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Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill Says Richard Cordray Will Run for Governor

Cordray was nominated to head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by President Obama and some Republicans have been trying to eliminate the job since. If the bureau is changed or President Trump fires Cordray, that would free him to run for governor.
WHITE HOUSE ARCHIVES
Cordray was nominated to head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by President Obama and some Republicans have been trying to eliminate the job since. If the bureau is changed or President Trump fires Cordray, that would free him to run for governor.
Cordray was nominated to head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by President Obama and some Republicans have been trying to eliminate the job since. If the bureau is changed or President Trump fires Cordray, that would free him to run for governor.
Credit WHITE HOUSE ARCHIVES
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WHITE HOUSE ARCHIVES
Cordray was nominated to head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by President Obama and some Republicans have been trying to eliminate the job since. If the bureau is changed or President Trump fires Cordray, that would free him to run for governor.

The only Democrat holding statewide office in Ohio says he won’t follow through on a run for governor he was considering – because he says his favored candidate will be getting into the race.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill said he was interested but wouldn’t make a decision on the governor’s race until January – since he’d have to leave the bench to run. But he now says he’ll be staying where he is.

“I was contacted by a mutual friend with Richard Cordray last week and they wanted to be very clear on whether or not my original commitment was still valid. And that was that if Richard Cordray is in the race for governor, I am out of the race for governor. And that is still the case.”

The former Ohio attorney general now heads the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Though Cordray hasn’t confirmed anything, it’s widely suspected that he will announce around Labor Day that he’ll join the four Democrats already seeking the party’s nomination for governor.

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Karen Kasler
Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.