Brandon Kovach

YOUNGSTOWN — Brandon Kovach, who was planning to run for the open Ohio House 58th District seat as a Democrat, has disaffiliated himself from the political party and will instead seek the position as an independent.

“I didn’t leave the party — the party left me,” Kovach said. “Both parties are now controlled by massive private interests, and you cannot serve the people while serving corporate masters.”

Kovach, a Youngstown businessman and entrepreneur, was particularly displeased when John Boccieri of Poland, a former congressman and state legislator, told The Vindicator on Jan. 27 that he was going to run as a Democrat for the open seat after initially considering it and then deciding not to run. Boccieri said he changed his mind after the Jan. 24 fatal shooting in Minneapolis of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents.

Boccieri filed Tuesday for the seat.

Kovach said, “John Boccieri is a good man. I have nothing but respect for his service to our nation. However, I have some fundamental disagreements about abortion, sensible immigration policies and money in politics. John was first elected to a state rep seat when I was in elementary school” and “has had a long time for voters to get to know him. I hope they take the time to get to know me as well, and I am looking forward to a spirited election where we focus on issues and our platforms between him and myself as well as any other candidates who get into the race.”

After Boccieri’s decision to run for state representative, Kovach posted on Facebook: “The machine wants to tell you who to vote for instead of letting you see who all your options are. We knew from the beginning we would be underdogs, but we really didn’t know how bad it would get. You deserve the best candidate and representation.”

Kovach said he is a fiscal conservative and a social liberal who has supported Republican candidates in the past.

“I’ve always put doing what’s right ahead of party affiliation,” Kovach said. “Career politicians change their stances based on political posturing. I’ve always stood in the same place.”

Boccieri said he spoke to “every candidate who expressed interest to run and told them to follow their heart and path if they wanted to pursue the office. I’ve won and lost races, but I have not lost my integrity. I hope he keeps this campaign about the issues because he’s taken some cheap and untrue shots at me already. Mr. Kovach has every right to run under any stripe he chooses.”

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson said of Kovach, “We wish him well. He is just simply not gaining traction locally.”

The Mahoning Democrats will be endorsing in this race. Those wanting the party’s endorsement will go through an extensive background check and be interviewed by a screening committee, which will make a recommendation to the central committee, Anderson said.

Anderson said, “From the start of this race we welcomed everyone to run for the seat. It’s sad Brandon decided to not participate in the process. It will be the only objective endorsement process the party has had in 50 years.”

The candidate endorsed for the Ohio House seat by the county party will automatically receive the Ohio House Democratic Caucus endorsement, Anderson said.

Anderson said if Kovach wanted to leave the Democratic Party, he had a strange way of showing it by hosting the first Mahoning County Democratic Party Progressive Caucus meeting at party headquarters last week.

“I helped him start it,” Anderson said. “You just had a group meeting in our office space with our members with a caucus tied to the party.”

Kovach said he didn’t want the caucus affiliated with the party.

To qualify for a political party primary, a state representative candidate needs 50 valid signatures. For independents, they need 1% of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. In the 2022 gubernatorial election, 38,533 ballots were cast in the 58th District. An independent candidate would need at least 386 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

“The two-party duopoly makes it very hard for independents,” Kovach said.

Today is the filing deadline for those wanting to run in the May 5 political partisan primary, while those seeking the positions as independents have until May 4, the day before the primary, to submit nominating petitions.

Besides Boccieri, other Democrats looking to run for the state House seat are Basia Adamczak, a former Youngstown City Council 7th-Ward member, and Jordan Pegues, project specialist for Wesco International.

Heather Fronk of Poland, founder of Clothed In Strength, is the Republican candidate for the seat.

The district includes Youngstown, Austintown, Poland, Lowellville, Jackson, Milton, Craig Beach and Coitsville. The district favors Democrats by more than 21% based on partisan statewide voting results between 2014 and 2022.

Boccieri was first elected to the Ohio House in 2000, serving three terms until he was elected in 2006 to the state Senate. Boccieri won a Stark County-based U.S. House seat in 2008 and lost reelection in 2010. Boccieri was appointed in September 2015 to a vacant Ohio House position, won election in 2016 and lost to Republican Michael Rulli in 2018 for a state Senate seat.

Boccieri is a United Airlines pilot and has spent the past 32 years as a member of the Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, currently working for the Pentagon.

Adamczak served two terms on Youngstown council before losing reelection in 2023.

Pegues and Fronk have never run for elected office before.

Kovach unsuccessfully ran in 2014 for Columbiana County auditor. He tried to run for Mahoning County auditor in 2018 but wasn’t certified to the ballot because he didn’t have enough valid signatures.