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.
