{"id":8278,"date":"2022-11-21T10:20:41","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T15:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=8278"},"modified":"2022-11-28T22:14:40","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T03:14:40","slug":"victory-in-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2022\/11\/victory-in-ohio\/","title":{"rendered":"Victory in Ohio?"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>he Teamsters claimed a major victory<\/a> in the Ohio Governor\u2019s race with the reelection of Governor Mike DeWine, a conservative Republican, during the recent midterm elections. Its celebration on the union\u2019s social media channels should raise concerns among labor reformers and socialists, who\u2019ve been looking for a new direction from the Teamsters after the disastrous Hoffa years.<\/p>\n

\"Ohio
Ohio Teamsters celebrate<\/a> the re-election of Republican Governor Mike DeWine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>DeWine had wide support from the Republican establishment, and was also endorsed by former President Donald Trump<\/a>, despite their past differences. While DeWine did receive the endorsement of a couple state-wide buildings trade unions, along with the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police<\/a> and the Trump-supporting National Border Patrol Counci<\/a>l (the union for federal Border Patrol Agents), it\u2019s rare that a major conservative politician, such as DeWine, is endorsed by the Teamsters.<\/p>\n

So Why Mike?<\/h4>\n

The Teamsters endorsed Governor Mike DeWine largely because of his opposition to Ohio adopting Right-to-Work (RtW) legislation. Battles over RtW have periodically broken out in the upper Midwest since the early part of the last decade, when the Republicans gained control of state governments throughout the region and passed anti-union laws. RtW laws are particularly damaging<\/a> to public sector unions but also to private sector unions. But, they have proved to be politically unpopular.<\/p>\n

In November 2011, according<\/a> to the New York Times:<\/p>\n

“A year after Republicans swept legislatures across the country, voters in Ohio delivered their verdict Tuesday on a centerpiece of the conservative legislative agenda, striking down a law that restricted public workers\u2019 rights to bargain collectively.<\/p>\n

The landslide vote to repeal the bill \u2014 62 percent to 38 percent, according to preliminary results from Ohio\u2019s secretary of state \u2014 was a slap to Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican who had championed the law as a tool for cities to cut costs. The bill passed in March on a wave of enthusiasm among Republicans fresh from victories.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since the public rebuke of\u00a0 RtW most Ohio Republicans have largely avoided the issue since it proved to be so unpopular. In 2018, when DeWine was running for the first time for governor he was asked about signing RtW legislation if he was elected, he didn\u2019t give a straight answer<\/a>. Efforts by Republican legislators to add anti-union amendments to Ohio\u2019s state constitution in 2018 also failed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DeWine is the last person to rely on to stop any future RtW legislation. He has pursued an aggressive pro-business agenda, including mass tax subsidies to corporations and cutting taxes<\/a> for the rich. DeWine welcomed the Teamsters endorsement. \u201cWe are grateful to the Ohio Conference of Teamsters (OCT) for their endorsement,\u201d DeWine tweeted, “and look forward to our continued partnership.\u201d What the nature of the \u201cpartnership\u201d is would be interesting to discover.<\/p>\n

OCT President Patrick J. Darrow also\u00a0 enthused<\/a> about DeWine:<\/p>\n

“Governor DeWine and Lt. Governor Husted have earned the endorsement of the Ohio Conference of Teamsters with their ability to effectively communicate, and execute their vision of Ohio that protects and grows opportunities for Ohio\u2019s working families.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Darrow\u2019s rosy endorsement of DeWine doesn\u2019t match the reality for many of Ohio\u2019s working families, where one recent study<\/a> described it as a \u201clegacy state\u201d:<\/p>\n

“Many people are already familiar with the idea of a legacy city, places that came to prominence in the early-to-mid 1900s around a manufacturing economy but experienced significant population and manufacturing industry losses in the mid-to-late twentieth century. Ohio is rife with places like this, containing 22 legacy cities surrounded by 15 legacy metros. Cities such as Akron, Toledo, and Dayton exemplify this concept.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ohio is devolving into \u201ctwo states\u201d with one booming region around the state capitol of Columbus and the rest of the state. What this means according<\/a> to The Greater Ohio Policy Center is that:<\/p>\n

“Ohio\u2019s legacy cities are no longer experiencing precipitous population declines but may still be seeing only marginal population change, be it slow declines, slight growth or remaining steady. These dynamics go hand-in-hand with an aging population and decreased economic vitality. Despite this history, legacy cities today are still home to a significant concentration of jobs, residents, and anchor institutions that positively impact the state\u2019s economy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DeWine’s social conservatism is also notorious, especially when it comes to abortion rights. He signed into law Ohio\u2019s notorious \u201cHeartbeat Bill\u201d that bans abortion once as heartbeat is detected with no exceptions for rape or incest.\u00a0 Abortion rights advocates have rightly called it a \u201cforced pregnancy\u201d<\/a> law. Though the law was recently put on hold<\/a>, why would the Teamsters support such a regressive attack on a woman\u2019s right to control her body? What does that say about the Ohio Teamsters?<\/p>\n

\"A
Teamster endorsed-Governor DeWine tweets his gratitude<\/a> for the support of President Trump.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Teamsters endorsement of DeWine gives a stamp of approval on the Republican control of state politics. Ohio was once but no longer considered a swing state<\/a> in presidential elections. DeWine\u2019s endorsement of the odious newly elected Senator J.D. Vance, who is as close to being fascist<\/a> as you can possibly be in mainstream politics, helped legitimize and propel him to victory.<\/p>\n

The Teamsters endorsed former Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan for the U.S. Senate, who was easily beaten<\/a> by Vance,\u00a0 who in-turn was also endorsed by Trump<\/a>. Vance will now have a national platform to spew his racist filth from the U.S. Senate floor, along with his regular appearances<\/a> on the popular Tucker Carlson show.<\/p>\n

The Ryan alternative?<\/h4>\n

Yet, the alternative is not the likes of Tim Ryan. Ohio\u2019s trade unions, including the Teamsters, overwhelmingly supported Democrat Ryan, a ten term congressman with a long pro-union record, against J.D. Vance. Ryan began his post-college political career working in the office of Ohio’s former notorious Congressman, the late James Traficant<\/a>\u2014a Mahoning county Sheriff turned\u00a0 populist demagogue<\/a>. Traficant was expelled from Congress in 2002, and Ryan succeeded him in office.<\/p>\n

Ryan ran a campaign using largely the same tropes as Vance. His most notorious ad\u00a0 \u201cOne Word\u201d<\/a> was so offensive that many Asian-American Democrats in Congress asked him to take it down. With Ryan wearing a \u201cworkers first\u201d t-shirt, he declared over and over again, \u201cChina\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s us versus them,\u201d in front of approving audiences in union halls. Roll Call reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ad, part of a $3.3 million campaign running across the state, attracted immediate backlash from Democratic groups promoting Asian American issues. New York Rep. Grace Meng<\/a>, the vice chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, called on Ryan to stop airing it<\/a>. Shekar Narasimhan, the chairman of AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC that supports Asian American and Pacific Islander candidates, likened it to tactics inciting \u201chate\u201d and \u201cfear\u201d used by Republicans emulating former President Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRep. Tim Ryan<\/a>\u2019s ad for his Ohio Senate campaign stirs up a racist pedagogy vis-a-vis China and makes Americans of East Asian descent vulnerable to attacks,\u201d Narasimhan said in a statement posted on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ryan refused to take the ad down. He tried some other tactics used by the Trumpian right by attacking Vance as a San Francisco tech mogul<\/a> out of touch with real Americans. Ryan boasted<\/a>, \u201cI voted with Trump on trade, \u201d and for funding more police. He also dismissed issues like abortion, transgender right, and racism as \u201cculture wars\u201d with his \u201cBullseye\u201d<\/a> ad. \u201cYou want culture wars?\u201d he asks in one TV ad, while throwing darts in a bar. \u201cI\u2019m not your guy. You want a fighter for Ohio? I\u2019m all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expectations were running high for Tim Ryan. Ryan was the subject of an enthusiastic profile in The New Republic<\/a> in mid-August,\u00a0 \u201cTim Ryan: Right Man, Right Place, Right Time.\u201d He was a model for winning back union voters to the Democrats. Author Alec MacGillis, in a guest column in the New York Times<\/a>, called \u201cTim Ryan Is Winning the War for the Soul of the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Ryan spoke favorably<\/a> about Trump\u2019s policies on many occasions. So no wonder Ryan lost to Vance. When the choice is one the poisonous choice version of xenophobia or another. Should we be surprised that people chose the first party of bigotry?<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

For decades the right has dominated the political debate in the United States, especially around issues of trade, immigration, and jobs and their impact on older working class communities. In this way, the mythical electoral political center has continued to move to the right. From Trump to DeWine to Vance to Ryan, they represent a spectrum of agreement on these issues, especially anti-Chinese xenophobia<\/a>, that the Teamsters have been historically<\/a> identified with.<\/p>\n

If all of this appears confusing and head spinning, that\u2019s because it is. It\u2019s hard to see any kind victory for the Teamsters or working class people in this mess. And while the Democrats were able to hold off a major Republican electoral wave earlier this month, the Teamsters support for DeWine and labor\u2019s support for Ryan\u2019s xenophobic campaign are not only a dead end, but serves to legitimizes far right politics among U.S. workers.<\/p>\n

If the new Teamster leadership is actually going in a new direction, as O\u2019Brien and his slate widely promised<\/a> during the union elections, the type of cynical right-wing electoral strategy should be wholly left behind.<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit:\u00a0Image by Ohio Teamsters conference<\/a>; modified by Tempest.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Allen<\/strong> analyzes the Ohio Teamsters’ electoral strategy in Ohio and its endorsement of the right-wing Republican, incumbent Governor, Mike DeWine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[45,252,91],"class_list":["post-8278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-elections","tag-labor-strategy","tag-teamsters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2-12.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}