David Pepper (politician)

David Andrew Pepper (born June 7, 1971) is an American politician, former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, a former councilman for the city of Cincinnati and former member of the Hamilton County, Ohio Board of Commissioners.[1]

David Pepper
Cincinnati City Council
In office December 1, 2001 – December 1, 2005
Hamilton County Comissioner district 1
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Phil Heimlich
Succeeded by	Chris Monzel
Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party
In office January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2020
Preceded by	Chris Redfern
Succeeded by	Liz Walters
Personal details
Born	June 7, 1971 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Alana
Education	Yale University (BA, JD)
Website	Official website

Early life

Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Pepper is the son of former Procter & Gamble CEO John Pepper.[2] Pepper earned his B.A. at Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.[1] He specialized in commercial litigation for the Blank Rome firm.[3]

Career

Political career

In 2001, Pepper was elected to the Cincinnati City Council and served as the Chairman of Council's Law and Public Safety Committee.[4] Pepper was defeated in his run for mayor in 2005.[5]

Pepper was elected to the Hamilton County's Board of Commissioners in November 2006.[3] In 2010, Pepper was a candidate for Ohio Auditor, and in April 2013, Pepper said he would run for state Attorney General in the 2014 election.[1] In 2014, Pepper ran unsuccessfully for Ohio Attorney General. He was elected Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party in 2015.[6] He has taught voting rights at University of Cincinnati School of Law.[7]

After the 2020 elections, Pepper announced that he would step down as Ohio Democratic Party Chairman at the end of the year.[8]

Writing career

Pepper is the author of The People's House, a political thriller.[9] The book centers around a Russian scheme to help elect Republican candidates.[6] The Wall Street Journal wrote that Pepper "writes with flair and insider knowledge of everything from gerrymandering to arrogant D.C. press aides." and "With speed and savvy, 'The People's House' emerges as a sleeper candidate for political thriller of the year."[10] Bill Clinton said of The Voter File: "Pepper comes through again with this clever tale of how cyber sabotage of elections, coupled with highly concentrated ownership of traditional media operations, can undermine American democracy."[11]

Works

• The People's House. St. Helena Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1619845121.
• The Wingman. St. Helena Press. 2018. ISBN 978-1619848719.
• The Voter File. G.P. Putnam's Sons. 2020. ISBN 978-0593083932.

Electoral history

Date	Position	Status	Opponent	Result	Vote share	Opponent vote share
2014	Attorney General	Challenger	Mike DeWine	Defeated	38.5%	61.5%
2010	Auditor	Open-Seat	Dave Yost	Defeated	44.9%	50.2%
2006	County Commissioner		Phil Heimlich	Elected	53.0%	47.0%
2005	Mayor	Open-Seat	Mark Mallory	Defeated	47.9%	52.0%
2001	City Council			Elected

Footnotes

1. Borchardt, Jackie (April 16, 2013). "Democrat Will Enter Race for Ohio Attorney General ; David Pepper to Run against Mike DeWine. - Former Hamilton County Commissioner Lost Race for Auditor in 2010". Dayton Daily News. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved Oct 18, 2014 – via HighBeam.
2. Wessels, Joe (Oct 4, 2006). "Heckler peppers Pepper with curses". The Cincinnati Post. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved Oct 17, 2014 – via HighBeam.
3. Gomez, Henry (April 15, 2015). "Democrat David Pepper launches campaign to unseat Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine". Cleveland.com. Retrieved Feb 24, 2018.
4. Coolridge, Sharon (2016-07-25). "Ohio Dem party leader writes political thriller". cincinnati.com. Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
5. Kinny, Terry. "Mark Mallory narrowly wins Cincy race". The BG News. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
6. Debenedetti, Gabriele (2018-02-17). "The Thriller That Predicted the Russia Scandal". Politico.com. Politico.com. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
7. Pepper, David (2021-01-27). "Vacant Storefronts and Broken Glass: Small Towns Are Dying Under GOP Leadership". Courier Newsroom.
8. Balmert, Jessie. "Ohio Democratic Party chairman David Pepper stepping down at end of year". The Enquirer. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
9. Skolnick, David (2016-08-14). "Ohio Dem Party Chair Pens Novel About Vindy Reporter Who Uncovers National Political Scandal". Vindy.com. Vindy.com. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
10. "A Sleeper Candidate". The Wall Street Journal. November 4, 2016.
11. "The Voter File by David Pepper". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-06-29.

External links

• Official website
• Appearances on C-SPAN