Sites
LIMA — When it comes to taking on U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, in a congressional race, Lima’s Jeff Sites is hoping that the third time will indeed be the charm.
Sites ran to be the Democratic nominee for Ohio’s 4th Congressional District in 2020 and 2022, falling to Shannon Freshour and Tamie Wilson, respectively, in the primaries. Those experiences have not deterred Sites, who has filed to run in 2024 for the chance to oust Jordan, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
Sites will face Wilson for a second-straight Democratic primary. A third Democrat, Stephen Thomas, is listed on the FEC website, but no data has yet been entered for his campaign. Jordan, R-Urbana, R-Urbana, is the only Republican candidate currently listed.
For Sites, a military veteran currently working in the private sector as a shipping supervisor, the stakes are too high for him not to make another attempt to get Jordan out of office.
“The reason I am running is one word: democracy,” he said. “It is the foundation of our freedom in this country, and right now, our freedom is under attack by extreme MAGA Republicans like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene (of Georgia) and the like.”
Examples of those attacks, according to Sites, include battles over book restrictions in school libraries as well as the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that enabled nationwide access to abortion.
“We see it every day on the news where they’re trying to do away with education for children, trying to burn books, trying to take away women’s rights to choose on their health,” he said. “These are all classic things of fascism. You know, if you look at the history of Hitler and the Nazi Reich, these are all things that were happening just before World War II, and I see it repeating itself right now.”
Sites is hoping that a more aggressive effort to get that message out to voters will help propel him to the Democratic nomination and eventually to a win in the general election. He’ll attend an event from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Grand Lake St. Marys on Lakeshore Drive in Celina sponsored by Auglaize and Mercer County Democrats.
“I think we lacked that (in previous campaigns),” he said. “But, you know, democracy is at stake this time around even more than the last time, and we have to get that message out to the voters.”
For more information on Sites and his campaign, visit sitesforcongress.com or search for Sites for Congress on social media.
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.
