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Democrats Push Write-in Candidate Over Their Own in Ohio House Race

Party officials grow frustrated with 'impostor Democrat'

Janet Everhard, a write-in candidate for Ohio's 2nd District, has attracted support from local Democrats over the winner of the party's March primary. (Courtesy Write in Janet Everhard for Congress Facebook page)
Janet Everhard, a write-in candidate for Ohio's 2nd District, has attracted support from local Democrats over the winner of the party's March primary. (Courtesy Write in Janet Everhard for Congress Facebook page)

Some Democratic officials in Ohio’s 2nd District are pushing for a write-in candidate instead of the winner of the party’s March primary.

William Smith, a truck driver who lives with his mother, has won two out of the past three House Democratic primaries without campaigning, The Associated Press reported. And party officials have grown so frustrated that they’re getting behind the write-in campaign of Janet Everhard, a retired gynecologist and surgeon.

“The guy who won the primary hasn’t done anything and won’t do anything,” Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke told WVXU radio in Cincinnati. “We know that because he has done this before.”

[Roll Call Election Guide: Ratings for Every Race in the Country]

Burke and party officials in Clermont and Brown counties recently endorsed Everhard, who calls Smith an “impostor Democrat.” She said she met with Smith to encourage him to drop out and that they work together, but he said it should be the other way around.

Smith and Everhard are running against two-term Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who beat Smith 59-41 percent in 2012.

The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call rates the race Safe Republican.

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