The GOP want to keep their base poor and uneducated”, which dips him into “sweeping blame” territory without any indication of bipartisanship to pull him out.
He says Trump planned to “make a total shit show of the debate”, and blames him and Jim Jordan for the 1/6 Capitol attack. He criticizes Trump for causing COVID outbreaks from his rallies, for lying about Mexico paying for a border wall, and for his positions on healthcare and policing. He said Trump was one of the worst presidents of all time, but said Rutherford was worse. An attempt at conciliation also includes blaming Trump for bigotry, saying “I understand why many of my white friends voted for Trump. But it’s sad to see them continue to go down the hole of racism/sexism etc w/him.” His website gives a personal story about the OSU wrestler abuse scandal which criticizes Jim Jordan who was assistant coach at the time, but describes the issue without mentioning Jordan by name or party. His website lacks a detailed policy agenda.

Felicia Washington Ross – Although she has a minimal online presence, in just 98 tweets she’s already been critical of “democrats” or Biden 10 times. She makes sweeping accusations like “Dems R trying 2 Stop offspring reproduction”, “Dems are taking America Down the hill not up […] we as Republicans can put a stop to them keeping American citizens hostage mentally, by making excuses for laziness”, and “the Dems use race for everything.” On immigration she blames the Biden administration for “using children as pawns & lies” and says “Democrats want to Open up the flood gates to Illegal immigrants”. She says Democrats are “no better” than Trump and tells them to “be QUIET” about him. (Although running as a Republican, in 2020 she ran for State Rep as a Democrat.)

The Worst

Laverne Gore, businesswoman – Her website’s leading video is headlined “What does the Democrat message teach people in Ohio?” and places sweeping blame on Democrats for general societal issues. Another video headlined “What does the 66% illiteracy rate mean to the Democratic Party?” features Ms. Gore brashly suggesting that Democrats prefer to keep people illiterate so that they can more be easily manipulated, but then fails to propose how to improve literacy.
In 457 tweets, 4 mention “democrats” or “dems”, and 5 mention Biden. She alleges “The media is colluding with the Democrats” regarding Joe Biden’s brother, and says “#Democrats love to raise taxes on the middle class.” She says, “The left only gets made when they’re told to! Little research and all emotion.” She lauded Trump’s actions contrasted with “just talking points like the #Dems are doing.” She criticized Democratic debates for not including Tulsi Gabbard, saying “Dems should do better towards women,” even though Gabbard was excluded due to polling requirements rather than her gender. Ms. Gore called Biden “pathetic” for a campaign ad critical of Trump ahead of the 2020 election, said “Biden will send [jobs] back to China with a magic wand” and also that Biden is “unable to lead this country” because of a simple mistake about who was standing behind him.
On the other hand, she’s criticized both parties for being “willing to destroy our great nation” and vowed to “get rid of politicians who seek to disrupt the potential harmony of this nations citizens (democrats and republicans)” and to run for all people regardless of party. She told Cleveland.com “I’m going to vote for the people, I’m not going to vote against my party, I’m not going to vote against the Democratic Party,” but avoided giving specifics on how she would vote. However, these statements seeking to escape partisanship are greatly overshadowed by the sweeping partisan rhetoric featured on her website’s campaign videos.

Other Candidates

Lateek Shabazz – His website has no mud-slinging, and sticks to his 5-point agenda, including reparations and protecting children’s health, but has few details and no campaign social media nor political experience to review.

James Jerome Bell, Pamela M. Pinkney, Martin Alexander and Isaac Powell have insufficient information available online to review.

Pulling out of the hyper-partisan downward spiral

In this last election cycle, we saw how divisive politics can get, but the US Civil War teaches us that it can get so much worse. We need strong candidates who can protect our democracy from those who would undermine it, but we also need them to create an environment of respect and civility so that the norms of our representative democracy can be restored and our states can remain united. It’s not easy to strike that balance, which is why those who try deserve recognition.

Congratulations to Rep. John Barnes, Senator Shirley Smith, Councilor Shontel Brown, and Dr. Seth Corey for being district 11’s least partisan candidates, and demonstrating that you can stand on your values and not just on being confrontational.

8/3/21 Primary Results

Shontel Brown won the Democratic primary with 50% of the vote, over 37,000 votes. Laverne Gore won the Republican primary with 74% of the vote, just under 4,000 votes. They faced each other on November 2, where Brown won the Congressional seat with 79% of the vote.

2022 Rematch

Shontel Brown beat Nina Turner again in the 2022 Democratic primary, this time with 66% of the vote, while Eric Brewer beat out James Hemphill on the Republican side.

References and notes

District 11 election reporting – Columbus Dispatch

Primary Election Results – Washington Post

Congressional district 11 includes parts of Cleveland and Akron across Cuyahoga and Summit Counties.

In this review, negative partisanship was examined while positive party-association was not. Aligning with one’s own party and its leaders and values was tolerated. Candidates with experience in public service or larger online presence were given greater weight compared to candidates whose campaign promises have not yet been demonstrated.

I’ve reached out to the least partisan candidates for comment.