ONUMBA.COM, USA – Democrat James Ragland campaigned fiercely to become the mayor of Columbus, but lost in his bid after finishing fourth in the hard fought primary race a couple of months ago, featuring three Democrats and one Republican. 
Two African-Americans – Ragland and Franklin University Business Professor Terry Boyd, were in the race, Boyd being the only Republican. The other candidates were City Council President Andrew Ginther and Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott, both Democrats, and both Whites.
After Ragland exited the race, despite all out support from former State Senator Ray Miller, who is a revered political solon in both the Black community and Columbus political scene, the contest was left without a Black candidate, since Boyd also lost.
That left Ginther and Scott to battle it out for a chance to replace Mayor Michael Coleman who is stepping down at the end of the year after a historic 16 years in office.
Not necessarily saying that the Black votes would have been automatically gobbled up by Ragland and Boyd because of their race, it is interesting to know who of the two remaining candidates in the race is better postured to gain the Black vote.
Ragland, who is visibly dangling his coveted endorsement as a way to goad the candidates to pay attention to Black issues, isn’t so sure both candidates deserve Black support now since in his view neither is really addressing Black issues.
“I have not endorsed either candidate because neither one of them has done anything to support the people that I represent,” he said. “Knowing the both of them the way that I do, both of them value the support of the black community.”
Ragland is right, and here is why.
African-Americans make up 30 percent of Columbus population, representing a sizeable portion of Columbus eligible voters that cannot be ignored.
Scott is certainly not ignoring it. Recently, he appointed Tracy Maxwell Heard, former Ohio House of Representatives Minority Leader, as his campaign manager, clearly signaling his intention to compete hard for the crucial Black vote.
But it won’t be easy. Ginther, who coasted to victory in the primary elections, has the backing of Coleman who is very popular in a city and has appeared in a barrage of political ads telling voters that he wants Ginther to be his replacement.
And Ginther, actually, was widely considered a shoo-in to take over the City Hall but that is somewhat in doubt now after it was reported that he was allegedly part of a bevy of Columbus elected officials that illegally received campaign funding through RedFlex, a company based in Arizona, that gained city contract to participate in the red-light camera program.
With Coleman backing Ginther, few initially realistically believe Scott had a modicum of chance to prevail in the race. But with the red-light camera scandal investigation not going away as the fog of the entire alleged shenanigan hovers over the City Council where the President Pro-Tem Michelle Mills recently resigned in connection with the burgeoning saga, it could end up being a fierce fight for the city’s top job.
And the difference could be the Black vote.
Ginther is of course pleased he has secured Coleman’s support, which is big, but he also knows that the ongoing investigation into the red-light camera scandal has not been a positive development for his campaign.
Both candidates are now going after the Black votes. Ginther, with his superior war chest, is now bombarding the television airwaves with ads showing Scott in his Sheriff getup with the words “Abuse and Misconduct.” There, Ginther was clearly exploiting the current outrage over police brutality against the Black community after several incidents involving cops that ended with the death of a number of unarmed Black men.
It was clearly meant to win over Black voters, but it could backfire.
Candidate for the president of the Columbus chapter of the NAACP Nana Watson is definitely not impressed with the ad, saying it was “in poor taste,” adding, “It really was an indictment of the former sheriff Jim Karnes, a deceased man,” she said.
Heard agreed, firing back at Ginther’s campaign for engaging in what she decried as “exploiting a very challenging issue for political gain.”
Heard accused Ginther of “bringing up stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with the sheriff,” adding, “People aren’t going to forget that.”
As Heard noted, people may remember that, but the big question is whether people will go out and vote. In the primary elections, only a pittance of 10 percent of eligible voters actually voted.
