Wife of Attorney General Mike DeWine, spent an hour in Athens on Monday to rally voter support.
Stopping for the 85th time on an 88-county tour, Fran DeWine, wife of Attorney General Mike DeWine, spent an hour in Athens on Monday to rally voter support and visit the Athens Republican Headquarters and Call Center at 80 E. State St.
By DeWine’s count, this trip marks the seventh time she’s made her statewide tour.
“It’s a fun way to see the state and see what’s going on,” DeWine said. “When I go, I’m Mike’s eyes and ears.”
The event had a low turnout — about seven Republican supporters — and DeWine opted to mingle and chat with individual GOP campaigners rather than address the entire audience.
“We thought that since the call center was working so hard, we would reward them,” said Ali Wills, County Coordinator for Mike DeWine’s campaign.
Volunteers from Ohio University Republicans said they’ve manned the phones during campaign season, making more than 50,000 calls so far.
“We want to remind people why it’s important to vote,” said Will Lloyd, known in the party as a “victory captain.”
DeWine even made a call herself. Though volunteers said the answer rate for the call center hovers between about 6 to 10 percent, DeWine and other attendees said they want to change that.
She admitted it can be tough in a traditionally liberal stronghold like Athens, but added that its very typical of a college town.
“A lot of people are trying to increase (Republican voting),” DeWine said.
DeWine focused on her husband’s race against Democrat challenger David Pepper, though she never mentioned Pepper specifically. Pepper and his team were unavailable for comment Monday afternoon.
She claimed that while her husband has been in office, more than 5,000 untested rape kits have been tested. The wait length for testing has also been decreased from up to 127 days to 21 days, according to DeWine.
DeWine also spoke of her husband’s platform on heroin.
“It’s something we can’t arrest our way out of,” DeWine said.
According to DeWine, her husband hopes to push more education for students from elementary schools to colleges.
Though her husband deals with crime and punishment as the state’s top prosecutor, DeWine brought a bit of literature to lighten the mood: “Fran DeWine’s Family Favorites” cookbook.
“I said to Mike, ‘It’s just something to make people smile and they won’t throw it away like your literature,’” DeWine recounted to Republicans as she passed out copies of the 16-page paperback book.
Clinton Hedrick, an OU sophomore studying mechanical engineering and an OU Republican, said that campaigning can be difficult, especially as a Republican in Athens, but noted that “meeting speakers rally us up to keep going.”
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