Democrats pack the house for annual Belmont County dinner
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The 66th annual Belmont County Democratic Party dinner was held Thursday evening at Undo's West.
The annual fundraising event featured Democratic Ohio attorney general candidate John Kulewicz, who spoke to a packed house.
Kulewicz is running against Republican Keith Faber in the November election. Faber currently serves as Ohio auditor.
Kulewicz was introduced by former Ohio Sen. Lou Gentile, who said he believes Kulewicz is the most qualified candidate on the ballot, regardless of political party or office.
Kulewicz received a bachelor’s degree in American history from The Ohio State University and a law degree from Yale Law School. He has worked as an attorney with the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP for the past 44 years.
On Thursday, he spoke about his positions and why he believes he is the best candidate for the job.
"The main thing that I want to do as attorney general is to make the economy of Ohio work better for everybody," Kulewicz said. "We need an attorney general who’s going to make it a priority again to fight consumer fraud, wage theft, monopoly pricing, high electric rates, elder abuse, and all things like that, that are costing us money."
He added that the attorney general needs to be someone who helps make Ohio a better place.
Kulewicz is no stranger to Belmont County. He is from Martins Ferry but grew up in Columbus.
"I have always loved Martins Ferry," Kulewicz said.
He added that he is running for attorney general to restore honor to Ohio and the prosperity of its residents.
"After almost 36 years of nearly uninterrupted one-party rule, we have had the worst political corruption and bribery scandal in the entire history of the state of Ohio, and even in the entire history of the nation," Kulewicz said.
Kulewicz was referring to the FirstEnergy bribery scandal.
He also pointed to Ohio’s economic performance. A 2024 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that Ohio’s GDP grew by about half a percent from the fourth quarter of 2021 through the third quarter of 2023, ranking 45th among the states during that period.
"Our median income in Ohio has fallen to 88 percent of the national median, which means that from coast to coast, our fellow Americans are making more than we are making for doing exactly the same work," Kulewicz said. "The state government tells us that in the years ahead, nearly 700,000 more people are going to leave the state of Ohio. Our population will go down from 11.8 million to 11.1 million."
Kulewicz also discussed Ohio’s business climate.
" I was thrilled when I read it because it’s about time that we are number one again. But when I read the story, my heart sank because the reason that we are rated number one for new businesses is because our wages are low in the state of Ohio, our property is undervalued, and there are huge government slush funds to help businesses. That’s not the way that it should be," Kulewicz said.
Belmont County Democratic Party Chairman Phil Wallace then spoke about his enthusiasm for having two local Democratic candidates on the ballot.
Franklin Cecil Shaffer Jr. is the Democratic candidate for Belmont County commissioner against Republican Dominic DeFelice. The winner will replace Commissioner Jerry Echemann, who is retiring when his term expires at the end of the year.
Paul Cameron is the Democratic candidate for Ohio House District 95 and is running against incumbent Republican state Rep. Ty Moore.
"It means a great deal that we have candidates from the Democrat Party on the ballot this year, which we haven’t had for several years. We are very very happy about that," Wallace said. "And these people actually came to us and told us that they wanted to run for the offices they’re running for, which I couldn’t believe that people coming out of the woodwork to do that."
Wallace said more than 130 tickets were sold for Thursday’s fundraiser, which he described as a pleasant surprise.
"I’m ecstatic, let me tell you, I really wasn’t expecting a full house like this, but we’re happy and know that the Democrats are going to turn red to blue," Wallace said.