Dark Money Infiltrated Ohio’s Special Election
By Ellen Greene Bush, American Promise Ohio Volunteer
Big and dark money has brought its dominating, distorting influence to Ohio’s recent special election for the Congressional seat vacated by Marcia Fudge. Politico reports that Ohio’s 11th Congressional District race probably will be the most expensive of any special election for Congress in 2021. The 11th District, which is severely gerrymandered with a Black majority, includes parts of Cleveland and Akron.
In the 11th Congressional District Democratic primary, candidates and donors spent several millions on advertising for and against the frontrunners Nina Turner and eventual winner Shontel Brown. In this election, out-of-state donations included money from high-profile politicians. The other troublesome fact about this election is the amount of money that came from dark money groups, which have their own concealed agendas for favoring or opposing certain candidates.
This escalating amount of money in elections is troublesome for many reasons. The candidate who spends the most money is likely to win. This means donors from outside the state can exert influence on Ohio elections. Big money is often used to pay for misleading ads, shifting public discourse away from real policy and instead toward a focus on lies and disinformation. And this system forces candidates to spend an inordinate amount of time courting large donors rather than meeting with ordinary citizens.
The people of the district are capable of evaluating the candidates without the noise of outside influences. As Seth Richardson points out in this article, people are concerned about “jobs, income inequality, access to health care and fixing roads and bridges.” This campaign demonstrates the problems with excessive and secret money in elections. The needs of ordinary citizens are overshadowed by national players and their negative messages.
During the campaign, the two frontrunners expressed their support for a constitutional amendment to get big and dark money out of elections and policy decisions. American Promise volunteers — in Ohio and beyond — are working to grow support for this amendment and advance it through local and state resolutions. American Promise Ohio hopes the new congressional representative, whomever wins the general election, will help pass the American Promise constitutional amendment in Congress and send the amendment to Ohio for ratification.
But in the meantime, candidates at the local, state, and national level play the money game to win.
