Good afternoon county Democratic leaders! 

My name is John Tannous, and I’m a new member of the ODP team. I’m thrilled to work with you all. Please use me as your contact moving forward pertaining to the Main Street Initiative and training offerings for candidates. 

Now that the deadline to file petitions for elected offices on the ballot this November has passed, the Main Street Initiative is conducting a fall training on Saturday, August 28 for local candidates.

Our goal is to provide the tools necessary so that over the next few months Democrats can run successful campaigns and win! Attendees can register here. Please forward this e-mail to Democrats in your county running for municipal, school board, judicial, and other offices this year.

Our partners at the LEAD Ohio PAC will co-host this training on Zoom from 9 AM to 4 PM (with plenty of breaks!). The training will focus on how candidates can maximize the final months before Election Day: mastering stump speeches, tips on fundraising for immediate needs, ramping up communications and digital activity, responding to attacks, GOTV and direct voter contact, and other topics. The session is also appropriate for staff and volunteers helping with races this fall.

Please note: this training is not targeted at those just broadly considering running for office or planning to do so in 2022 or another year. We’ll soon announce other programs for those individuals. 

Finally, as you know, the Ohio Democratic Party has now implemented a vetting system for the Main Street Initiative. When new people from your counties express interest in our trainings whose names we have not previously run by you, we will ask you to certify that they uphold party values and represent positively in the community. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jtannous@ohiodems.org. As I begin in this new role, I look forward to sharing updates on ODP’s leadership and candidate programs to come. 

Best,

John