Let’s 👏 Kick 👏 It 👏 Off👏

We’re starting the #PeopleFirst Bus Tour — I’m Claire, the Ohio Dems’ Deputy Digital Director and your tour guide for all sorts of behind-the-scenes content as we travel all over the Buckeye State to talk about our Blueprint for Ohio.

🎶 Look at this bus, isn’t it neat? 🎶

This morning, I stuffed my backpack with a tripod, a box of granola bars, a set of lenses to attach to my iPhone camera and as much Diet Coke as I could carry and loaded up on the Ohio Dems’ #PeopleFirst Bus to prepare to spend the next 35 days on the road.

Bus tours make me jump for joy!

Today, we kicked the whole darn thing off, starting with a rally outside the Statehouse where we heard from our incredible statewide slate — Rich Cordray, Betty Sutton, Steve Dettelbach, Zack Space, Kathleen Clyde and Rob Richardson.

Squad goals, amirite????

That’s me — if you’re following along this whole time, you’re gonna see A LOT of selfies.

I’m the woman behind the camera of all our Facebook Live videos — you can watch the entire live stream of our kick-off rally below!

Our first stop of the entire bus tour was in beautiful downtown Delaware — but first, we swung by Clintonville to pick up Danny O’Connor, our candidate in Congressional District 12. We got a few minutes to catch up with him about his race and why he’s so committed to fighting for health care.

In Delaware, we held our first press conference and heard from so many awesome candidates — Danny O’Connor for OH-12, Louise Valentine for SD19, Cory Hoffman for HD67, Kathleen Tate for HD68, Aileen Wagner for Delaware County Commissioner and Indu Rajan for Delaware County Auditor.

To wrap up our first day, we ended at a rally in Mansfield and were joined by Ken Harbaugh for OH-7 and Rob Richardson for Ohio Treasurer.

As a veteran, Ken Harbaugh says that he’s seen firsthand how Americans step up during times of crisis — this election is no different.

Super cool fact about Rob Richardson — he’s a member of the Laborer’s International Union and carries his union card with him everywhere he goes.

That’s a wrap on the first day of our bus tour —make sure you’re following along on Twitter, Facebook and (especially) Instagram so you don’t miss a second of this super exciting bus tour!

There are so many more places to visit, candidates to meet and things to do before Election Day on Nov. 6 — and if you see me on the trail, make sure you say hi!

-Claire from the Bus