Voting is lit: Ohio’s Sherrod Brown & control of the US Senate

In the the 14th episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” we talk about Ohio, a Rust Belt Midwestern state with 17 electoral votes that Donald Trump won comfortably in both 2016 and 2020 — each time by about 8%.

Ohio is important this year because it might help decide control of the US Senate next year. Three-term Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is up for reelection, and faces Bernie Moreno, a businessman who made his money owning car dealerships and now a blockchain technology company.

Moreno once described his opposition to abortion rights as absolute — allowing for no exceptions — a position he has modified in this election contest to carve out rape, incest, and the life of the mother. Last year, he contributed $100,000 to the effort to defeat Ohio’s successful abortion rights referendum.

Even though Moreno has talked openly about his gay son, during this year’s campaign he has accused LGBTQ advocates of a “radical agenda of indoctrination.”

I had hoped to speak to Equality Ohio, that state’s LGBTQ civil rights group, about this year’s election, but multiple efforts to enlist their participation have fallen short.

It’s timely and important, however, to bring you my interview with Raymond Greene, Jr., the executive director of The Freedom BLOC, the Black Led Organizing Collaborative, a group out of Akron that works to build power among black and other marginalized communities in order to create progressive change across Ohio.

Ray talks about his group’s goals and approach to registering voters, particularly in communities with histories of low voter participation, and he discusses key issues and ballot questions that are driving enthusiasm in Ohio this year.

Those include State Supreme Court elections and a ballot measure aimed at ending Republican gerrymandering. Both are seen as important in protecting hard won civil rights gains, including last year’s abortion victory and the recent legalization of recreational marijuana.

Ray also said that the reelection campaign of Sherrod Brown — whom polls have consistently shown holding about a five-point lead over Bernie Moreno — is generating strong voter interest.

I spoke to Ray the day after the Democratic Convention concluded, and he noted the surge in voter excitement about the Harris-Walz ticket, going so far as to predict that Kamala Harris could beat the odds and carry Ohio this year.

“Talk It OUT” is presented by Gay City News.

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.

(Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io.)