18 Days to GOTV

Today we met up with Gov. Martin O’Malley and Sen. Doug Jones for a bunch of exciting stops in Northeast Ohio

It was an all-star day on the #PeopleFirst Bus. It kicked off with a visit to Akron with Gov. Martin O’Malley, who knows exactly how important this election is to not only Ohioans, but the entire nation.

Check out our conversation with him about the enthusiasm building in the Buckeye State.

At our first event in Akron, we pulled up to the bus to join candidates and elected officials, including Casey Weinstein (for State House in District 37), Adam VanHo (for State Senate in District 27), Tim Piatt (for State House in District 36), Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro and Rep. Emilia Sykes.

Casey, Adam and Tim caught up with Gov. O’Malley before the event.

Here’s some of Gov. O’Malley’s pep talk — ignore me taking photos in the front.

One attendee, Noah Spinner, brought his guitar for Gov. O’Malley to sign, and the governor did one better — he picked it up and started playing, and the room ended up having kind of a jam session! Mark this as one of the coolest moments of the bus tour so far.

We made a quick stop by the Board of Elections to talk to some of the awesome Democrats who were volunteering to stand outside and hand out Democratic slate cards to make sure voters know who our endorsed candidates are — especially the judges who don’t have party affiliation by their name.

It was Marie’s first time volunteering ever, so we promised her if she kept coming we would keep bringing governors.

Next stop, a press conference at Kent State University with Portage County Commissioner Vicki Kline, Randi Clites (candidate for State House in District 75), Mary Jane Trapp (candidate for Court of Appeals), Portage County Commissioner Mike Kerrigan, Portage County Auditor Brad Cromes, and Kent State College Dems President Maddie Newingham. This was an exciting moment to talk about how important it is to get out the vote, especially for students on campus.

Here’s Randi Clites sharing her incredibly emotional and personal story health care story.

We had a blast with Gov. O’Malley for the first half of the day before he headed off to lend his support to Zack Space. We took the #PeopleFirst Bus to a canvass launch in Canton with another exciting guest— Sen. Doug Jones.

Sen. Jones gave a rousing call to go out and have conversations with your neighbors to turn out the vote this year. He was joined by a number of area candidates, including Lauren Friedman (for State Senate in District 29), Judge Michael Donnelly (for State Supreme Court), Ken Harbaugh (for Congress in OH-7), Adam VanHo (for State Senate in District 27) and Lorraine Wilburn (for State House in District 48) before the room cleared out as people headed off to knock doors.

Lauren joined us on the bus as we made a quick sight-seeing stop at the National Football Hall of Fame in Canton!

Say hi to our bus driver Alex in the background!

For our final stop, we joined Ken Harbaugh outside his opponent’s office in downtown Canton where he shared his personal health care story and then invited two others to share their own emotional experiences about how important it is for their families to be able to access health care.

Everywhere we go, we hear the same thing — health care is on the ballot. We’re lucky that candidates like Ken are standing up for affordable and accessible health care to make life easier for the Ohio families that depend on it.

Check out the live stream to the press conference below.

18 days to go!

-Claire from the Bus