Ohio’s first female Speaker of the House, Republican Jo Ann Davidson, has died at 97

Jo Ann Davidson, Ohio’s first woman to speak in the House and an advocate for putting effective Republican women in office, died Friday. She was 97 years old.

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, a longtime friend, announced Davidson’s death in a statement, calling her “a model public servant who was full of intelligence, class and skill.” He ordered flags to be hoisted on government buildings across the state in her honor.

During a political career spanning nearly 60 years, Davidson went from volunteering in suburban Columbus to being elected to local city council, leading the Ohio House and serving as co-chairman of the Republican National Committee.

As speaker, Davidson succeeded Vernal G. Riffe, a strong Democrat, who spent a state-record 20 years in the job.

With her business suits, friendly but no-nonsense demeanor and penchant for keeping policy decisions close to the vest, Davidson began moving Republicans into leadership roles and digging into the big political challenges of the day. She passed a welfare overhaul but stymied attempts by fellow Republicans to pass a concealed weapons law, though successors eventually passed such laws.

“Jo Ann was very good at building consensus,” Bruce Johnson, a former Ohio lieutenant governor whose district as a state senator overlapped hers, once told The Associated Press. “Some people do it through brute force or other inappropriate tactics. Jo Ann did it by being better, by being smarter, by doing her homework, by having the facts.”

Davidson led President George Bush’s regional re-election effort in 2004, helping give him the crucial victory in Ohio against Democrat John Kerry to win the White House. She also managed GOP Governor Bob Taft’s successful 2002 campaign.

To her embarrassment, Davidson untied her floor at the 2008 Republican National Convention. She had been given the honor of introducing the party’s first female vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, and accidentally called her “Sarah Pawlenty”, fusing Palin’s name and that of another candidate for the post, then-Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.

It was a rare misstep in an otherwise unblemished life in the public eye.

After a decade away from the public spotlight, Davidson became a close adviser to then-Republican Gov. John Kasich, and he appointed her to chair the state casino commission in 2011. In 2012, she was among Kasich’s allies who -helped orchestrate the ouster of the state GOP party chairman.

“I just don’t make them like Jo Ann Davidson anymore,” he wrote on X. “Her wisdom, compassion and leadership will be sorely missed.”

After retiring due to term limits from the Ohio House in 2001, Davidson devoted his energy to the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute. She founded the Columbus training center in 2000 to give potential female candidates the confidence and leadership skills to pursue public office, community service and party leadership. Over the years, she has guided nearly 500 women.

“Jo Ann Davidson was kind, resilient, unwavering in her principles and a true public servant,” Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, said Friday. “She was a trailblazer at a time when few women were in politics. Her leadership not only transformed Ohio’s political landscape, but also empowered countless women to find their own voices.”

Davidson encouraged women to take pride in their distinct leadership style and embrace public service despite other professional pressures.

“We tend to build consensus,” Davidson told the AP in 2007. “Our leadership styles are different because most of us who are a little older learned our leadership skills in volunteer organizations where you can’t take a top-down approach. .”

Female MPs from both political parties praised her on Friday.

Republican state Sen. Michele Reynolds, a Davidson graduate and the first black Republican elected in populous Franklin County, said: “One piece of advice he shared has profoundly influenced my approach: ‘The side door is still an entrance.’

Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, a Democrat, said Davidson broke the glass ceiling for her and countless other women. “As Ohio’s first and only female Speaker of the House, she was an incredibly strong and skilled leader who didn’t back down from a fight when it mattered most to the people of Ohio,” she said.

Republican Cliff Rosenberger, a former speaker of the Ohio House who is of Asian descent, said Davidson also broke barriers for minorities like himself. “Sincerely, Madam Speaker,” he said in a salute.

Davidson was born in Findlay, Ohio on September 28, 1927.

Her life in politics began with a defeat. In 1965, she ran for the all-male Reynoldsburg City Council and lost. Davidson persisted, won election two years later and spent the next 10 years as a councillor, eventually heading the powerful Finance Committee.

After more than a decade in local office, she was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1980. She would serve there for the next 20 years, quickly building a reputation for hard work, team building, and intelligence.

Fellow lawmakers elected her the first female speaker since the GOP took the 99-member House in 1994.

After the first year, no one questioned whether he was up to it.

“Some people thought I wasn’t tough enough to do the job,” she said in a December 1995 interview with The Columbus Dispatch. “Maybe some of them think I’m too harsh.”

Terry Casey, who served as executive director of the Franklin County Republican Party in the early days of Davidson’s career, marveled at her “steel trap mind” and amazing energy.

“A lot of people get into higher offices and just hang out in their office,” he said. “No Jo Ann.” He was constantly on the road and on the go. That continued until recently, when health issues slowed Davidson down.

Republican Jason Stephens, current Speaker of the Ohio House said, “As a true trailblazer, Speaker Davidson’s legacy is one of strength, grace and servant leadership. She has fostered a culture of mentoring that has changed the lives of many for the better.”

Along with her legislative service, she served as vice president of special programs for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

After leaving the House, he established his institute and a consulting firm, JAD and Associates, where he advised on public policy, strategic planning, and political campaigns.

From the beginning, Davidson appreciated that he would be a role model.

“I don’t necessarily feel like a trailblazer,” she said in the Dispatch interview in 1995. “I’m trying to do a good job so that other women will have an opportunity in the future. This presses me a lot”.