Minutes of the Chagrin Gateway Democratic Club Meeting

Thursday, July 2, 2026 – 6:30 pm

Orange Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library

 

Featured speakers:

Ohio Lieutenant Governor Candidate David Pepper

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne

 

The club’s First Vice President  Anthony Fossaceca opened the meeting by welcoming new attendees. It’s been great to see new faces at all our meetings and watch the club grow, which will make us even more of a force in future elections. Anthony explained the club’s plan for the November election: increase Democratic turnout and vote share, strengthen the organization, and prepare for 2027 and 2028. We will work to maintain turnout in the high turnout communities of Orange, Pepper Pike and Woodmere, increase turnout in Bentleyville, Chagrin Falls and Moreland Hills, and focus on persuasion in Chagrin Falls Township and Hunting Valley. 

 

The club will be in phase 1 of the plan in July: organization, recruitment and voter identification. The club welcomes and appreciates volunteers so please reach out here:

 

David Pepper began his remarks by noting the good news: this year, we have a big opportunity. He noted that Ohio is like Hungary: it’s a corrupt, rigged state poised to elect honest leaders who can work to save democracy. Pepper explained that corruption hurts everyone. Funneling public resources to private organizations and billionaires leads to terrible results in education, health care and the economy. Taxpayers literally have to pay higher property taxes to provide funding for state programs when corrupt politicians squander our funds.

 

While Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has high disapproval ratings, Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton has a +18 approval rating for the job she did during the pandemic — that’s why the Ramaswamy campaign is running ads lying about her. She is widely known in the state as the public servant who was trying to keep everyone safe during Covid. Her popularity is also reflected in fundraising: she has raised the most of any Ohio Democratic candidate for governor and she has done this primarily via small dollar donations from Ohioans. During the primary, Dr. Acton received more votes than any Ohio candidate for governor ever, including Republicans.

 

The message for voters who may not be engaged in politics: talk about the cost of living, ask them to check their voter registration. 

 

To be part of the relational organizing effort for the Acton/Pepper ticket, text VOLUNTEER to 71546. For more information, go to https://actonforgovernor.com

 

Chris Ronayne noted that after July 4 we speed up our efforts toward the November election and get ready to sprint after Labor Day. He hopes to hold and flip statehouse seats to have a real partner in Columbus and then make more progress on health care and environmental issues. Right now, the county is in survival mode. He mentioned that cuts to SNAP and Medicaid created a storm we are weathering and lamented that there is so much potential if we weren’t always dealing with a crisis. He is proud of the efforts to care for the 2000 homeless children in the county’s care. A new child wellness center will be a resource for some of the children. A behavioral health crisis center will also open soon.

 

Ronayne also mentioned that Cuyahoga has always been a destination for immigrants and the only population growth here for the last 10 years has been from immigrants. The county is making its best effort to prevent people from being deported.

 

The meeting ended with Rep. Juanita Brent thanking attendees for reaching out to the governor and statehouse representatives to help get the voter ID bill vetoed. Our efforts can and do make a difference.

 

The next meeting is on Thursday, August 6 at 6:30 pm in the Orange library.