On fighting

And why the Ohio Democratic Party is foolish to choose business as usual.

A protester holds my favorite sign in front of Columbus City Hall on Thursday, as part of the nationwide “I.C.E. OUT” rally.

In the age of Donald Trump, the fight within the Democratic Party isn’t between moderates and leftists.

The fight is between Democrats who want to keep operating as if it’s business as usual and Democrats who understand that unprecedented times call for unprecedented tactics.

I got a good look at the dichotomy yesterday when I attended the “I.C.E. Out” rally in front of City Hall before biking to the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 189 union hall on Kinnear Road for the Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting.

Only in America would those two wildly different crowds ostensibly belong to the same political party.

At the downtown rally, I spotted State Rep. Mourina Abdullahi (D-Columbus). She wasn’t the only politician there—shoutout to Columbus Councilwoman Lourdes Barroso de Padilla and State Rep. Eric Synenberg (D-Beachwood)—but Abdullahi is somebody who embodies the word “fighter” because she understands the stakes of the game better than most.

We live in a time where a lot of Democratic politicians can’t be bothered to attend protests against ICE, a group of masked, jack-booted, functionally illiterate thugs who have raided businesses, homes, courthouses, and elementary schools in their undying quest to destroy families and ruin lives.

Earlier this week, despite the warnings of milquetoast House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), Ohio’s entire Democratic Congressional delegation voted for a Republican hobgoblin bill that condemned “antisemitism” (aka criticism of America’s rogue client state, Israel) while also praising ICE and expressing greater local and state cooperation with the paramilitary organization of dead-eyed thugs.

Compare the complacency of Ohio’s Congressional delegation to State Rep. Abdullahi, who, earlier this week, drove 100 miles to Hamilton, Ohio, to bust up Butler County’s infamous cowboy-hat-wearing autocrat, Sheriff Richard Jones, to ascertain information about a constituent that ICE abducted during a traffic stop in Westerville.

Who would you rather have in your foxhole? The hijabi woman who made a cracker-ass Sheriff run like a bug, or a bog-standard Democrat from Ohio’s docile Congressional delegation that can be easily duped into voicing support for ICE in the same week that Trump deployed the Marines against United States citizens?

It’s an easy decision for me because being a “fighter” has nothing to do with political views or gender. In these times, it has everything to do with tenacity and the solidarity you feel for marginalized crowds.

Rep. Abdullahi demonstrated fearlessness and moral clarity with her drive to Butler County. It’s clear to see she cares, which is more than can be said about many Democratic politicians who can’t be bothered to attend protests because the increasingly fascist actions of the Trump Administration don’t threaten them, personally.

If I had a billion dollars, I would spend whatever it took to make sure Rep. Abdullahi replaces Joyce Beatty in Congress. She shines especially bright in the desert that is Ohio politics.

You’re damn right I threw some pink tape on the handlebars of my backup bike, Blue Butter.

I admit, I’m not much one for chanting and marching. However, I prefer raucous street environments with a diverse cast of characters to the staid, professional atmosphere I found at the Ohio Democratic Executive Committee, roughly four miles away.

I walked into the meeting a couple of minutes late, and I thought that perhaps outgoing chairwoman Liz Walters had died, given how Vice Chair André Washington was talking about her.

Given the heights of Washington’s oratory, you might have been mistaken for thinking that Chairwoman Walters had led the Ohio Democratic Party out of the wilderness and back into statewide prominence.

In reality, Walters was leaving for a “CEO” job with TargetSmart, the shitty digital ad business that she routinely prostelytzed during her reign to the detriment of down-ballot candidates in a way that has caught national attention.

From Holly Otterbein and Daniel Lippman of politico.com:

A top Democratic organization strongly encouraged state campaigns to do much of their digital ad-buying business with a company that one of its members is set to soon join as CEO — a development that has puzzled and concerned some party insiders.

[…]

Walters recused herself from the TargetSmart vote. But she has reportedly praised the use of TargetSmart repeatedly in recent years, went to the meeting where the resolution passed, and continues to sit on a key board of state party leaders tied to the deal.

Word of the deal spread through Democratic circles this week, leaving some in the party worried about the possibility of a conflict of interest — or the perception of one — at a time when Democrats are already struggling mightily. Others are concerned that using a sole media-buying platform for many digital ads will stifle innovation and raise costs for campaigns.

“I just don’t understand this at all. It’s the ultimate solution in search of a problem,” said Rob Flaherty, the former deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign. “No one who works directly in this space is asking for this, nor should we want it. Even the stated rationale makes no sense: This is a space where competition leads to better pricing. A strategic monopoly doesn’t serve us.”

None of this was mentioned at the meeting, obviously.

Walters received multiple bouquets and even a bottle of liquor. And through that lens, you start to understand why the Ohio Democratic Party shouldn’t be organizing children’s birthday parties, let alone statewide elections.

The headliner of the event was the coronation of former Portage County Commissioner Kathleen Clyde, who won 108 of 109 possible votes to become the next chairwoman of the Ohio Democratic Party, thanks almost entirely to the lobbying of former Senator Sherrod Brown.

Jeremy Pelzer of cleveland.com surmised the situation well with his headline: “Ohio Democrats choose stability over shake-up with new party chair.” And who could blame the Executive Committee for choosing stability, given the party’s current run of success and statewide relevance?

Jokes aside, I said my piece bout Clyde last week. I’ve talked to enough people to know she’s lazy, entitled, in love with herself, and the type of person who schmoozes those above her while treating subordinates like thralls.

Those are generally the last qualities I would want in a Democratic Party chair. But I’m not Sherrod Brown, so I don’t get to appoint my daughter’s friends to positions of power.

I’d love to be wrong about Clyde and the direction of the Ohio Democratic Party. It would seem that 2026 will offer Democrats their best chance to win statewide power since 2018, when that weird nerd Rich Cordray collapsed at the finish line against Grandpa Sleepy Tea.

But seeing the fêting of Walters and the behind-the-scenes orchestration of Clyde’s coronation lets me know that it’s business as usual for the Ohio Democratic Party.

And what has that gotten them, besides increasing irrelevance with every election cycle?

THOSE WMDs. How the Houthis rattled the U.S. Navy and transformed maritime war… The quiet unraveling of the man who almost killed Trump… The beautiful danger of a normal life during an autocratic rise… A Syrian family’s decades-long search for children stolen by the Assad regime… The toll of Bozeman’s housing crisis.