Meet the Valley's new political prodigy

With his stunning and convincing victory in the Youngstown mayoral race, the 34-year-old Jay Williams is the Mahoning Valley's latest Wunderkind.
Already on the list are U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th; and state Reps. John Boccieri of New Middletown, D-61st, and Charles Blasdel of East Liverpool, R-1st, who is running for a U.S. House seat next year.
Like Ryan in 2002, Williams pulled a political shocker by defeating a well-known and well-funded political veteran.
When Ryan won, he had a little more than a year's worth of political experience. It was a remarkable victory.
Williams was even more impressive.
Running as an independent, Williams won in his first political race, defeating Democrat Robert F. Hagan, a longtime state legislator, by more than 12 percentage points.
As I wrote last week, the race was Hagan's to lose, and that's exactly what he let happen.
The large margin of victory indicates Hagan probably lost the campaign weeks ago. But his actions in the last week of the campaign, particularly the day before the election, caused further damage to his candidacy.
Hagan called a press conference Monday to show off a chart that connected Williams to "right-wing Republican extremists."
One item on the chart was conjecture and inaccurate.
The chart also stated Williams gave money to the co-chairman of last year's Bush-Cheney Ohio campaign.
Upon questioning, Hagan said the person in question was Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican conservative running for governor next year.
When I asked how much money, Hagan told me to find out for myself. He and I already knew the answer was $25.
I called Hagan on that and he became irate, particularly when I mentioned that a $25 contribution means nothing. Hagan and his supporters said even if it was a nickel, it was still wrong for a Democrat to contribute to a Republican.
Apparently Hagan and his supporters, including a few hoping to land city jobs if the Democrat won the election, are out of touch with voters.
Yes, Youngstown is one of the most Democratic cities in Ohio. But if your last-minute campaign plan is to simply accuse your opponent of being a Democrat in extreme right-wing Republican clothing, you're desperate and grasping at straws.
After winning the Democratic primary, Hagan's strategy seemed to be primarily based on touting himself the Democratic candidate -- while repeating his catch-phrase of making Youngstown "clean, safe and united" -- and Williams, a registered Democrat, as a Republican.
While the point wasn't exciting or inspirational, I thought Hagan's party affiliation, name ID, political experience, ability to raise a lot of money, and skin color would enable him to win a close race.
But I also thought Ryan couldn't beat then-U.S. Rep. Thomas Sawyer in the 2002 Democratic primary for the 17th Congressional District for some of the same reasons.
Williams' victory is also a huge blow to the Mahoning County Democratic Party, and not just because he said he "could justifiably walk away from" the party after winning the mayoral race.
In 2004, the party concentrated on defeating two judges appointed by the Republican governor. The two Democratic challengers were badly beaten by the Republicans.
If you thought that was the party's low point in recent years, guess again. I've received conflicting reports about the county party's level of involvement in the Hagan campaign.
But Rick Barga, the party's executive director, worked on the campaign. Chairwoman Lisa Antonini said the party was very active, and said this was one of the party's best-run campaigns.
I'd hate to see one of its worst-run campaigns, although I think I just did.
Antonini is up for re-election next year, and there is talk of someone challenging her for the post because of last year's failure and the party's inability to elect a Democratic mayor in Youngstown.
The election of the party chair is decided by Democratic precinct committee members. Unless a challenger can elect enough committee members next year or convince members to abandon Antonini -- both of which are almost impossible to do -- she'll be elected to a second four-year term.
But whether Antonini remains chair, the local party's impact on politics is weakening.