If you couldn’t attend our March meeting, you missed a great presentation from Kathleen McGorray and Laura Pulliam of the Cleveland chapter of Moms Demand Action as they discussed their organization, their mission and the steps they are taking to help advance gun safety legislation. At the moment, there are a number of bills in committee—where they are likely to stay without constituent pressure or a change in the composition of the legislature.

Among the bills are:

• HB417, the Enact the Keeping Our Survivors Safe Act, which prohibits a person charged with or convicted of first-degree misdemeanor domestic violence from owning a firearm.
• HB418, the “Common-sense Conceal Carry Law” which would repeal permit less concealed carry law, restores duty ti notify police of concealed handgun during a traffic stop,
• HB419, the Enact the Universal Background Check Act (co-sponsored by State Rep. Phil Robinson) would require background checks for all sales and transfers of firearms, closes the unlicensed dealer “gun show loophole”;
• HB420, the Enact the Building Safer Communities for Ohio’s Children Act, which would declare gun violence a public health crisis and establish an Office of Firearm Violence Prevention within the Ohio Department of Children and Youth; and
• HB421, which would establish the Ohio Task Force on Gun Violence

Interested in tracking any or all of these bills? Create an account on the Ohio General Assembly website and you’ll receive updates as they occur. To learn more about the co-sponsors of these bills, or contact their committee chairs, please visit the Ohio House of Representatives website.

The 2024 Democratic slate is now set. Tuesday night’s results cleared the field and resulted in a unified ticket for November. Overall, while there were many races where only one Democrat qualified for the ballot, several competitive campaigns made for a spirited election season. Here are the winners of those races:

Katie O’Neill emerged with 56% of the vote against Oakwood Councilman Chris Callender in the race for State Senate. O’Neill will face off against MAGA favorite Jerry Cirino in the fall. Cirino’s aggressive anti-women and anti-public education stances make him vulnerable in a largely swing District 18—which includes Pepper Pike, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Chagrin Falls and Bentleyville from our club area.

Lisa Forbes, a judge on the 8th District Court of Appeals will be seeking the only open seat on the Ohio Supreme Court this fall as she defeated Judge Terri Jamison in the primary with 63% of the vote statewide.

Carl Mazzone fought back a controversial challenge from Judge Nancy Russo, who attempted to switch seats to allow her to stay on the bench longer than ner current term allows. Mazzone, the endorsed candidate, secured 61% of the vote in decisive fashion. Mazzone is unopposed in the fall and will begin his term on January, 6, 2025.

In a race where no candidate was endorsed, and one of the three, Mollie Ann Murphy, was included in a mailing suggesting that she was endorsed by the Democratic party, Murphy, with 36.74%, snuck past Fallon Marie Radigan (33.41%) and Ray Tarasuck (29.85%). Radigan and Tarasuck were monthly attendees at our club meetings. Murphy has not appeared before our club to date.

In the three-way primary for the Court of Common Pleas general division (12/31/2026), Democratic Party endorsed candidate Kira Krivosh earned 52% of the vote over Fallon Kilbane McNally (26.77%) and Jennifer McTernan (21.22%). Krivosh and McTernan were monthly guests at our club meetings. Kilbane McNally never attended a single club meeting.

Longtime Juvenile Court Judge Alison Nelson Floyd handily defeated her opponent, Joseph O’Malley 69.22% to 30.78%

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley defeated Matthew Ahn 59% to 40.60%. O’Malley will have an opponent this fall, although the Cuyahoga GOP had to fall back on running a write-in candidate as no one filed petitions in the race.

U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance isn’t the only Ohio Republican comparing abortion to slavery. Ohio Supreme Court Justice Patrick Fischer was caught on tape saying the same thing to a room of supporters two weeks ago. Fischer is running against Democratic-endorsed candidate Terri Jamison this fall. 

Continuing the trend of justices making fools of themselves, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito took some time away from yelling at kids to get off his lawn to travel to Rome and try his hand (poorly) at stand-up comedy. 

Finally, back home, Governor Mike DeWine continued his life’s work of eroding the health care choices of Ohio women when he announced he intended to reappoint the president of Ohio Right to Life to the state medical board.