Ohio Second Congressional Democratic Primary Won by Mystery Candidate

The Ohio second Congressional District Republican upset was a surprise to us but it is nothing compared to the Democratic upset in the same district. The Democratic nomination was won by William R. Smith who raised no money and did not campaign. He would not be recognized by most Democrats and local party officials are scrambling to find out who he is and who paid for the robocalls that propelled him to victory. Not since Alvin Greene won the Democratic nomination for Senate in South Carolina !

“William Smith could knock on my front door and I would think he was some guy trying to sell me something,’’ said Dave Lane, the Democratic Party chairman in Clermont County, the second-largest county in the 2nd Congressional District. Smith is a mystery, too, to Tim Burke, the chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party. “Never met him, never seen him,’’ Burke said. “I would expect that if he is going to be a serious candidate, I will meet him at some point. But it hasn’t happened yet.”

Smith came out ahead of David Krikorian, who ran against Congresswoman Jean Schmidt as an independent in 2008, by a scant 59 votes out of slightly over 20,000 votes cast. Once the official count is done later this month, there may well be an automatic recount. Smith does not have a web site and when the press reached his home in Waverly by telephone it was told by his mother that he would not be back home until the end of the week and that she would pass on the message.

Voters in the second district received robocalls supposedly paid for by “Victory Ohio Super PAC”, an organization that is not registered with the Federal Election Commission and one no one has heard of. The robocall said:

William Smith has an opponent that describes himself as a Reagan conservative. William Smith’s opponent was already sanctioned by the Ohio Elections Commission for not telling the truth. Please don’t make a mistake and embarrass the party. Vote for William Smith, the real Democrat for Congress. This has been paid for by the Victory Ohio super PAC.

Yes, please don't embarrass the party.