The Ohio House is scheduled to be back in session Monday to override three of Gov. Mike DeWine’s four budget vetoes related to property taxes. And in Washington D.C., members of Congress are in the process of getting enough votes to pass legislation to take funding away from NPR, PBS and international aid.
All of this involves behind-the-scenes efforts to get enough lawmakers to pass or defeat something. That can be a tricky process.
When you think about someone whipping votes, Baldwin Wallace University political science professor emeritus Tom Sutton said you might want to compare it to managing a baseball team.
“It’s kinda like lining up your players in a sports game, making sure that you’ve got the right lineup to try to score runs or try to play good defense or whatever it happens to be," Sutton said.
Sutton said it can be an important job, especially in a split legislature or Congress where one party doesn’t have dominance. It’s not easy.
But it can be rewarding too. Former Democratic representative Jessica Miranda is now the Hamilton County Auditor. She served as the whip for Ohio House Democrats from 2022 to 2024.
“Being the whip was one of the greatest privileges of my public servant career," said Miranda.
Even though her party was deep in the minority of the legislature, Miranda said she had success whipping votes.
“We allowed our members to be the experts on their portions of Ohio and that really reflected my approach in how I whipped votes for different pieces of legislation," Miranda said.
Miranda said it also helped that the caucus shared some common interests, like protecting public education.
“Whenever there was a time when a member was questioning whether or not to vote on something, that would be a point of conversation," Miranda said. "And especially as it related to the speaker vote when Jason Stephens was elected speaker of the House. You know, we sided with a handful of Republicans on their side that care about public education.”
Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) was elected Speaker in 2023, ousting former Rep. Derek Merrin, who got more Republican votes and claimed he was the caucus leader, setting off a two-year battle between their supporters.
Whipping votes can be complicated, and uncomfortable.
Republican former House Member Gene Krebs remembers when the late Republican Speaker JoAnn Davidson was leaning hard on him to pass an energy bill.
“In my case, Speaker Davidson herself talked to me in an elevator. That’s all the conversation. That’s all it needs to take. And I said I have two amendments pending, and if they get in, I’m okay on the bill. And her response was, 'It doesn’t matter what those two amendments are. You are still expected to vote yes.' And I said I need these two amendments.”
Krebs held out, got the amendments, and voted yes on the bill. He said it’s ok to play hardball like that. And he said the key is for lawmakers to hold firm to their principles and values. But he says leadership will play hardball too. Since caucuses and parties control money and influence, it often puts members in situations where they feel like they need to do something they don’t want to do.
“[Republican former Gov.] George Voinovich did a sales tax, another tax increase, on December 16, 1992," Krebs said. "It was after my first election so I did not vote on it but a colleague of mine told me after he had been forced to vote for the tax increase, as he came out of the chamber he became physically ill and had to find someplace to throw up."
Krebs said the key for lawmakers is to remember who elected them and why.
"I’ve seen it happen to otherwise good people. They just self-destruct because they have had to deny who they are. So my advice to most of the General Assembly is stay true to who you are and you’ll end up being okay.”
Representatives are scheduled to meet on Monday at 11am in the Senate chamber, as work on the House chamber's air conditioning system continues.
