Celebrating 2 Million Calls and Texts to Voters—and Building Power for the Future
1225 N. Hamilton Road #194 Gahanna, OH 43230
Contact: Erin Scott, 614-832-4375 or erin@ohiowomensalliance.org
COLUMBUS, OH—As the presidential vote-counting continues, Black women in Ohio are celebrating record turnout and looking to the future. “Progressive organizations led by women of color flourished in 2020,” said Rhiannon Childs, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Ohio Women’s Alliance Action Fund (OWA Action Fund). “We made nearly two million calls and texts to women across Ohio, and built lasting independent political power for the future.” OWA Action Fund focused on reaching voters in state legislative and congressional districts with the highest population of non-white voters, most notably House District 28 where state Rep. Jessica Miranda won her Cincinnati-area seat by a mere 56 votes in 2018. This year, she won by 2,297 votes.
Based on precinct-level voter turnout data, Ohio’s Black voter turnout was higher than national trends, and exit polls show Black women and young people in Ohio overwhelmingly voted for Biden, while white women once again backed Trump. National media has focused on white suburban women, but Co-Founder Erin Scott said all women must unite to build lasting power. “This is a long-term fight in Ohio and it’s absolutely going to take white women to get there, but Black women are the backbone of democracy and we must prioritize their vision to win back Ohio.”
In Georgia, where political donors have heavily invested in Stacey Abram’s Fair Fight coalition, democratic gains have transformed the state into a true battleground to determine the presidency. Petee Talley of Black Ohio Leaders for Democracy (BOLD) has run voter contact programs in communities of color for decades, but teamed up this cycle with the Ohio Women’s Alliance Action Fund to expand BOLD’s voter contact reach “Our goal this cycle was to fill a gap in how we talk with Black voters in Ohio,” said Ms. Talley. “In the midst of a deadly pandemic, we needed to step forward and reach more Black voters. Our mission in the midst of the anti-racism protests was to turn our protest to the polls, because Black Votes Matter too.”
Ms. Childs notes that real change in Ohio takes investment in the visions of women of color and young people. “Our work doesn’t stop with an election. We will fight to protect the right to safe and legal abortion in Ohio. Our coalition of young folks and people of color is also focused on re-imagining community safety practices to help the needs of Black and Brown folks. And we’re exploring opening community food cooperatives to end food deserts while also engaging even more people of color in democracy.”