Three Columbus City Council Democrats defeated their Republican challengers yesterday.
Democrats Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, Kevin Boyce and Mary Jo Hudson will begin their new four-year terms in January.
Republican challengers Eddie Pauline, Alisia Clark and Phil Harmon wonder what their political futures hold.
Meanwhile, longtime Democratic Auditor Hugh Dorrian swept over Republican challenger Lynn Sautter, maintaining his party’s lock on City Hall.
The victory marks O’Shaughnessy’s third, Boyce’s second and Hudson’s first. Hudson was appointed to the council in September 2004 to replace Richard W. Sensenbrenner.
“It will probably hit me in a couple of days,” Hudson said. “This has been a long 14 months.”
The three claimed victory well before 10 p.m. to supporters who packed a meeting room Downtown at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
With his smiling 6-year-old son, Christopher, at his side, Boyce said the three worked hard as a team and that they will continue to do so with a tight city budget ahead.
Though their victories mean a continuation of the status quo — it also marked a first: Hudson is the first openly gay person to be elected to the council, a distinction she did not bring up on the campaign trail.
“I know a lot of you have waited a long time for this and I’m happy we could get here,” Hudson said to a small group of supporters and family.
Republicans, hamstrung by a dearth of campaign cash and the TV ads it buys, tried to stir the pot by focusing on one-party rule at City Hall.
It didn’t work.
No Republican has served on the council since Jennette Bradley left to become Gov. Bob Taft’s lieutenant governor in January 2003.
Pauline, 26, the former president of Ohio State University’s Undergraduate Student Government, said it’s hard to compete when Council President Matt Habash’s campaign contributed $18,000 each to Boyce’s and Hudson’s campaigns. Now that the election’s over, Pauline said he’s thinking about pursuing a ballot initiative to create a ward system. Phil Harmon, the community activist and Republican who was not endorsed by party leaders, said he’d have to think hard about another run. “I think the Democratic machine in this city is strong,” Harmon said. “I don’t think the Republican base is there.”
At Broadleigh Elementary School on the city’s East Side, Michell Brown made it clear who her favorite was.
“Alisia Clark is my girl. She’s honest. She’s Christian,” said Brown, 40, who attends the same church as Clark.
But 51-year-old state employee Natalie Childs voted for Boyce, Hudson and O’Shaughnessy.
“I think they’re making a good-faith effort to make changes in the community,” Childs said.
It’s good to see Eddie Pauline defeated. He was a sleazy president of USG at OSU and would have been just as shady for the city of Columbus. Look at his tactics now: he wants to change the rules so he can win next time. What a sore loser, eh?