After Redfern thumping, he poses Betras as possible replacement

YOUNGSTOWN

Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern, who announced his resignation after his party’s statewide candidates failed to win a single race, said he was planning to quit in the foreseeable future.

“I like to have fun and over the course of the last year it wasn’t fun,” Redfern told The Vindicator.

“We started thinking 1 1/2 years ago and through this summer that maybe it was time to step back from politics,” Redfern said Friday about himself and his wife, Kim.

In addition to a Republican statewide sweep, Redfern lost his Ohio House seat and his wife failed to capture an Ohio Board of Education seat.

The two own an inn in Marblehead in Ottawa County, and are building a winery there.

“I was going to leave at some point, but the events of Tuesday night accelerated that,” Redfern said. “When you take a thumping, you don’t see too many friends. It’s the reality of politics.”

Redfern announced on election night his decision to resign, effective in mid-December. However, Redfern said Friday that he doesn’t know when he’ll resign.

“We have plenty of time,” he said. “No date has been set for the transition to occur and thankfully that’s the case because of what happened with Denny over the last 48 hours.”

Denny Wojtanowski of Columbus, a close political ally of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, was touted as the front-runner to replace Redfern. But Wojtanowski removed his name from consideration Thursday.

When asked about who he’d like to see succeed him, Redfern said, “One name not mentioned is Dave Betras.”

Redfern said the Mahoning County Democratic chairman is “as smart as they come,” is one of the “best county chairmen in the country,” and encouraged him to seek the post.

Read more election fall-out in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.