“I’m just honored and humbled that the caucus believed in me, as a freshman member, to join the leadership team,” Tims told this outlet.
Tims will now be tasked with securing votes for, or against, legislation on the House floor on behalf of her caucus.
“I will be working with other members from the House minority on policy issues and making sure that we are aligned as a caucus and that everyone is informed as much as possible on bills that are moving through various committees and through the chamber,” Tims said.
Tims is now the third Miami Valley lawmaker in a leadership role at the statehouse, alongside House Assistant Pro Tempore Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., and Senate Majority Whip Sen. George Lang, R-West Chester.
The House’s new-look Democratic leadership will be helmed by newly-elected House Minority Leader Rep. Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, and rounded out by Rep. Phillip Robinson, Jr., D-Solon, as assistant minority leader; Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, as minority whip; and Tims as assistant minority whip.
To his colleagues on the House floor, Isaacsohn underlined the importance of bipartisanship and a healthy two-party system. He takes over a superminority Democratic caucus that makes up less than a third of the House’s 99 seats.
To reporters, Isaacsohn gave a sense of the issues he’ll want his caucus to focus on.
“We’re about to vote on the biggest bill we do every two years, the budget bill. And things are not going well in the state,” Isaacsohn told reporters shortly after being sworn in to his new role. “Our education system, unfortunately, is getting worse year-over-year. It’s getting more expensive to raise a family. It’s getting, if you’re a senior, harder and harder to age with dignity. So our focus as a caucus, every single day, is gonna be: How do we serve the people of Ohio by making their lives better?”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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