From JOEL O’DORISIO FOR STATE SENATE
A resident, who wished to remain unnamed, of Perkins Township received a polling call July 1, 2020. After several minutes on the call, the Perkins resident grew suspicious of the poll’s intentions.
“After a while, I definitely had the feeling it was a pro-Gavarone call, as opposed to random, bipartisan, neutral polling poll,” she said. The unnamed resident reached out to her local Democratic party to inquire about the poll when she learned there was no current bipartisan polling in her county. Members of the Democratic party of Erie County notified Joel O’Dorisio’s campaign team.
The source said the poll initially asked about Trump vs. Biden, name recognition for Rob Portman, and her general voting tendencies. The poll then asked targeted questions about Joel O’Dorisio, with the pollster calling the Democratic candidate “Joelle.” The source said the dialer went on to attack O’Dorisio’s business history and to falsely praise Theresa Gavarone’s involvement in the CARES House Bill 481.
Denise Zephire, a Bowling Green resident, also received the poll: “I was appalled. Everything about O’Dorisio was SO [sic] negative… Then the person asked questions about Gavarone, all in a very positive light.”
She went on to comment, “I tried to tell the person that I had not liked the way Gavarone conducted her campaign the last time, and it looks like I won’t like it this time, but this was just a survey and they only wanted me to answer the questions within the narrow selected answers. I have never declared a party but running campaigns like this really gets me steamed.”
National think tanks like EveryDistrict and Only If You Run, as well as statewide organizations like the Ohio Democratic Party, have identified this race as highly competitive. A new push poll is the first indication of how contentious this race will be.
O’Dorisio responded to the push poll calling it desperate. “I wish she would focus on serving the people of this district instead of slandering her opponent. Theresa Gavarone has a long history of dirty politics. The people of this district are tired of it.”
