Former Columbus City Council candidate Kate Curry-Da-Souza is weighing in ahead of November's election, endorsing her former rival Jesse Vogel for the District 7 seat.
Curry-Da-Souza, a longtime neighborhood advocate, told WOSU she believes Vogel is the better choice for the downtown Columbus City Council seat over his opponent in the race Tiara Ross. Curry-Da-Souza was the third-place candidate and gained nearly 20% of the vote city wide before being eliminated in the May primary.
"(Vogel) is willing to be accountable to community members for the things that he's doing to try to serve them. That's the kind of leader that I want to see on city council and currently, I don't think that we have a lot of accountability because there's so many layers of bureaucracy," Curry-Da-Souza said.
Curry-Da-Souza applauded Vogel's work in the community as a public interest attorney, working with the Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio and with Community Refugee and Immigration Services.
Ross is an assistant Columbus City Attorney with the Property Action Team. She narrowly won the primary with 41% of the vote compared to Vogel's 39%.
Combined together, Curry-Da-Souza and Vogel's support make up the majority of voters in the primary. Curry-Da-Souza also pointed out Vogel won the majority of voters in District 7.
Vogel and Ross now face the challenge of retaining their support from a low turnout May primary election while trying to win votes from new voters in November's general election.
Curry-Da-Souza said she didn't immediately come to this conclusion after the primary, but rather wanted to watch and make sure that people who are working for the community are actually doing the work and are consistent in the ways that they show up for the community.
"I really noticed that (Vogel) does the work. He gets out into the community. He doesn't make any excuses...he is doing the work to connect with folks," Curry-Da-Souza said.
Curry-Da-Souza said one thing that drew her to Vogel's campaign is his support of creating tenants unions. She said she is concerned about private equity buying up housing in Columbus and making rent spike for residents in the city.
"We have other big cities that have tenants unions and Columbus doesn't have that, and I think that that's an opportunity for us to grow in the future," Curry-Da-Souza said.
Curry-Da-Souza ran as an Independent in the primary, whereas Vogel and Ross ran as Democrats.
Since the primary, Ross has consolidated the support of all of Columbus City Council, Mayor Andrew Ginther, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty and the Franklin County Democratic Party. Much of Ross' campaign funds were contributed by Klein and three sitting city council members.
Curry-Da-Souza said having somebody like Vogel win this seat who isn't being pushed by the establishment is a good thing.
"Having somebody who has other ideas, and maybe is a little bit of an outsider to the status quo, if you will, or the Columbus way, is healthy for us as a city, because it allows us to start to think of new ideas," Curry-Da-Souza said.
Curry-Da-Souza said the elected officials supporting Ross giving more than $60,000 to her campaign before the primary influenced the election in a negative way. She said it undercuts the ability and the intelligence that she knows exists within Columbus voters.
"That steerage of things really doesn't serve our community. It doesn't allow for voters who are really the ones making the choices to have a free and fair election without influence from others," Curry-Da-Souza said.
Curry-Da-Souza also criticized the at-large voting system for Columbus City Council where the candidates are required to reside in one of the nine districts to run for the seat. District 7 covers much of downtown Columbus and its surrounding neighborhoods.
Vogel said he is honored to have Curry-Da-Souza's support.
"(Curry-Da-Souza) ran a fabulous race in the primary and gave voice to a lot of concerns that people across the city have about our leadership and how we're being represented. She was able to get out there and break through in this moment and connect with thousands of people across that city," Vogel said.
Vogel said despite the Franklin County Democratic Party endorsing his opponent, he still considers himself a Democrat. He said he thinks his desire for Democrats in power to do better for residents across the city also resonates with people who don't identify with either major political party, like Curry-Da-Souza.
Ross told WOSU she deeply respect Curry-Da-Souza's passion for the city and her service. Ross said she is proud of the coalition of supporters she'd built, which also includes many of the area's labor unions, community advocates, faith leaders and residents.
"I will honor that trust by showing up, by listening, and working every day to deliver for our community. That's the heart of this campaign, and that's the kind of council member I intend to be," Ross said.
