Despite the Ohio Democratic Party’s early endorsement of a former governor, local party leaders may line up behind the lesser-known candidate for U.S. Senate.
Summit County Democrats say they will show up at Greystone Hall on Tuesday morning, where a crowd is expected to throw its support to P.G. Sittenfeld.
The 31-year-old Cincinnati councilman is an underdog candidate in the U.S. Senate race against Ted Strickland, 74. When Sittenfeld was last in the area, state Sen. Tom Sawyer of Akron sat pensively listening to the upstart politician’s views on gun control and other issues.
Sawyer made no endorsement then. Monday, the veteran lawmaker said “read the tea leaves” and stop by Greystone Hall to see if he’s made up his mind between Sittenfeld and Strickland, who will address the Akron Press Club next Monday.
Also planning to attend the meeting at Greystone Hall are County Council President Ilene Shapiro, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, County Executive Russ Pry and state Rep. Emilia Sykes, another politician in her early 30s.
Ohio Democratic Party strategist Bill Demora said Sittenfeld is a problem as the Democrats pick the best candidate to unseat Republican Sen. Rob Portman in the general election.
“P.G. has no chance of winning this race,” Demora said, citing recent polls that show Sittenfeld neck and neck with a “no-name” candidate in the March primary and Strickland sizing up better against Portman.
“All he’s doing is hurting our chances of beating a Republican in November,” Demora added.
Sittenfeld is clamoring for name recognition against Strickland, a challenger whose popularity in a key swing state made him a potential candidate for vice president in 2008. He’s still well known, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in August that also found 86 percent of respondents didn’t know Sittenfeld.
Sittenfeld has hammered Strickland on his A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association. While in office, the one-term governor signed and supported bills that loosened gun control. Strickland said he’s since reversed his stance when 20 children where slaughtered with an assault rifle at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012.
During a press conference earlier this month, Sittenfeld aired an Ohio Public Radio interview in which Strickland contradicts his timeline, instead saying two years after the shooting that he still opposed a ban on assault weapons.
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @DougLivingstonABJ.