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Wilson plans to seek US House seat he lost
YOUNGSTOWN
About a year after losing his re-election bid, Democrat Charlie Wilson said he’s going to run next year for the 6th Congressional District seat.
Wilson, a Democrat from St. Clairsville, said Wednesday that he would run in his party’s primary with an expected rematch in the November 2012 election against Republican Bill Johnson of Marietta, who defeated him by 5 percentage points in 2010.
About 11 months after finishing his second two-year term in the U.S. House, Wilson said Wednesday: “This Congress is the worst we’ve ever seen. While Ohio families are struggling with severe economic challenges, Bill Johnson and the congressional leadership are playing politics and not getting things done for us. That has got to stop.”
Wilson first told The Vindicator on Sept. 14 that he was giving serious consideration to running in 2012 for this seat.
Wilson again criticized Johnson on Wednesday for supporting free-trade agreements.
Commenting on behalf of Johnson’s campaign, Chris Maloney, Ohio Republican Party spokesman, said: “Voters fired Congressman Charlie Wilson because his harmful record in Washington hurt Ohio’s economy. Wilson punched Ohioans in the gut when he voted for [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi’s and Barack Obama’s job-destroying policies” such as the federal stimulus package and health-care reform.
Wilson said Johnson has “failed to provide leadership on creating jobs in eastern and southern Ohio. He has failed to develop a plan to get our area’s economy moving again. And, he has failed to improve the toxic political environment in Washington, D.C.”
Johnson has served about 11 months in Congress.
Also, ex-U.S. Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat from Alliance, who lost his 2010 re-election bid, said he is continuing to look “at all my options. I haven’t taken [running for the 6th District] off the table. I’ll consider my future and/or fate within the next couple of weeks.”
Congressional redistricting by Ohio Republican leaders shifted the 6th District, to take effect after the 2012 election, from leaning Democrat to leaning Republican.
The Ohio Supreme Court permitted Democrats last month to seek a referendum on the redistricting plan, making the next year’s congressional election unclear.
The current plan is to have two primaries: one March 6 for all races except U.S. House seats and the presidency, and the other June 12 to resolve the congressional-boundary dispute.
Officials with the Republican and Democratic parties agree that changes to the new 6th would likely be minimal as it’s the most competitive in the state.
Redistricting added all or parts of five counties to the current 12-county 6th District. Portions of Mahoning County, most notably Boardman, were removed from the 6th, with all of Columbiana County remaining in the district as well as staying its most populous county.
Next Wednesday is the filing deadline for the March 6 primary. March 16 is the deadline for U.S. House candidates to file nominating petitions for the June 12 primary.