The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on WCPO.com under a content-sharing agreement.
In 2022, Derek Myers, the former editor-in-chief of the Scioto Valley Guardian and now a Republican candidate for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional district, tried out for a different political gig. There was a vacancy on Chillicothe’s city council, and he was hoping the local party would select him to finish out the term.
He was seeking the appointment as a Democrat.
Despite that past allegiance, Myers is now running as a “rock solid conservative.” When asked about the party change, the Myers campaign issued a statement, saying it was “fake news” and that the Ross County “DemocRATS” have lost every election but one in the last four years.
“Derek does not associate with losers and the DemocRATS cannot stand Derek’s polling so well in his race,” he insisted.
The Republican primary in Ohio’s 2nd district has attracted a long and colorful list of hopefuls, from state lawmakers seeking a promotion to party officials to first timers. With a dozen people running, one candidate could wind up securing the nomination with a fraction of the primary electorate.
The 2022 vacancy
Chillicothe City Council member Nena Park, a Democrat, resigned her seat representing the city’s sixth ward in September of 2022. Later that same month, the county Democratic party held a meeting to select her replacement.
Ahead of the meeting, local attorney Mike Warren sent around an email from Myers expressing his interest in the position. In the message, Myers claimed he had the support of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and the Ohio Democratic Party. Parenthetically, he added that a representative of the party would be “attending to speak on my behalf.”
According to the meeting minutes, committee members nominated two candidates — Jamie Brown and Derek Myers. Both candidates spoke for a few minutes and the committee voted. Brown won eight votes to one.
Rev. Terry Williams leads the Orchard Hill United Church of Christ, and he’s the county party’s vice chair. He wound up leading the meeting because the chair was out of town. As he recalled it, the meeting was routine, mundane. No one showed up on Myers’ behalf from the party, but he pitched himself as well connected with powerful party members, Williams said.
“His main argument was, you know, I’m passionate about Democratic politics, and I’m passionate about people like Tim Ryan, and the Republican Party is running roughshod over our mayor in town, and I want to support the mayor,” Williams recalled.
The Myers campaign statement contends, “anyone’s name could have been ‘nominated’ without their seeking or approval; Derek would have declined. He does not associate with losers.”
Both Brown and Williams say it was Myers who showed up and spoke at the 2022 meeting, and he can be heard in a recording of the meeting at the 8:20 mark.
Despite his previous interest in a Democratic council seat, Myers’ voting record is patchy and mixed.
The Ross County voter file indicates he voted for the first time in 2010. He pulled a Democratic primary ballot in that election. In 2012, however, he pulled a Republican primary ballot. Myers then voted in the 2013 primary, but didn’t vote again until the 2016 general election.
After this story was published, Myers insisted he has never voted in Ross County, which is possible. The county voter file held by the Secretary of State’s office includes statewide voter history, but doesn’t indicate in which county a ballot was cast.
In a Twitter spaces interview in February, 2023, Myers explained, “I am not registered, because after I did not get the seat on city council, I got angry at the local party, and I withdrew my voter registration entirely.”
To run for office, though, Myers has to be a registered elector in the state of Ohio. He re-registered about two months ago, on Nov. 17, 2023.
Myers’ Twitter spaces interview had to do with charges of sexual harassment he’d made against former U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-NY. Myers had a brief stint in the Congressman’s office in January 2023, but the job offer was rescinded, according to Myers in an interview he gave to TPM.
Shortly afterward, Myers filed a complaint against Santos with the House Committee on Ethics and told The New York Times he had filed a report with the Capitol Police.
The Committee on Ethics released its report on Santos in November. With regard to Myers’ claims of sexual harassment, the Investigative Subcommittee Report states it “was unable to substantiate this allegation.” The group adds that testimony from other witnesses contradicts what Myers told them, and that they had concerns about his “credibility and motivation in making the allegation.” They note Myers, “contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his allegation in order to be paid by them for information regarding Representative Santos.”
So which party is it?
During the same Twitter spaces interview, a Democratic organizer named Meryl Neiman expressed confusion about Myers’ political affiliation. She described an incident in which Myers, still a reporter at the time, came to Franklin County’s early voting center to campaign on behalf of a Republican judicial candidate. Myers, she said, was holding a sign describing himself as a Democrat and encouraging people to ask him why the party hadn’t endorsed the incumbent, Julie Lynch — a former Republican running as a Democrat.
The organizer recalled Myers insisting voters should know Lynch used to be part of the GOP and that he didn’t know the Republican candidate. Since then, she said she’d learned Myers’ personal attorney is married to the Republican who was running against Lynch, Jessica Barwell.
“You lied to me, right?” she pressed Myers.
“Your sign said I’m a Democrat, and this is why I’m here and you were wearing a (Congressman Tim) Ryan shirt, and you told me that you never knew the Barwells,” Neiman said.
Myers defended his actions.
“I was a big supporter of (Democratic) Congressman Ryan, and his bid for the U.S. Senate,” he said. “Our paper ended up — we endorsed the congressman. We felt he was the best direction for the state moving forward, and that endorsement is still on our website.”
“I was holding a sign, as you know, that said I’m a Democrat,” Myers added. “That is absolutely 100% true.”
His claims about state party connections, however, don’t appear to hold water. The Ohio Democratic Party doesn’t typically issue endorsements for local vacancies, and it didn’t weigh in on the Chillicothe City Council decision.
Speaking on his own behalf rather than for the party, Rev. Williams expressed exasperation with Myers.
“Derek Myers is Ohio’s George Santos, 100%,” he said.
“As a Minister, I kind of feel bad because I believe in the goodness of every person, but I’m telling you, this man tests my faith sometimes.”
Where he stands now
Myers did not agree to an interview for this story. But between public statements and his campaign website, he’s staked out positions on more than a dozen issues.
In response to Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of anti-trans legislation, Myers railed about “pedos run amok in our schools,” and without evidence, attempted to blame schools shootings on the trans community.
He’s also taken aim at primary opponent state Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, who lives a few miles outside the congressional district. While it’s perfectly legal for Antani to run for the seat, Myers called Antani, who is Indian-American, “a foreigner who needs to stay the 17 miles across the border.”
“Our country has been invaded enough and under no circumstance will he be elected in this district,” Myers added. “He’s not from here and he is not welcomed here. We will send one of our own to Congress.”
On his campaign website, Myers commits to taking on the “deep state” and finishing the border wall. He promises to “unequivocally reject” cuts to Social Security or Medicare and refuses to vote for tax hikes. Myers dismisses the Biden administration’s efforts to lower drug prices as “lip service.”
To address veteran homelessness Myers argues, “we must stop housing illegal aliens and redirect our resources towards those who have served our nation honorably. As part of my commitment to America First, I advocate for ending welfare benefits for those who have entered our country illegally.”
Myers doesn’t point to a program that houses undocumented immigrants, and people who entered the country illegally are already ineligible for most federal benefits including SNAP and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Although he hews to the GOP party line on several issues, Republicans aren’t exactly embracing him either. A request for comment with the Ross County GOP chairman went unanswered.
Kim Georgeton, one of his opponents in the primary, said, “Derek Myers has always been a Democrat in disguise. OH02 needs me, an America First middle-class mom to take OUR country back from the lying liberals like Derek.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, responded to a request for comment saying, “We’re focused on our own campaign, but I am certain Shane Wilkin’s proven conservative record has never gotten him confused for a liberal Democrat.”
