POWELL, Ohio – On Tuesday, Ohio Women for Trump hosted a standing-room-only event at the Powell Community Center – Empower Hour. The ladies’ group welcomed Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel and Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken for the interview-style live event.
Ohio Republicans tweeted, “Empower Hour in Ohio!”
.@JaneyMurph @GOPChairwoman @kayleighmcenany at the #WomenForTrump Empower Hour in Ohio! pic.twitter.com/88nMmszYeQ
— Ohio Republicans (@ohiogop) October 15, 2019
Trump Spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany moderated and Madison Gesiotto, National Women for Trump, made the introductions.
Empower Hour took place just twelve miles away from the Democratic Presidential Debate scheduled for 8:00 PM in Westerville.
Mandi Merritt, RNC Communications, posted, “Standing room only for our @WomenforTrump event her in Powell with @GOPChairwoman, @ohiogop Chairman @JaneyMurph and @kayleighmcenany! Ohio women are PROUD to show their support for President @realDonaldTrump…”
Standing room only for our @WomenforTrump event here in Powell with @GOPChairwoman, @ohiogop Chairman @JaneyMurph and @kayleighmcenany!
Ohio women are PROUD to show their support for President @realDonaldTrump! #LeadRight #KAG2020 #WomenForTrump pic.twitter.com/BtmAXRkXKj
— Mandi Merritt (@mandi_merritt) October 15, 2019
Madison Gesiotto told the crowd, “Back in 2016, so many people didn’t believe in this President and he proved them wrong. So many women across this state and across this nation have benefitted under this administration,” she shared. “1.5 million women were lifted out poverty in the first two years of this administration….66,000 women right here in our home state lifted out of poverty.”
“Under President Obama the unemployment rate hit a high of 11% – let that sink in. Right now we’re at 4.1%,” she added. Gesiotto also talked about the socialist policies of the Democratic Candidates, mentioning all the freebies the candidates like Bernie Sanders want to provide.
“These socialist policies will not benefit us, they won’t benefit our state and they won’t benefit our nation,” she stated, “Because as far I’m concerned, we will never be a socialist country.” The room exploded into applause.
After a prayer and the pledge, Gesiotto introduced the speakers and Kayleigh McEnany began the questions.
Ronna McDaniel noted she and her husband both attended law school at The Ohio State University. They bought their first house in Avon Lake and her husband still works for a Toledo company. It wasn’t until they returned to Michigan that McDaniel told her husband they needed to get involved in politics.
Jane Timken told the audience she was raised in Cincinnati and attended college at Harvard. She was spurred into political action by the Obama Presidency. “They are fundamentally changing our country and I’m going to do something about,” she told the room. And she did. In her home county of Stark, she helped turn the county from solid Democrat to one with numerous county-level elected Republicans.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honor to be the first woman Chair of the Ohio Republican Party,” she said.
McEnany asked McDaniel what caused her to support Trump. McDaniel admitted she was neutral at the beginning as Chairwoman of Michigan’s Republican Party. “We were a flyover state,” McDaniel shared. “Nobody had campaigned in our state for decades, including my uncle [Mitt Romney].”
She made it a goal to go to candidate rallies and she was amazed at the turnout for Donald Trump. “And you know what I love about the President is he listens to the local people. He said, ‘Tell me about your state.’ He’s not, ‘Oh Where’s the consultant, where’s smart people beltway people?’ He knows the smart people are the people who are living and working and breathing in that state day to day.”
The women discussed the growth of Ohio’s economy, the President’s concern about every family and the myth that women would not support the President.
After the event, The Ohio Star asked Ohio for Women for Trump’s Joy Padgett whether she felt President Trump had a problem with suburban women voters. Padgett was adamant that the evidence was clear in Ohio – there’s no problem.
Padgett declared, “I have women constantly reaching out to me, asking how they can get involved and help this President.”
The event wrapped up with McEnany filming a short, cheering, snapchat video for the President to see – a room full of women, and a some men too, cheering President Trump.
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
