Sites
LIMA — Fresh off the campaign trail, Jeffrey Sites is returning to politics as the newly elected executive committee chairman of the Allen County Democratic Party in a bid to reinvigorate the party.
The former Fourth District Congressional candidate sees an opening for Democrats to appeal to their former supporters by talking education policy, particularly Ohio’s school voucher system championed by Senate President Matt Huffman.
“He’s all about the voucher system, which is killing the public school system,” Sites said of Huffman on Thursday. “We want to support the public school system. We want to go out and talk to them—the principals, the superintendents—to see what we can bring to bear to help the system and help the children in school.”
Sites, who described the local party today as “anemic,” has campaigned for the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan twice. He lost his most recent primary bid in May to Delaware County Democrat Tamie Wilson.
But Sites hopes that by refocusing the party’s attention on public schools and running more Democratic candidates for local office will eventually win over former supporters—a strategy he admits could take years to pull off.
Only 8% of registered voters in Allen County are registered as Democrats, according to the Allen County Board of Elections. 22% of Allen County voters are registered Republican, and 69% have no party affiliation.
“We want to reach back out to the community, grab those Democrats that were once part of the party and draw them back in and start rebuilding the party of the next several years,” Sites said. “It’s going to take a while, but we’re going to get there.”
