Obergefell Runs For Ohio Office
August 3, 2022Jim Obergefell, whose landmark US Supreme Court case legalized same-sex marriage, is hoping he and fellow Democrats can make gains in Ohio this year with a message grounded in equality.
“It really just all comes down to: can’t we all just get along and treat each other like human beings? Can’t we be decent people?” the celebrity plaintiff-turned-Ohio House candidate told the Democratic Women of Erie County on a recent summer evening. “And we all deserve to be part of ‘We the People.’”
According to the Washington Post, Obergefell won in his unopposed primary Tuesday representing Ohio’s Lake Erie coast through Ottawa and Erie counties. He’s now looking toward a November faceoff against second-term Republican Representative D.J. Swearingen, a Sandusky attorney who has focused his campaign on “kitchen table” issues.
Obergefell has moved from activism into running for political office at a sensitive time for the LGBTQ+ rights movement. In June, the Supreme Court repealed the constitutional right to abortion, raising fears that other rights may also disappear, including same-sex marriage.
The US House overwhelmingly voted last month to approve legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriages. The legislation is being considered in the Senate.
Obergefell was among the most visible figures in the marriage equality movement. He and his partner, John Arthur, flew to Maryland and were wed in a plane on the tarmac because the couple couldn’t do so legally in Ohio. Arthur died a few months later, and Obergefell’s fight to be listed as spouse on the death certificate led to his role in the landmark 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
Obergefell is the best-known state legislative candidate on Ohio’s 2022 ballot and among its top legislative fundraisers so far, having outraised Swearingen more than 4 to 1, according to campaign finance reports. Partly because his popularity as a civil rights icon has drawn support from a host of deep-pocketed national progressive groups – including the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the Human Rights Campaign and Democracy for America – as well as in-state donors.
Obergefell said he believes his party can reach moderate Republicans and independents with their message of inclusiveness if voters “see the Democratic Party being obvious, being clear, being direct on what they believe in and what they will fight to protect and support.”
Swearingen said district voters he’s spoken to are not focused on social issues, but on pocketbook ones. “What I continue to hear from people is gas, groceries, feeding their families – very kitchen table issues that are very relevant and important to them. They’re immediately in front of them,” he said. “The social issues do not appear to be very high on the list.”
However, Darlene Walk, a Sandusky native and vice president of the Democratic Women of Erie County, said she plans to vote for Obergefell and is encouraging friends of all partisan persuasions to do the same. “We’re ready for a change, and you have to accept people as they are, where they are and what they do and what they stand for,” she said. “And he stands for progress.”
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