Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will be announcing that she’s running, according to a senior Ohio Democratic operative. She will be declaring her candidacy in a statement to be released this afternoon.
If elected, Brunner would become the first woman elected to the Senate from Ohio.
Brunner will be receiving the endorsement of the women’s group EMILY’s List, which will help her raise the millions necessary for a statewide campaign.
This comes as something of a surprise, as Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland was engaged in something of a blocking pattern for his Number One, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher — who has himself set up an exploratory committee and was expected to announce a decision within a few weeks. It remains to be seen whether Strickland and Fisher would want to go ahead with a major primary skirmish.
Two recent polls have actually shown Brunner in slightly weaker shape than Fisher against Rob Portman (PPP and Quinnipiac), although Brunner may be suffering a bit from a contentious election (and post-election) season after engaging in a number of battles with the Ohio GOP on early voting and the drawn-out OH-15 saga. (Although, according to Quinnipiac’s latest, voter resentment on this score may be fading away.)
In any case, holding Brunner’s SoS seat will be imperative for a lot of reasons. (UPDATE by Crisitunity: Of course, there’s making sure that there’s no voter suppression in Ohio in the 2012 presidential election. But Democrats also desperately need to hold the SoS seat for purposes of state legislative redistricting (decisions for which are made by a 5-member board, one member of which is the SoS). Dems hold a 3-2 advantage on the board right now, so holding the SoS seat is necessary to crack the current ridiculous pro-GOP gerrymander of Ohio legislative districts.)
UPDATE (James): Fisher is now in, too. Get ready to rumble. (Hat-tip: LeftistAddiction)
LATER UPDATE: Brunner announcement video available here.
She’s a good candidate in the abstract, but as a state official, I know comparatively little about her stances on national issues. Where does she fall on the spectrum?
it’s great that we have one serious candidate already, but it’s likely we have two AND could lost the SoS when we badly need it.
between fisher and brunner i don’t know who is stronger. my inclination is to believe that fisher is well-known and has a much more solid standing with voters. also i kind of think of OH as a redneck state and electing a progressive woman for a high-profile seat seems like a stretch, but who knows?
I believe the state house majority leader and state senate majority leader are two as well as the SoS. What else?
I believe it was within the last two weeks on Politico/scorecard.
I’m not sure who I would support but I think I may end up supporting Jennifer Brunner on the basis that I have heard that she is the stronger progressive. Who knows who will win the primary, but we can beat on that either way we will have a top-tier candidate in this race for the 2010 election. Looks like MY Senator Bob Menendez is picking up the mantle right where Schumer left it!
Does Ohio have a sore loser law? If she doesn’t win the primary, can Brunner run for another term as SoS?
Michael
that Democrats will be sending at least 2 more women to the US Senate in 2010 (with Carnahan in Missouri). Sebelius could easily make it three, and who knows, Pam Iorio might run and emerge the victor in Florida as well. Crit Luallen might also run against Bunning and has a pretty good chance of winning the primary and general. Jan Schakowsky might primary Burris in Illinois. All together, potentially 6 new Democratic women in the Senate, all of whom have very good chances of winning should they run.
As reported by the Columbus Dispatch.
I’m convinced that non-incumbent primary fights are, more often than not, good for the eventual winner. This should be especially true in bigger states and when the candidates are not especially well known. I know both Fisher and Brunner are statewide elected office holders, but I bet they still have low name recognition, especially Brunner. Winning tough elections make better candidates.
So I’m tentatively supporting Fisher.
Sorry, issue-activists, I’m more of a strategist. 😛
I would jump in immediately. Against one social liberal, he would have a good chance, but against two, he can walk away with the primary. Ohio Democrats tend to be more moderate on social issues, and are more to the left on economic issues, which Ryan fits like a glove.
Sucks to be Tim Ryan. He certainly can’t be thinking of entering now. He can be a very powerful committee chairman for a long time if he sticks it out in the House now. Or Governor?
Disappointed that Brunner is doing this, since I assume there’s still a lot of stuff to improve post-Blackwell in the OH SOS. And now there’s a real risk it can revert back to a Repub.
However I can’t begrudge her too much since open Senate seats don’t come along very often.
Now I guess I’m just hoping that the Dem primary won’t be too nasty and negative, and wasting a ton of money which could be much better spent in the general election against Portman.
We need more women in the Senate. I’m amused that people want to vote against her in the primary merely because she wants to run for Senate. It’s not her fault that Lee Fisher has nothing better to do than run for Senate. If I had a vote in Ohio I’d vote for Brunner, but I do know some Ohioans…