Spotlight on U.S. Senate candidate Jennifer Brunner
With today’s announcement of the first big round of WCF endorsements for the new cycle, we’re pleased to focus on one candidate to offer a more in-depth look at her impressive background and why she’s decided to run for U.S. Senate. Look for similar profiles of other WCF endorsed candidates in the weeks to come.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (D) is running for U.S. Senate in the state of Ohio. Elected Ohio Secretary of State in 2006, Brunner is the first woman in the state’s history to serve in this capacity. She has since garnered national recognition for her efforts to make the state’s elections free, fair, open, and honest.
Brunner’s official announcement makes some great points:
Like most Ohioans, when I see problems, I look for solutions — solutions to meet our challenges so that we emerge stronger than ever. Too often we’ve seen the same-old campaign and same-old politicians return to Washington and fail to make the changes that will move us forward. We worked hard the past four years to elect new leaders that won’t ignore or belittle the problems we face in Ohio. That work must continue as we create new jobs that improve our communities by conserving energy, lowering health care costs and making our streets and highways safer.
Also, here’s an excerpt from the moving thoughts Jennifer posted herself on the Buckeye State Blog about why she’s running for office:
We must fix the damage that has been done to our economy. It is felt by everyone in Ohio and it can’t measured in some political poll — it’s felt by Ohioans losing their homes, losing their jobs, and facing the rising cost of health care. Now, more than ever, we need someone who will fight for everyone across the state and stand up to those in Washington who would rather bail out Wall Street CEOs than main street homeowners…. Washington doesn’t need another Senator who just shows up to vote. Ohio deserves a public servant in Washington who will generate ideas, show bold leadership and work with her colleagues to advance solutions. I am pleased with what we’ve done for Ohio so far; and I know I can do even more for our state in the United States Senate.
Jennifer quickly sends her message by not asking for the Democratic Party’s endorsement. Jen Nedeau, a blogger for Change.org’s Women’s Rights blog, noted that Brunner wants to move beyond party lines and instead ask for the support of all Ohioans.
Brunner is also a huge supporter of women’s issues. Take a moment to read the message in this article from The Advocate about why Jennifer is encouraging local women to get involved in her race.
According to studies, she said, family is the No. 1 reason women don’t run for office, followed by doubts about their qualifications and the fact they haven’t been specifically asked to run.
Jennifer suggested that women get started by joining political groups and working on other people’s campaigns.
We couldn’t agree more about the importance of women getting involved. We will be keeping a close eye on other great news coming out of the Brunner campaign in the weeks and months ahead.
Tags: brunner, Candidates, elections, endorsement, senate
This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 9:42 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:51 am
You make it sound as if Jennifer is running for the U S Senate, when in reality she is running in a democratic primary. A primary that will be extremely expensive. I admire Jennifer’s work as SOS but have chossen to sit this one out until after the primary.
April 6th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Anne — thanks for your post. You are absolutely right. There is a democratic primary and we plan to post more on the specifics of the race in the weeks ahead. We hope you will continue to follow Jennifer’s campaign throughout the primary season.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
The fact is the Jennifer Brunner IS running for the US Senate and we are so fortunate that she is. She would be the first women from Ohio to serve in the Senate in the two centuries of our nation. To do that, yes, one must run in a primary. It is an open seat as Senator Voinovich is vacating the position. So many people would be expected to run. Thank goodness Ohio has a person with the experience and track-record of Jennifer Brunner. Women must get into primary contests if we are ever going to increase our numbers. Primaries are the critical race for women because they are usually the fresh face since there are fewer women office holders. To progress, we women must take a stand and not fear competition. Thank you Jennifer for running.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Great blog post, Erin, so glad to see the blog rocking!
April 8th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Yes, but unfortunately the blog is rocking with spammers as well.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Oy, yeah we’re being inundated by spam! Will try to solve this ASAP. Any suggestions?
April 9th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Akismet, a standard WordPress plugin, catches most of that kind of spam (http://akismet.com/). Hopefully you will not have a troll invasion as well; that would probably force you to moderate your comments.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
[...] to ProgressOhio, candidate Jennifer Brunner’s campaign for U.S. Senate is off and running. She announced today that the campaign has [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
TheSooner The Brunner The better