Maintains congressional aspirations
In July, Marysville’s Leah Sellers announced she was running for congress.
At the time, Sellers said she was “proudly running as a Republican, a long-time Republican.”
Earlier this month, Sellers filed her paperwork to run for Ohio’s Fourth District seat the U.S. House of Representatives, except that she had filed as a Democrat.
An attorney, Sellers graduated from Marysville High School in 1991. She, along with her husband, Brian Bornino, and their two daughters live in Marysville.
Sellers said the move to the other side of the aisle is less about who she is and more about what she has seen from the Republican party since August.
First she said she was frustrated by President Donald Trump’s response to the attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia. In August, protests in Charlottesville turned violent as white supremacists clashed with counter-demonstrators. James Alex Fields Jr., of Ohio, has been charged with driving a car into the crowd of anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters, killing one and injuring dozens of others.
Trump quickly blamed both sides for the conflict, adding there were “some very bad people” and some “very fine people” among both the protesters and the counter protesters.
Sellers said at that point she felt Trump, as leader of both the country and the Republican party, “lost moral authority.”
“There is no goodness in white nationalism, no goodness in extreme racism,” Sellers said.
Then, she said, the Republican party’s support of U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of a variety of offenses of sexual misconduct. Moore admitted to dating teenagers while he was in his 30s, but denied that any were underage or that he had assaulted any of them. Trump endorsed Moore in the last week of the election as did Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican incumbent in Ohio’s Fourth District.
“The Republican Party endorsed him (Moore). The Republican party gave money to him. My opponent (Jordan) endorsed him,” Sellers said.
Finally, Sellers said, it was Jordan who convinced her she is a Democrat.
“If Jim Jordan is a Republican, then I am not a Republican,” Sellers said. “I am about as far away from Jim Jordan as I can be — in my demeanor, in my words.”
Sellers says she believes she isn’t the only one frustrated with the direction of the Republican party.
“I have been pleasantly surprised at the warm reception of the Democratic party,” Sellers said. “I have also been pleasantly surprised by the open mindedness and response of many Republicans.”
One of the U.S. House of Representatives’ most conservative members, Jordan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and became the representative for Union County in 2012 through the redistricting process.
The district includes all of Union, Champaign, Logan, Shelby, Auglaize, Allen, Crawford, Seneca and Sandusky counties as well as parts of Mercer, Marion, Huron, Erie and Lorain counties.
To get to the November general election against Jordan, Sellers will need to beat Janet Garrett, a retired Oberlin teacher; who is making her third try for Jordan’s job; former Cleveland City Council member Norbert Dennerll Jr. of Elyria; and Columbus-area software developer Cody James Slatzer-Rose, in the May 8 primary.
Sellers said that while she has means, she is trying to run her campaign as if she doesn’t. She said she wants to experience what it is like to try to run for office on a shoestring budget. She said it is both expensive and difficult to run for most offices, noting the cost, “takes your breath away.”
“That doesn’t seem right,” Sellers said. “Every single person, who is otherwise eligible, should have access to the ballot.”
Sellers calls herself, “an entrepreneur, attorney and community leader with a proven track record of collaborative achievement and relationship management in business, academia and government.”
She has said her ability to build relationships will help the district and the country if she is elected to office.
“Do we want people who divide us in Washington or do we want people who bring people together and lead by cooperation and collaboration?” Sellers asked.
Longtime friend and Democratic consultant Jonathan Puffenberger acknowledged there will be some who question Seller’s commitment to progressive ideals.
“It is going to come down to getting to know her and having an open mind,” Puffenberger said. “She will show people how hard she works and how dedicated she is to her ideals.”
That’s the point of her campaign, not political party, Sellers said.
“I hope people will support us, regardless of political affiliation,” she said.
Sellers served on Maryville City Council from 2005-2009. She also served as an assistant prosecutor in Delaware County before moving on to teach and practice law privately. In 2011 she went into business for herself, opening Sellers Law. She said she currently serve as a board member for, “impactful poverty law organizations that interface government agencies.”
She said that while her political career and this run for congress has been “a little messy,” she will continue to work to help people.