When CEOs pick the candidates: Inside the Columbus Board of Education race

In early April, an influential new political entity emerged in Columbus that shifted the scales for the city school board race: The Columbus Education PAC for Responsible Governance, Accountability and Integrity. Within a week, local CEOs had funneled more than $12,750 into the PAC to support three preferred candidates for the Columbus Board of Education. The following week, the Franklin County Democratic Party formally endorsed the same three people, leaving the remaining candidates – Mounir Lynch, Kimberley Mason, and Janeece Keyes – to run comparatively grassroots campaigns.

The upcoming Nov. 4 election will determine candidates to fill three open seats on the school board and one seat on city council. Rather than a contest between political parties, local elections in Columbus manifest as a struggle between the Democratic Party establishment and progressive grassroots challengers who depend on small donors, door knocking, and community networks. 

On the council side, Tiara Ross secured financial backing from sitting Council members and the Democratic Party endorsement. In contrast, Jesse Vogel – who lacks such endorsements or institutional support – has relied on social media and door knocking to drastically outperform Ross in fundraising. That same dynamic has been echoed in the school board race.

School Board up for Grabs

The Columbus Board of Education is the governing body for the largest school district in Ohio, overseeing district-wide policies, budgets, and contracts with the teachers’ union – the Columbus Education Association (CEA). Made up of seven members who serve four-year terms, the board serves almost 50,000 students and more than 100 schools. None of the three incumbents (Michael Cole, Ramona Reyes, and Christina Vera) are running for reelection, and the absence of incumbents only increases the power of endorsements and donations in the race. 

In recent years, the school board has been censured twice and faced backlash over school closures and busing. In May 2024, a controversial internal memo was leaked that offered ways to weaken the teachers’ union. The memo included a plan to “reward good media outlets” with “priority seating or camera location” and “priority interviews.” “Others can wait,” it read.

PAC Influence

Weeks before the April primary election, a PAC was formed called the Columbus Education PAC for Responsible Governance, Accountability and Integrity. Over the course of nine days, a handful of donors gave $12,750 in support of three candidates: Antoinette Miranda, Jermaine Kennedy, and Patrick Katzenmeyer. Local blogger DJ Byrnes of The Rooster reported that these donors were a mix of CEOs and business leaders, including Grange Insurance CEO John Ammendola, Kara Trott of Quantum Health, Lori Gillett of Corna Kokosing Construction, the CEO of Mount Carmel Hospital, and others. “This is about as good an example as any of the people and businesses running Columbus politics behind the scenes,” Byrnes wrote. 

Just days later, on April 17, the Franklin County Democratic Party formally endorsed the same three: Miranda, Kennedy and Katzenmeyer. The Democratic Party’s Central Committee voted 96–9 in favor of endorsing those candidates for the primary election – a decision that sparked criticism. Some argue that primary endorsements defeat the purpose of primary elections, which is to select the candidates who will represent the Democratic Party in the general. A primary endorsement could appear to some voters as the Democratic Party handpicking successors as opposed to allowing voters to choose the best candidate. 

At the April 17 meeting, Will Petrik motioned for the CCS endorsements to be tabled. “If and when we actually build a level playing field, we can get more people involved, engage more voters, volunteers and donors. We can build trust with our base, build a stronger bench of emerging leaders,” Petrik said. 

Those endorsements result in more than credibility. Getting an endorsement opens up access to party fundraising networks, volunteer lists, institutional relationships, and, most importantly, a spot on the Democratic Party sample ballot that local voters tend to follow religiously. 

The three school board candidates supported by the CEO-funded PAC and endorsed by the Democratic Party all have connections to the Columbus establishment. Katzenmeyer works in real estate development (Pizzuti Companies) and has deep ties in Democratic circles, sitting on the executive committee of the county party. Kennedy is a longtime nonprofit leader with the Boys & Girls Club and community advocate. Miranda brings academic and policy credentials as a former member of the Ohio Board of Education and current faculty member at Ohio State University. 

These credentials and positions earned them financial and political backing from the city’s establishment. But other candidates have remained in the race without PAC funding or the Democratic Party endorsement, including Mounir Lynch, a local health educator turned civic organizer

In the lead up to the May primary, Lynch said he knocked on thousands of doors and built a base of small-dollar donors that averaged $30 per donation – efforts that led to him receiving 5,880 votes (about 8 percent of the vote), good for fourth place and advancing him to the general election along with the top six candidates. Since then, the race has sharpened. Debates and forums have given Lynch a platform to push his contrasting positions. (On issues such as corporate tax abatements, lack of transparency, and structural reform, his message is sharper than his competitors.) The establishment candidates have leaned on their endorsements and “experience” claims while Lynch has emphasized a need for systemic change. 

“We can’t keep putting our cuts on classrooms, teachers, and student services,” Lynch said in a forum. “My platform will be to reform corporate tax abatements and introduce a community first policy.” 

Tax abatements have been a central issue in recent years as the city uses property tax abatements to expedite the building of housing in hopes of keeping up with increased demand. Since schools are funded by property taxes, these abatements end up stripping schools of potentially tens of millions of dollars’ worth of funds per year.

In the leadup to the 2022 CEA strike, teachers protested outside of developers’ headquarters in the Short North, deploying chants such as, “​​Developers get handouts, kids get sold out!” Among these protest locations was Pizzuti Companies, a local developer for which Katzenmeyer works. (The Central Labor Council endorsed the three Democratic Party-favored candidates, while the CEA endorsed Katzenmeyer and Miranda, in addition to Keyes.)

As early voting proceeds and the November general draws near, resources, ground game, and visibility matter. The establishment slate continues to benefit from party networks, business backing, and benefits such as discounted postal rates. Lynch, on the other hand, relies on grassroots momentum, small-dollar donors, and volunteer canvassing.

In many ways, Columbus’ 2025 local elections are a microcosm of national struggles within the Democratic Party and its role in the fight against fascism. It’s a fight between insiders and insurgents, centralized power and community power, corporate influence and neighborhood voices. As Zohran Mamdani runs for mayor in New York City, thousands of smaller races are unfolding across the country. The outcomes of these less-hyped races, including the school board and city council elections in Columbus, could have an outsized impact on issues such as climate, equity, and development, as well as the status of the larger progressive movement in the country, standing as a potential turning point in the ability of grassroots opposition to face entrenched power.

Correction: This article originally stated that CEA endorsed the three Democratic Party-favored candidates; CEA actually endorsed the Democrat-endorsed Katzenmeyer and Miranda, along with Janeece Keyes. Matter News regrets the error.