Wilson talks about upcoming role as state Senate Democratic caucus political chair

State Sen. Jason Wilson (D-Columbiana) accepted the position Tuesday of political chair for the Ohio Senate Democratic caucus.

Wilson was voted into the position of assistant minority leader for the caucus in the upcoming 128th General Assembly last week. State Sen. Capri Cafaro (D-Hubbard) will become the caucus minority leader in the new session. State Sen. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland) will retain her position as assistant minority leader, while current minority leader Ray Miller (D-Columbus) will take the minority whip position that is currently held by Cafaro.

Wilson said that his title as political chair is a non-statutory position, but said that it exists so the caucus can have a member organizing its campaign strategy.

"We're going to have a comprehensive plan and a strategy for the next election cycle," Wilson said.

Wilson said that in the upcoming election cycle, the caucus is going to have to deal with the realities of the district lines that they have, which have been drawn by a Republican-controlled legislative body.

"That is part of the strategy," Wilson said. "Just as the [Ohio] House did this past year - they were responding to change within Ohio for some issues. They were competitive in many seats that they hadn't been competitive before. They raised a substantial amount of money. And they had good candidates. They won more seats than the other team, and therefore there's a switch in power in the Ohio House."

Wilson said that the state Senate had not seen any changes in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, leaving the numbers at 12 Democrats to 21 Republicans.

"Our goal is to increase the number of seats we have," Wilson said.

As far as how to do that, Wilson said he is looking into candidate and campaign training.

"What we want to do is communicate to the area that the campaigns will be held in so that we recruit the best candidate," Wilson said. "Obviously, this is taking the best qualified, well-experienced - somebody who's certainly got a strong interest in serving their district - and then helping them get up to speed."

Wilson pointed to his own experience managing the campaigns of his father, U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-St. Clairsville), as a reason for his appointment to fill the state senate seat vacated by the elder Wilson when he was elected to U.S. Congress in the 2006 cycle.

"I think it gave some people the perspective that I knew how to keep a seat," Wilson said. "So once I got appointed, I had a comprehensive plan and strategy for my campaign victory. I'm going to use that for a template for what these folks are going to be using as we go forward."

Wilson was elected to a full four-year term in the 2008 cycle. He said that the caucus will help candidates train, get them up to speed and explain to them both where the caucus and Gov. Ted Strickland's administration stand on the issues and how those issues are important to their districts.

"Not every issue means the same in every district," Wilson said. "So we're going to have to modify and personalize to the district. A well-trained candidate, an informed candidate, a candidate who can raise the amount of money and can also actively campaign and do it properly is usually successful."

Wilson said the caucus' goal was to be competitive in every district.

"That's our goal - to have a solid candidate with good credentials, good background, good experience, who wants to represent the people of those respective districts," Wilson said. "I think we're going to try to be competitive across all 88 counties of Ohio. And we'll sort-of let the chips fall where they may as we go forward."

Wilson said the specifics of the position of political chair for the caucus were still being worked out, but the idea is similar to the federal model of having a sitting member who has been through tough campaigns and understands how to campaign.

"I think the Democratic caucus in the [state] Senate can be criticized fairly in saying they have not raised adequate amounts of resources for campaigns," Wilson said. "We're going to change that dramatically starting day one. We're going to have a fundraising strategy. We're going to have an issues strategy. We're going to have a legislative strategy. And then of course we're going to have a candidate recruitment and education strategy."

Wilson said that having a member who's been through these things, understands them and can communicate what the caucus is looking for and what the caucus needs in candidates, is what he hopes to
offer with his experience.

"I know what to look for, I like to think," Wilson said. "And now that we've seen some changes in Ohio - we've seen part of Ohio going blue - that's going to give us some indications of what to look for and what to talk about."