Today, the Human Rights Campaign PAC (HRC PAC) announced its endorsement of former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Cheryl Stephens to serve as the next Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. HRC PAC is committed to engaging our volunteers, members and supporters to mobilize the two million Equality Voters in Ohio in support of Whaley, U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan, and other pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.

Human Rights Campaign National Campaign Director Geoff Wetrosky released the following statement today:

“LGBTQ+ Ohioans deserve a Governor who will stand on their side. That’s exactly what they’re going to get when Nan Whaley takes office next January. Throughout her career, Nan has fought the tough fights and gotten the hard work done to make our state a better, more welcoming place for all who live here. We’re proud to endorse her campaign today, and we look forward to working with her when she takes office.”

Whaley released the following statement:

“As Mayor, I worked to make Dayton a welcoming city and, as governor, I’ll do the same for all of Ohio. Unfortunately, we’ve seen our Legislature intent on appeasing extremists by pushing for discriminatory, hateful legislation. Ohioans deserve a governor who isn’t afraid to stand up for what’s right. I’m proud to have the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign and am ready to partner with them to make Ohio a welcoming state for everyone, regardless of what they look like, who they love, or where they come from.”

As a City Commissioner in Dayton, Nan Whaley helped lead the effort to pass the city’s first ordinance to protect LGBTQ+ residents from housing discrimination in 2007. As Mayor, she officiated same-sex weddings long before the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land. In Columbus, Governor Nan Whaley will be an unwavering ally for LGBTQ+ Ohioans, protecting their rights and ensuring they can live their lives free from the fear of discrimination.

HRC’s Commitment to Ohio

Equality Voters, including the two million in Ohio, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

Across the country, HRC PAC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.

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