Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley has announced that she will be making a bid for Ohio governor in 2022. This will be her second bid for governor after a few hardening years in the Gem City.
“The people of Ohio deserve better. The same politicians have been in charge for 30 years as Ohioans have fallen further behind. It’s time for a change,” said Whaley in a prepared statement. “We deserve an Ohio where one job is enough to provide for your family.”
The move comes just a few months after Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law back in January.
Whaley and DeWine were both in attendance at a memorial for the shooting at The Historic Oregon District in downtown Dayton, and their relationship since then has gone back and forth throughout time.
Shortly after the shooting, the two worked on the STRONG Ohio bill which featured more thorough background checks, help to those in crisis, new state background checks, and greater penalties for gun crimes. Ultimately the bill didn’t pass through the GOP-controlled General Assembly.
Though with the passing of the “Stand Your Ground,” which DeWine initially claimed he would veto, it seems like fuel for Whaley’s gubernatorial run, as she has worked on gun laws since the Oregon District shooting.
In a statement after the bill’s passing Whaley expressed her frustration.
“I can’t express my level of disappointment,” wrote Whaley. “Gov. DeWine came to our city and stood on stage for a vigil for our murdered friends and neighbors, and then told us he stood with our community in our fight against gun violence. Now it seems he does not.”
Whaley, who was born in 1976, the same year DeWine took political office as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Greene County, Ohio, criticized DeWine’s life-long career as a politician.
“You have a whole system up there, for three decades,” said Whaley in a Facebook post, “that has been more interested in what self-interested lobbyists and people with a lot of money have to say and not what’s going on in Ohio.”
Whaley, a native of Mooresville, Ind. has been a long-time Dayton resident after she attended the University of Dayton and earned a degree in chemistry. Whaley also has a Masters in Public Administration from White State University where she also served as an Adjunct Professor.
Whaley served as one of the youngest women ever chosen for a commission seat back in 2005 when she was first elected to the Dayton City Commission.
Whaley was first elected to be Mayor back in 2013 when she won by 56% of the vote. She went uncontested in her second race, that being the first uncontested mayoral race in the city’s history since residents elected the position separately.
A four-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention, Whaley has also served as a presidential elector and worked for John Kerry’s campaign for president.
Of possible primary rivals, perhaps Whaley’s biggest hurdle may be Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, who though hasn’t announced his run, has already raised $500,000 in preparation for a gubernatorial run.
Richard Foltz
Associate Editor