To Flip OHD-36, Rose Lounsbury Must Show Moderate Republicans The Evidence That Andrea White Is Too Radical

In only six of Ohio’s 99 House districts do Democratic challengers have a reasonable chance of flipping a Republican held district. To win Republican seats, Democratic candidates must make the case for change. I analyze their efforts as shown in their websites later in this series.

Ohio House District 36, which includes my city, Kettering, is one of the most competitive districts in the state. Republicans are favored only slightly — 51.47%. Republican Andrea White was first elected to the Ohio House in 2020 and then reelected in 2022.

Rose Lounsbury, Democratic candidate to represent citizens in Ohio House District 36 in the Ohio House.

To flip this district, our Democratic candidate, Rose Lounsbury, has organized an impressive campaign engaging a lot of grassroots Democrats, including many youth. To win, the Lounsbury campaign will need to convince citizens who previously voted for Andrea White to change their votes.

The Lounsbury campaign, I feel, can win if it can get the message out that Andrea White, time and again, has voted for radical laws opposed by moderate Republican voters. These unpopular laws deal with:

Abortion
Guns
Vouchers For Religious Schools
Taxes

My goal is to write articles concerning these unpopular laws and good place to start is Senate Bill 214 — the “Constitutional Carry” bill. It is sad that a person with the caliber of Andrea White would get sucked into voting for such absurd legislation. This hard-right pro-gun bill is so outlandish that, not long ago, it would have been resoundingly rejected by almost every Ohio citizen.

Thanks to this “Constitutional Carry” law, now it is legal in Ohio for any non-felon, age 21, or older, to carry a concealed handgun anywhere — anywhere not expressly forbidden — with no training, no licensing required. Thanks to this law, people who are enraged by rude drivers in traffic now are permitted to keep their fully loaded hand guns in their cars, in easy reach, ready for quick action — just in case they are threatened or disrespected.

Before “Constitution Carry” became law, citizens were protected from gun violence by these provisions:

To transport a handgun by car, the gun had to be unloaded with “ammunition in a lock box or trunk.”
To carry a concealed weapon, a citizen was required to take hours of training to qualify for a concealed weapon license.
A business could prohibit employees from keeping guns in their cars in the parking lot owned by the business.
A person carrying a concealed gun was required promptly to inform an arresting police officer.

Andrea White and local representatives Phil Plummer and Tom Young abolished these common sense protections and voted for this awful legislation that was opposed by the Fraternal Order of Police.

Republican Andrea White was elected in 2020 and 2022 to represent OHD-36. Previously, she served as Clerk of Courts for Kettering

I would bet that Andrea White when she approved “Constitutional Carry” must have known that statistics show that states that have weakened their firearm permitting system have experienced an 11 percent increase in handgun homicide rates and a 13–15 percent increase in violent crime rates.

White evidently dismissed this statistical evidence. She also must have dismissed her better self. Let’s all bemoan the wretched state of the Republican Party. It has fallen so low. It stinks from head to toe and it has managed to corrupt and deceive individuals who are well meaning. I feel quite certain that traditional conservatives like Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan would never have supported crazy legislation like “Constitutional Carry.”

Andrea White could not have believed that Senate Bill 214 was a good law. White is too smart. Maybe Andrea was afraid that, if she opposed “Constitution Carry,” a pro-gun zealot would seek to oust her in the Republican primary.

Republicans push and push their radical right-wing agenda, but Ohio is one of the few states where citizens can push back. If it were up to this Republican Assembly, and Republicans like Andrea White, right now the “heartbeat bill” would be the law. We need a new grassroots movement that will do the work needed to inscribe sane gun laws.in the Ohio Constitution

I imagine there were Andrea White Republicans in the Oregon district at the 2019 mass shooting where nine people died and 27 were injured. The crowd shouted at our Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, to “DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING,” and for a time there was a lot of talk about “sensible gun laws.” Now, the powerful gun lobby in Ohio has gained a total victory.

Opinion polls showed that 88% of Ohioans support requiring training before granting someone the right to carry a concealed weapon. The Assembly members, including Andrea White, knew they were defying public opinion, but they charged ahead anyway and passed “Constitutional Carry” making no pretense of representing the views of the big majority of their constituents.

Dean Rieck, executive director of the pro-gun organization Buckeye Firearms made a perceptive comment: “I think the only poll that matters is elections. That’s the ultimate poll.”

Yes. Rieck has it right. Our system is so broken that special interests with their big money supporters are electing representatives far out of the mainstream, and, these representatives, time and again, pass laws that defy public opinion and are contrary to the public good.

In 2020, before Andrea was sworn in, the Republican controlled Assembly passed Ohio’s “stand your ground” law. The racists who murdered Ahmaud Arbery tried to use the “stand your ground” defense but were found guilty and Kyle Rittenhouse — the 18 year old who killed two — was found innocent by successfully using the “stand your ground” defense, even without the legislation to back it up.

With “stand your ground” and “Constitution Carry” it would seem the gun lobby in Ohio now has everything, everything, it ever wanted, with a cherry on top. But wait, the gun lobby wants a little more. State Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, introduced a bill a couple months ago that would exempt guns and ammunition from sales tax in Ohio.

Andrea White is a nice person who comes across as thoughtful and well meaning, but she votes in favor of every crazy Republican law. It is sad that a person with the caliber of Andrea White would get sucked into this vortex of right-wing triumphalism and not be as a voice of reason. But as Mike DeWine discovered, a “moderate” Republican, to get along with today’s radicalized Republican Party, must forsake his or her values and common sense.

Rose Lounsbury, I believe, can win this election if her campaign can deliver the message that Andrea White has voted for “Constitutional Carry” — and if the campaign can deliver the message of what this crazy law actually allows.

“Constitutional Carry” defies public opinion and endangers the common good. It is an insult to all of those citizens who in 2019 cried to their governor and elected representatives to DO SOMETHING. To Flip OHD-36, Rose Lounsbury Must Show Moderate Republicans The Evidence That Andrea White Is Too Radical. “Constitutional Carry” is reason enough for moderate Republicans who previously supported Andrea White to change their votes.