CWA's Frank Mathews on Labor Election Wins and Ohio Property Tax Threat

Frank Mathews, Administrative Director of CWA District 4 for the Communications Workers of America, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast fresh off a strong primary night for labor-backed candidates across Ohio and Indiana.

From Ironworker Brian Poindexter winning the Democratic congressional primary in Ohio's 7th District to a string of union members and labor allies winning state legislative races, Mathews said the results reflect a working-class electorate that is tired and focused on kitchen-table issues rather than partisan division.

He also delivered a sharp warning about a movement in Ohio to repeal the state's property tax — a proposal he said would blow a $21 billion hole in Ohio's budget, devastate public education, and ultimately force an increase in sales or income tax that would hurt working people far more than the system it replaces.

• Labor-backed candidates had a strong Ohio primary night, with Ironworker Brian Poindexter winning the Democratic congressional primary in Ohio's 7th District, Davida Russell winning House District 18, SEIU member Nicole Sigurdson prevailing in a three-way race for House District 19 and several union members and labor allies winning additional state legislative primaries — results Mathews attributed to voters prioritizing kitchen table economic issues over party affiliation.
• Mathews argued that labor's endorsements should be and are bipartisan, pointing to past support for Republican Tom Patton in northern Ohio as an example. The drive to elect union members and pro-worker candidates to office is a long-overdue correction to a political landscape tilted by 20 years of corporate and billionaire influence against working families.
• A movement to repeal Ohio's property tax system would create a $21 billion hole in the state budget. If repealed, the move would eliminate funding for school districts, libraries, parks, townships, county government and municipalities. It has drawn opposition not just from Democrats but from Republicans, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and conservative think tanks. Despite that opposition, Mathews said it is gaining traction by preying on voters who sign petitions without understanding what public services they would be eliminating.

Workers Are Running — and Winning

Frank Mathews opened his appearance with a simple observation: people are tired. Tired of politics that do not serve them. Tired of candidates who show up at labor events, collect endorsements and then vote against workers 86 times out of 100. The Ohio primary results, he said, reflect what happens when working people decide to put one of their own at the table.

The headline result was Ironworker Brian Poindexter winning the Democratic congressional primary in Ohio's 7th District in a packed eight-candidate field that included established names. Mathews described Poindexter as “one of us,” and his likely general election opponent, incumbent Max Miller, carries a 14 percent lifetime AFL-CIO voting record. When someone votes the right way on labor issues only 14 percent of the time, the choice is not complicated.

The wins extended beyond that race, however. Davida Russell won her primary for Ohio House District 18. SEIU member Nicole Sigurdson prevailed in a three-way primary race for House District 19. Former Ohio Education Association member Rep. Sean Bryan and former OEA President Scott DeMaro won House Districts 14 and 16, respectively. Former Sheet Metal Worker Dan Croy, a longtime labor-supported candidate, won the District 23 race. In the state Senate, longtime labor ally Kent Smith secured District 21. In Indiana, longtime Congressman Andre Carson survived a competitive primary with strong labor support.

Mathews did not want to describe the primary results as a Democratic wave, but as a labor wave. CWA has endorsed Republicans before — he cited Tom Patton in northern Ohio as a candidate the union backed multiple times because he stood with workers when it mattered. The question labor asks, he said, is never about party. It is about who will support organizing, who will have workers’ backs on kitchen-table issues, and who will show up when the votes that actually affect working families come to the floor.

Gerrymandering and the Level Playing Field

On Indiana's redistricting fight, state lawmakers who resisted the administration's push to redraw maps more favorably for Republicans lost their primary elections to candidates further to the right. Mathews admitted he did not like the outcome, but not because it benefits one party over another, but because it is fundamentally about reducing voices rather than expanding them.

Labor's position, he said, has always been simple: we do not want favors. We want a level playing field. When the table is tilted through gerrymandering, it diminishes the voice of every working person. The American sense of fairness, Mathews said, runs deeper than party affiliation.

Ohio's Property Tax Repeal Movement: A $21 Billion Hole

Another major topic Mathews addressed is one he said is gaining traction across Ohio — a movement to repeal the state's property tax system. The pitch is simple because nobody likes paying taxes. But Mathews said the simplicity is the trap.

Property taxes in Ohio fund school districts, libraries, parks, townships, county governments and municipalities. Eliminating that revenue does not eliminate the need for those services. It eliminates the funding mechanism — and replaces it with nothing. The resulting hole in Ohio's budget, Mathews said, would be approximately $21 billion. Left unchanged, it would require immediate and dramatic cuts to public education, road maintenance, police and fire services and local government operations. The alternative would be replacing the property tax with something else — most likely a dramatically higher sales tax or income tax. Such a change would fall far more heavily on working and middle-class Ohioans than on the wealthy landowners driving the repeal campaign, he said.

Mathews noted that Republicans, Democrats, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and conservative think tanks have all come out against the initiative. That breadth of opposition, he said, should tell voters everything they need to know.

He warned Ohio voters that when someone approaches you with a clipboard and tells you they want to eliminate property taxes, ask them what their plan is for your child's school. Ask them what their plan is for the fire department. Ask them what their plan is for the roads. If they do not have an answer, do not sign. The people pushing this proposal, Mathews said, are not interested in fixing a flawed system.

The system needs reform, Mathews acknowledged. Property tax assessments tied to rising home values create real hardship for longtime homeowners on fixed incomes. That is a legitimate problem worth addressing. But reform and repeal are not the same thing, and the difference matters to every Ohioan who depends on a functioning public school, a plowed road and a fire truck that shows up in four minutes.

More information on the Communication Workers of America is available at cwa-union.org.

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