COLUMBUS, Ohio — The race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, just got a little more crowded. Former U.S. House candidate Morgan Harper announced her candidacy Wednesday.
Harper shared her story about growing up on the east side of Columbus after being given up for adoption as a baby.
Harper said having experienced that sort of vulnerability at a young age, she never wants another family to go through what she did.
“They’ve got a fighter and they’ve got a fighter that’s going to fight for them,” said Harper. “And that is the energy that we need to bring into Washington to deliver real change for our communities.”
Harper is a lawyer and community organizer who served during the Obama administration at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She ran for Congress last year as a progressive candidate, but lost in the primary to Congresswoman Joyce Beatty for her seat in Ohio’s 3rd District.
Beatty recently endorsed Congressman Tim Ryan for Senate.
“Endorsements are a political insider game and I am and definitely not that,” Harper said.
Since her loss, Harper co-founded Columbus Stand Up! an organization that has given out masks and driven people to the polls and their COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
“Just making sure that everyone in our community was able to stay safe and healthy and really demonstrate for folks what a community-based politics can look like and deliver,” said Harper. “So it’s been a very busy year.”
It is looking like it will be another tough year in 2022 for Harper.
She not only has to try and beat Ryan in the Democratic primary, who has already raised millions, but also one of five Republican candidates in the general election. Harper also said she will not take corporate PAC money.
“We can [win], and in fact, we have to do this because everything is on the line right now,” Harper said. “Climate, our democracy, woman’s right to choose and we need to have our people turn out so that we can protect for the next generation.”
Harper will hold a launch rally Saturday afternoon at the Statehouse.
In other news related to the Senate race, Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, officially decided not to run.
Sykes told Spectrum News she will not seek the democratic nomination. Sykes, who has represented the city of Akron in the Ohio House since 2014, had been exploring a run.
She said she “looks forward to helping Democrats win across the state in 2022.”
