Career Advice for Mike Turner, Ballot Reality, and Why I’m Running Anyway

Today I released my “Career Advice for Mike Turner” ad on YouTube.

It is not a Hollywood production. It is not a consultant-built, donor-calibrated, soft-filtered piece of campaign content.It is me, doing what I have done in this town for decades. Showing up, doing the work myself, and saying the part out loud that everyone else keeps whispering.

And yes, I did it all myself in basically a day.

Ballot status first. Money later.

Today I turned in 108 signatures. Only 50 are required, but I do not play it close to the line. Not with this Board of (S)elections. They have kicked me off the ballot before, more than once.So here is the deal. I am not accepting donations until I have confirmation that I have 50 valid signatures and my name is cleared.Next step is validation, and the next Montgomery County Board of Elections meeting on the calendar is Tuesday, February 17, 2026 at 8:30 a.m.

As of right now, the candidate list in this race only shows two people approved to be on the ballot: Manuel Foggie and Mike Turner. That is the reality today. Everything else is chatter until the paperwork is real.

And here is the part the public never sees: the data games.

For years, if I needed voter lists, voter history, or walking lists, I could go to the Boards of Elections in Montgomery, Greene, or Clark and just download what campaigns need to do basic targeting. That is not a luxury. That is how democracy is supposed to function.

But now the district lines shift, and suddenly we have Butler County in the mix and Clark drops out. Guess what. Butler does not let you just go get the data the same way, and it is not even clear how you get absentee ballot request information without a public records request.

That is insane. It is 2026. If a candidate cannot easily get public voter files and request lists, it is not election integrity. It is election friction, and friction always favors incumbents.

That is exactly why I am planning on building OKDemocracy ^[1], with real-time reporting and sunlight by default.

The Dayton Daily News just proved my point for me.

They ran a story ^[2]about the looming TPS deadline and the uncertainty around enforcement in Springfield. They reached out for comment. Silence was “bipartisan.”

But look at who managed to have no comment. Mike Turner, of course. And even though she's never voted as a dem, they called upon Kristina Knickerbocker who they called "his democratic challenger." She's not turned in petitions either, just asked for cash. And, she didn't respond to them, the same way she didn't respond to my attempts to reach her before I was sure I was running. If we want a congressman who won't respond, we don't need to change one.

Really.

If you cannot go on the record when the district is staring down uncertainty and fear for Haitian families who are living, working, and paying taxes here, then what exactly are you running to do?

This is not a press-release hobby. This is Congress.

My position on Springfield is clear in this video.

Meanwhile, TPS for Haiti is officially designated through Feb. 3, 2026 (per USCIS ^[3]). And as of the most recent reporting, litigation is active and a federal judge has reportedly blocked the attempt to end TPS for Haitians while the case proceeds. (If you want a plain-English explainer on what TPS is and what it means on the ground in Springfield, WYSO has a solid Q&A. ^[4])

Mike Turner should be doing the basic job of a representative right now: going on the record, demanding clear guidance from Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, pushing for an extension or orderly transition, and using his office to run constituent casework so families and employers in Springfield are not blindsided by paperwork delays, status confusion, or panic-driven enforcement. And let’s be honest about the “illegal” and “criminal” nonsense: people who came here under Temporary Protected Status are here under a legal program created by Congress, with work authorization and protection from removal while it applies. Calling them “illegal” is factually wrong, and the “criminal” smear is political theater, not evidence. Courts have already criticized DHS leadership for inflammatory claims and likely unlawful handling of Haiti TPS, which should tell you everything about the credibility of the talking points.

The only illegals involved in this charade are Kristi Noem and Donald Trump.

“Homeland Security” was the branding moment that told Americans to think like a frightened fortress instead of a free country. After 9/11, we got the Patriot Act, a mass stripping of privacy and due process dressed up as “safety,” plus a new domestic security bureaucracy built to watch first and explain later. Airports became checkpoints, data collection became routine, and “security” became the magic word that shuts down debate. The end result is not just more intrusive government. It is a culture that is less free and a lot less brave, where legally present people can be smeared as “illegal” or “criminal” because the system trained everyone to accept suspicion as policy.

This race will not be won with money.

Let me remind you. Desiree Tims had serious money ($2M- to Turner's $1.4M) when she ran in 2020 and still lost, even with Joe Biden on the ballot.

Money does not fix a bad strategy. Money does not replace a ground game. Money does not replace someone willing to hit back.

This campaign is going to take someone willing to take Turner on like a streetfighter, because that is what he has never had to face. Sustained, public, unignorable pressure. It would also help if the DCCC and the Ohio Dems actually listened to primary voters, instead of refusing to work with their properly elected candidate in a primary- like how they hung me out to dry in 2022.

Scary fact the D's don't want to admit- I beat Nan Whaley in Greene County and came within 1,504 votes of her- despite her statewide endorsement and $8M. I had $40K. ^[5]

In 2022, I did daily video livestreams about issues. I am not new to the grind. I am not new to being outspent. I am new to one thing only. Deciding it is time to take the fight directly to Congress.

Donors, privacy, and protection from retaliation

Here is another thing I am doing differently, because I live in the real world and I know how retaliation works.

I am going to offer privacy protection for donors who do not want to suffer from the wrath of Mike “vindictive” Turner.

And when it comes to how donations are routed and described, I am going to make it easy for people to support this campaign without turning themselves into a target. If Turner’s reports can list donors under a label like “WinRed,” I can offer Elections Not Auctions ^[6] as an option for people who want their support associated with the cause, not the blowback.

What I will and will not take

I will not accept money from corporate PACs.

If you want a representative who is owned, there are plenty already cashing those checks. Especially Turner with his 27 Billionaires. I used to say I don't even know one- but, I do now, and I doubt she will donate to this campaign.

Issue-based support is different. Corporate PAC influence is poison.

What I am running for

If you have been reading this site for any length of time, you know I do not do politics as performance art. I do it as systems, incentives, accountability, and receipts.

Here are a few of the big planks you will be hearing more about:

• OKDemocracy: a candidate matching concept built around verified donor registration and real-time reporting. If money is influencing elections, the public should see it immediately, not months later after the election is over.
• Health care for all: because a functioning country does not bankrupt people for getting sick.
• A government provided payroll tax system: because having to pay to pay your taxes is absurd, and it punishes regular people and small businesses.

Learn more on my campaign site: www.electesrati.com ^[7]

Bottom line

I am not waiting for permission to speak.

I am not waiting for a consultant to tell me what voters can handle.

And I am not going to play nice with a congressman who disappears when the district needs an adult in the room.

Watch the video. Share it. And if you want to help build a campaign that runs on people instead of power, keep your powder dry until the signatures are validated, then we roll.

Because our country shouldn't have to tolerate anymore Trump induced bedlam. We want our country back.